See Shakespeare Manga-Style At This Graphic Novel Show: Review

The Great British Graphic Novel, The Cartoon Museum ★★★★☆

Tabish Khan
By Tabish Khan Last edited 95 months ago
See Shakespeare Manga-Style At This Graphic Novel Show: Review The Great British Graphic Novel, The Cartoon Museum 4
A Tube map of graphic novels is available from the museum.

Graphic novels have never been so popular. V for Vendetta and Watchmen were made into movies, and The Killing Joke was inspiration for Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy.

But it's not just a modern day Hollywood phenomenon; there is a rich and lengthy history to the British graphic novel, summarised in a clever appropriation of the tube map by Hunt Emerson — artistic licence is used in the graphic, but then, we'd expect nothing less from an artist.

The rest of the exhibition is a comprehensive journey through the history of graphic novels ranging from the post-nuclear explosion classic When the Wind Blows to cult comic Tank Girl.

Classic plays and novels are subverted with a manga-style version of Shakespeare's The Tempest and a contemporary Gulliver pinned down by a Police SWAT team.

The drawings, in their many varying styles, are fantastic and there's plenty of material crammed into the small museum to provide well over an hour's worth of viewing pleasure.

This exhibition will clearly appeal to graphic novel fans, but it's also been designed with newbies in mind, as a great way of accessing the world of graphic novels.

The Great British Graphic Novel is on at The Cartoon Museum, 35 Little Russell Street, WC1A 2HH until 24 July. Tickets are £7 for adults and the museum is open seven days a week.

Last Updated 22 April 2016