The start of a new week brings work, school, and yes more Secret Wars branded books from Marvel. Today Buzzfeed had the exclusive reveal as Marvel is set to bring the 1602 universe to the event with Asgard’s favorite assassin, Angela.
1602: Witch Hunter Angela brings the Neil Gaiman created character to the Neil Gaiman created timeline for a rewrite of some real world history. The series will be co-written by Kieron Gillen and Marguerite Bennett with main story art by Stephanie Hans. Also included will be five page backup stories drawn by various artist not yet named.
When asked for plot details Bennett had this to say, “Queen Elizabeth has been recently murdered, King James has ascended the throne, and throughout the entire country there’s a persecution of those who are considered witchbreed, which is the 1602 equivalent of mutants. We’re combining this history and this flourishing time of Western literature with the mythology of the Marvel universe.”
We’ll also be seeing new 1602 versions of characters such as Bucky Barnes and the Guardians of the Galaxy. No series length or release date was given.
Twelfth Night. William Shakespeare. 1601-02. 272 pages.
If music be the food of love, play on; I recently treated myself to a reread of Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night. Now Twelfth Night is not one of my favorite, favorite Shakespeare comedies. (That would be Much Ado About Nothing followed by A Midsummer Night's Dream.) But it is one I have read several times before. And it does have some GREAT scenes in it. (It is also the only Shakespeare I've seen performed on stage.)
Viola and Sebastian are brother and sister. Each think the other has perished in the shipwreck. Viola arrives in Illyria and decides to disguise herself as a young man taking the name Cesario. She enters the service of the Duke (Orsino). One of her tasks is to woo a young woman still in mourning, Olivia. Cesario delivers Orsino's messages just as he asks, but her heart isn't exactly in it. For she has fallen for the Duke herself, a matter only complicated by the fact that Olivia has fallen in love with her. Not that Olivia knows she's fallen in love with a woman-in-disguise. (I'm reminded of a Dorothy Sayers quote!!!) But still. Meanwhile, the audience becomes aware that Sebastian is very much alive and is also in Illyria. He has become friends with Antonio. That covers the "romance" of the play. (I'll leave it up to you to decide if it's truly-truly romance.) The comedy, for the most part, focuses on a cast of side characters mostly attached to Olivia's household. These include Malvolio, Maria, Sir Toby Belch, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and Feste. Essentially, a group of people team up to make a big, big fool of Malvolio.
Read Twelfth Night
- If you enjoy a light blend of romance and comedy; the language is very beautiful in places--love the opening line!!! And some of the scenes are just very funny!
- If you're a fan of William Shakespeare
© 2012 Becky Laney of
Becky's Book Reviews
Shoehorning Angela into the 1602 universe that was created to help fund Gaiman’s lawsuit against McFarlane is pretty Meta. Forget salt, they’re basically sh*tting in that wound.