In this week’s “Adapt This” column for IFC, I assess the adaptation potential of a book that’s been sitting on my shelf for a while now. I finally got a chance to read Kill Shakespeare last week, and now I’m a bit disappointed that I didn’t open it up earlier. It’s a great first chapter in what looks to be a really imaginative, unique take on Shakespeare’s plays that lumps all of their universes together, crossover-style, into a single narrative.

It also has one of my favorite titles in quite a while. You don’t get catchier than “Kill Shakespeare,” folks.

Here’s an excerpt from the column:

Much like Fables did for faery tales and many other projects have done with various mythologies, Kill Shakespeare takes many of the best-known characters from Shakespeare’s works (i.e., Hamlet, Juliet, Othello, Lady Macbeth, etc.) and tells a story that weaves all of these characters and their respective stories together into a single adventure. In this case, that adventure has the heroes off on a quest to find the elusive wizard-god Will Shakespeare. The villains, on the other hand, seek to kill Shakespeare (as the title of the series implies) and use his reality-bending quill for their own purposes.

With a title as compelling as “Kill Shakespeare,” the series is already off to a good start when it comes to attracting attention. The story’s cast of well-known characters only adds to the mainstream appeal, and offers a great entrance point for most audiences.

You can read the rest of the column at IFC.com…