The 7 Shakespeares, Non Sanz Droict, vol. 1

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The 7 Shakespeares, Non Sanz Droict, by Harold Sakuishi, Grade: B
Given how big a splash the original 7 Shakespeares manga made, and the fact that Harold is the creator of Beck and Gorillaman, it's surprising to me that there's absolutely nothing on it in English.  The basic idea for the first series (2009-2011) is that what the world now knows as "William Shakespeare" was originally a 7-person team that worked together to create "Shakespeare's" plays. I haven't read that series. I was given a copy of the sequel, Non Sanz Droict (Big Comic Spirits, 2016-), (Shakespeare's family motto - "not without right") and that's why I know anything about this title at all.


(Lance always puts his back into his tasks, and loves raising face plants.)

We have Lance Carter, Milu and Lee riding in a carriage from Liverpool to London in 1588. The coach gets stuck in a muddy rut, and the diminutive Milu and the gung-ho Lance push it out of the mud simply because Lance can't wait anther hour to meet his destiny. Inside the coach is Lee, a weak young woman bundled up in blankets. They reach London, where Lance's friend, Worth Hughes, has purchased a house at the outskirts. Milu acts as cook and housekeeper, while Lance drags Worth to one of the bigger, newer theaters to watch a stage play. Lance has written his next work, Odette, and he attempts to approach the theater's owner to get him to read the manuscript. The problem is, the owner gets several scripts a day from would-be playwrights and other country bumpkins, and he's not interested. Lance interrupts the guy's romp with a girlfriend to blackmail him into reading Odetto. Unfortunately, he hates it and sets it on fire with a candle. The current star writer in London is Christopher Marlowe, and the theater owners are all focused on his latest hit, The Jew of Malta. Lance's play doesn't even come remotely close to being at the same level.


(Everyone's a critic. No, really, they all are.)

Lance refuses to give up, as he goes to every single theater in the city, even the worst dumps, and gets rejected from all of them. He then focuses on studying The Jew of Malta to figure what he's doing wrong. At the same time, he makes the acquaintance of Thomas Soap, a disfigured door to door book seller who used to attend Cambridge, and has memorized many of the books from its library. He's a walking encyclopedia, and he ends up telling Lance about an older Italian story that no one has turned into a play in English, yet. Lance decides to adapt the Italian story, which also features an underhanded Jewish moneylender. But, between him and Lee, the moneylender becomes more human than Marlowe's rendition (Lee writes his big "do we not bleed" speech), and Lance changes the title naming pattern to The Merchant of Venice.


(The crowd loves Marlowe.)

Along the way, Lance finds a wishing fountain and tosses in a coin to pray for success in London, only to have a young boy, Cain, wade into the pool to scoop out all the change to use for buying alcohol for his father. The guy's a mean drunk, and the boy is hoping to protect his mother, Ann, from one of his rages if he doesn't have something to drink in the evening. Lance gives him a bigger coin as a gift so he doesn't have to resort to stealing from the fountain. Ann finds the boy, and she's got bruises on her face. The air is cold and she's under-dressed. Lance gives her his mantle (actually it's Worth's) to keep her warm, which turns out to be a very bad move. When Ann gets home, her husband goes into a rage, accusing her of cheating on him, selling her body in return for nice clothes. He smashes her up really badly, then threatens to kill her when he gets back from the latrine. Cain grabs his mother's arm and drags her out of the house and to Lance's mansion. Lance gladly accepts both of them, to Worth's horror (they're burning through money and his one attempt to find a job from a friend was a failure because the friend had just lost all his money when the ship that had his cargo on it sunk in a storm).


(We finally get to see Lee's brand.)

The volume ends with Lance fixating on starting his own theater, where he can stage Merchant of Venice himself. His crew consists of: Lance, the playwright. Lee, a mysterious Chinese woman in ill-health and with an "x" branded on her throat, who may end up laying Portia, and is Lance's co-writer. Worth, a London dandy that keeps claiming to not understand anything about theater, but he is good-looking and is a charismatic narrator. Milu, the midget housekeeper that has a dramatic streak a mile wide and is dying to play the part of Shylock. Cain, the street urchin might be the one handling door duties and hanging out fliers. Thomas Soap, the bookseller that Lance is using as source material and is not currently an official part of the troupe. And Ann, the abused housewife; she's inept and clumsy, bad at housework, cooking and bringing food to the table, but she turns out to be a heaven-blessed lute player.



Summary: The artwork is very good, and the character designs are solid and consistent. It's just that the idea of turning a one-man historic figure into a 7-person ensemble cast is a very Japanese concept of a subservient team working for the good of the group, versus the western importance of strong individualism. I'm having a lot of trouble buying into the concept. But, I do like the historical realism feel of the buildings and theater designs. If you like 1500's England, and don't mind people messing with Shakespeare's legend, then I recommend Non Sanz Droict.