***UPDATE: Additional names have been added to the roster!***

“Screw your courage to the sticking-place, and we’ll not fail.”–William Shakespeare

The Ides! Today, Red Stylo Media is officially announcing the slate of artists participating in this year’s Shakespeare Shaken comics anthology, a collection of comic art and stories inspired by The Bard! Last year, Shakespeare Shaken‘s sister title, The Poe Twisted Anthology, featured art and writing by thirteen artists. As you’ll see below…we’ve grown! No surprise: to borrow from Marcus Antonius in honor of this day, our ambitions are of sterner stuff. Ha!

The collection will feature original stories and art inspired by the plays and poetic works of William Shakespeare. Rather than merely adapting this great body of work, the artists have taken up the challenge to celebrate the Bard and to be inspired to create something new. These brave shorts and pieces touch on canon, yet tell a new generation of stories in honor and tribute to Shakespeare. (And, secretly, didn’t you always wish there were pictures? Damn, high school comp lit would have been sooo much easier…)

Writer, editor and Newsarama.com Write or Wrong columnist, Dirk Manning (Nightmare World, Farseeker) will write the collection’s Foreword as well as contribute a story.

Eisner Award nominee, writing wonder, and former Poe Twisted contributor Jason Ciaramella (The Cape, Godzilla) will also return with a new story and introduction!

Contributors include:

Alex Cormack*
Richard Douek
Matthew J. Fletcher
Andre Frattino*
Laura Guzzo
Bobby Harps
Mitch Hyman
Andrew Jerz*
Sherezada Kent*
Seva Khibkin
Ashley Lanni
Elizabeth-Amber Love
Kristin McHugh
James McGee
A.I. Miller
Mark Mullaney*
Seth Mullins
Shaun Noel
R. Robert Pollak
Erik Radvon
Kyle Richey*
Jon Santana
Ryan Schrodt
Jason Strutz*
Marta Tanrikulu*
Jeremy Whitley

Editor: Enrica Jang*

Much luck and many thanks to everyone listed here for contributing their talents and time to this project! More about each of these wonderful individuals as we move forward into production this year. Shakespeare Shaken is slated for release in August 2012. And, who knows, you may even want to check back for new names…

* Returning contributors from The Poe Twisted Anthology