This week saw the release of The Graphic Canon, Volume 1 , an epic collection of canonical literature reinterpreted in graphic form by some of the best illustrators and comics creators working today. Starting with The Epic of Gilgamesh and working through to the plays and poems of Shakespeare to Dangerous Liaisons (the 18th century French epistolary novel that inspired Cruel Intentions), the book includes tales from a remarkably wide variety of cultures — Tibetan, Incan, Chinese, Mayan, Japanese, Ancient Greek — and adapts both the classics you already know and those you haven’t discovered yet (we know it made us want to read a lot of new stuff). Volumes two and three, forthcoming from Seven Stories over the fall, will continue in a loosely chronological fashion, tackling the rest of the literary canon up through Infinite Jest, which concludes the last book in the series. Click through to see a slideshow of some of our favorite works from volume one, and let us know which ones you like best in the comments.
The Inferno, by Dante Alighieri. Art/adaptation by Hunt Emerson. From The Graphic Canon, Volume 1 (Seven Stories Press).
King Lear, by William Shakespeare. Art/adaptation by Ian Pollock. From The Graphic Canon, Volume 1 (Seven Stories Press).
Beowulf. Art/adaptation by Gareth Hinds. From The Graphic Canon, Volume 1 (Seven Stories Press).
Dangerous Liaisons, by Choderlos de Laclos. Illustration by Molly Crabapple. From The Graphic Canon, Volume 1 (Seven Stories Press).
The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer. Art/adaptation by Seymour Chwast. From The Graphic Canon, Volume 1 (Seven Stories Press).
Don Quixote, by Miguel Cervantes. Art/adaptation by Will Eisner. From The Graphic Canon, Volume 1 (Seven Stories Press).
The Book of Daniel, from the Hebrew Bible. Art/adaptation by Benjamin Frisch. From The Graphic Canon, Volume 1 (Seven Stories Press).
Lysistrata, by Aristophanes. Art/adaptation and translation by Valerie Schrag. From The Graphic Canon, Volume 1 (Seven Stories Press).
Symposium, by Plato. Art/adaptation by Yeji Yun. From The Graphic Canon, Volume 1 (Seven Stories Press).
The Tibetan Book of the Dead (Bardo Thodol), by Padmasambhava and Karma Lingpa. Art/adaptation by Sanya Glisic. From The Graphic Canon, Volume 1 (Seven Stories Press).