SelfMadeHero

SelfMadeHero is a British graphic novel and manga publishing company, and imprint of Metro Media Ltd, who specialise in adapting works of literature. The company received the 2011 Kitschies Black Tentacle award.^[1]

Publications

They launched with two lines in 2007:

• Manga Shakespeare produces works based on the Bard but with different settings - mainly Japan in the past and future^[2]
• Eye Classics are adaptations of great classic works, like those of Poe and Kafka

In 2009 SelfMadeHero expanded to include:

• Sherlock Holmes series: including Hound of the Baskervilles and Study in Scarlet.
• Graphic Biography: launched in October 2009 with Johnny Cash: I See a Darkness The series tells the fascinating life stories of both public and private figures. It includes era-defining pop-culture icons such as Johnny Cash and Hunter S. Thompson.

In 2010 SelfMadeHero expand to include:

• Gift Books: featuring 'beautifully produced, non-fiction titles based on iconic cartoon and comic book characters'.

For the moment the adaptations will be the main focus for publications, but director Emma Hayley has said they hope to publish original material in the future.^[3]

Manga Shakespeare

The adaptations of Shakespeare's plays were made by Richard Appignanesi (who previously worked on Icon Books' Introducing... series), with the art created by UK-based manga artist who have come to prominence via Tokyopop's Rising Stars of Manga (United Kingdom & Ireland) competition, their work for Sweatdrop Studios or London manga collective Umisen Yamisen.

• Hamlet (art by Emma Vieceli, March 2007, ISBN 978-0-9552856-1-5)^[4]
• Romeo and Juliet (art by Sonia Leong, March 2007, ISBN 978-0-9552856-0-8)
• The Tempest (art by Paul Duffield, September 2007, ISBN 978-0-9552856-2-2)
• Richard III (art by Patrick Warren, September 2007, ISBN 978-0-9552856-3-9)
• A Midsummer Night's Dream (art by Kate Brown, February 2008, ISBN 978-0-9552856-4-6)
• Julius Caesar (art by Mustashrik, June 2008, ISBN 978-0-9552856-5-3)
• Macbeth (art by Robert Deas, June 2008, ISBN 978-0-9552856-6-0)
• As You Like It (art by Chie Kutsuwada, January 2009, ISBN 978-0-9558169-0-1)
• Othello (art by Ryuta Osada, January 2009, ISBN 978-0-9558169-5-6)
• Henry VIII (art by Patrick Warren, May 2009, ISBN 978-1-906838-02-7)
• King Lear (art by ILYA, May 2009, ISBN 978-0-9558169-7-0)
• Much Ado About Nothing (art by Emma Vieceli, May 2009, ISBN 978-0-9558169-6-3)
• The Merchant of Venice (art by Faye Yong, September 2009, ISBN 978-0-9558169-1-8)
• Twelfth Night (art by Nana Li, September 2009, ISBN 978-0-9558169-9-4)

Eye Classics

The creators are drawn from a British comic background (in particular Nevermore) but also include screenwriters and more traditional artists.

• Nevermore (anthology of adaptations of Poe's work, October 2007, ISBN 978-0-9552856-8-4):^[5]
  • "The Pit and the Pendulum" (by Jamie Delano, with art by Steve Pugh)
  • "Murder in the Rue Morgue" (by Ian Edginton, with art by D'Israeli)
  • "The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar" (by Jeremy Slater, with art by John McCrea)
  • "The Black Cat" (by Leah Moore and John Reppion, with art by James Fletcher)
  • "The Fall of the House of Usher" (by Dan Whitehead, with art by Shane Oakley)

• The Master and Margarita (originally by Mikhail Bulgakov, adapted by Andrzej Klimowski and Danusia Schejbal, 128 pages, May 2008, ISBN 978-0-9552856-7-7)
• The Trial (originally by Franz Kafka, adapted by Chantal Montellier and David Zane Mairowitz, 128 pages, March 2008, ISBN 978-0-9552856-9-1)
• The Picture of Dorian Gray (originally by Oscar Wilde, adapted by Ian Edginton, with art by I. N. J. Culbard, 128 pages, September 2008, ISBN 978-0-9558169-3-2)
• At the Mountains of Madness (originally by H. P. Lovecraft, adapted and drawn by I. N. J. Culbard, 128 pages, October 2010, ISBN 978-1-906838-12-6)^[6][7]
• The Shadow Out of Time (originally by H. P. Lovecraft, adapted and drawn by I. N. J. Culbard, 120 pages, November 2013, ISBN 978-1906838683)

Crime Classics

The Crime Classics line began with set of four adaptations of the Arthur Conan Doyle stories, adapted by Ian Edginton, with art by I. N. J. Culbard:

• The Hound of the Baskervilles (144 pages, Sherlock Holmes, SelfMadeHero, May 2009, ISBN 1-906838-00-3)
• A Study in Scarlet (144 pages, Sherlock Holmes, SelfMadeHero, October 2009, ISBN 1-906838-01-1)
• The Sign of the Four (144 pages, Sherlock Holmes, SelfMadeHero, May 2010, ISBN 978-1-906838-04-1)
• The Valley of Fear (144 pages, Sherlock Holmes, SelfMadeHero, October 2010, ISBN 978-1-906838-05-8)

Rachel Cooke reviewed A Study in Scarlet for The Observer and concluded:

It also includes an adaptation of The Hot Rock by Donald E. Westlake, the first in the series of books that feature John Dortmunder.

Graphic Biography

• A Chinese Life
• Johnny Cash: I See a Darkness (by Reinhard Kleist, 223 pages, Graphic Biographies, SelfMadeHero, October 2009, ISBN 0-8109-8463-6)^[9]

See also

• Classical Comics, another new British company producing graphic novel adaptations of great works, including some of the same Shakespeare plays
• Classics Illustrated, a similar venture from the 1940s to 1960s
• Pendulum Press, a similar venture from the 1970s
• Marvel Classics Comics, a similar venture from 1976–1978
• Marvel Illustrated, Marvel Comics imprint adapting classic literature
• Graphic Classics^[10]
• The Manga Bible, an adaptation by Siku

Notes

References

External links

• Official website