Hot on the heels of Twelfth Night comes The Merchant of Venice – another Shakespeare adaptation in the manga style. This one, illustrated by Faye Yong, swaps the original Venetian setting for a fantasy land inhabited by trolls and elves, while maintaining Shakespeare’s plot and dialogue.
Merchant Antonio wrangles an interest free loan from investor Shylock to run a fleet of merchant ships on a trade route that seemingly can’t fail to make money. The trouble is, when his entire fleet sinks in a freak storm, Antonio is left with nothing in the bank to repay Shylock with. Which is when the small print is read, and Antonio realises that he has to give Shylock a literal pound of his own flesh in the event of being unable to pay.