Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, versus Aliens from Outer Space

CLICK THE PICTURE TO ENLARGE. It's totally worth it...especially to see Polonius as Dick Cheney!


In the 60's and 70's crossovers were all the rage in popculture. The Harlem Globetrotters, The Addams Family and numerous others were always making cameos on "Scooby Doo". Likewise, many series employed the crossover to garner ratings. So, it's not really all that original, but it worked then and a couple of authors feel it can work now.
In "Naked Metamorphosis", I tried to imagine Shakespeare's "Hamlet" if it were retold by Franz Kafka, and then that version was toyed with by William S. Burroughs. Thus far, I've been told it worked to hilarious ends.
In "Carnageland", David Barbee indulged in his juvenile, gaming, A-D-D antics and told the tale of an alien set on destroying everything in its path.
Initially I thought there was no way to merge these two into an alternate tale. Little did I know, author David Barbee had a few tricks up his sleeve. In order to achieve this vision, David Barbee took the Hamlet retold by two authors and added his own touches. Well, shit, I thought. Now what have I gotten into?
David Barbee and I decided to use this bizarro set-up as a little experiment. Okay, I conceded, let's do it and see what happens.
April 23rd is Shakespeare Day - it's the day that commemorates William Shakespeare's death. To that end, I'm trying to outsell Hamlet on that day. So, buy a copy, will ya? And while you're there, you should probably try to snag a copy of "Carnageland" so you'll at least have an inkling at what sort of insanity you're getting yourself into.
I posted a bracket here a week back where Barbee's characters are pitted against Shakespeare's characters. And, I've even devised a little story that sort of merges these two tales. It works, hopefully, to hilarious ends once again. I mean, just look at the original artwork above for these two! God, this could actually be good.
On April 23rd check back to find out the first round winners! There are surprises aplenty. Trust me.

Eric

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