Picture Shakespeare in new format

Tomorrow at 6 p.m. at the Wellesley Booksmith shop, the Watertown resident will read from his adaptation of the Shakespeare classic. Hinds has distilled all of the play’s betrayal, passion, action, and poetry into 119 pages of comic-book-like panels.

The transformation makes the Bard of Avon accessible, which explains why the graphic novels crafted by Hinds are used by schools and colleges. A full one-third of the sales of his versions of “King Lear,’’ “The Merchant of Venice,’’ and the epic poem “Beowulf’’ have been to scholastic institutions. The same is expected for his upcoming adaptation of Homer’s “The Odyssey.’’ All of the works are published by Candlewick Press.

“An adaptation should either be an attempt to honor the original work and retell it as well as possible in a new medium, which does require that you take some liberties . . . . Or you should just be inspired by it and do something completely different with it, like how ‘Blade Runner’ is to ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’’’ said Hinds, 38.

He keeps to the first approach for the classics, staying true to the story and often to the original text as much as possible; to fit the format of a graphic novel, the text is shortened.

In “King Lear,’’ he keeps the iambic rhythm and Shakespeare’s wording, while occasionally updating an archaic word. In “The Merchant of Venice,’’ he sets the play in today’s Venice and translates much of it to colloquial English.

“In oral traditions, like ‘Beowulf,’ and even Shakespeare, there tends to be a lot of repetition. So I cut repetition,’’ explained Hinds. “But I’m also always looking for text I can jump over because it’s been drawn instead.’’

His expressive ink and watercolor drawings vividly depict scenes as described by their authors.

“One of the things I’ve always found really compelling in Shakespeare is the way he uses outside elements to mirror the emotional states of characters. And ‘King Lear’ is the quintessential example of that,’’ said Hinds. “That’s why I knew I had to do it. I wanted to show those connections.’’

Just as great films use color schemes to create a mood, so does Hinds. Colors shift from friendly pastels at quiet moments to turbulent blues as plots are struck. Searing reds amplify fits of rage. Eerie near-blacks depict a descent into madness. But more than imagery is made immediate by his drawings.

“I love going to see Shakespeare staged. I’m always intrigued how actors solve these interesting problems of the stage directions and the blocking,’’ Hinds said. “But it’s always a little bit of a shame too that they can’t just stage a storm on stage. Or they can’t have an army come through and do the whole battle.

“With a graphic novel, though, I can take those scenes on in the same way as if I was making a movie. I can have an entire army and a giant battle and a giant storm, and the action scenes can be convincing and bloody in a way they can’t be otherwise.’’

Combat scenes have always fascinated Hinds, and it shows in his work. Whether capturing the brutish wrestling match of Grendel and Beowulf or the finessed sword fighting in “King Lear,’’ his action scenes pulse with film-like energy. As he zooms in on every last straining sinew of Grendel, you can practically smell the bloody battle. As he whips from clash to clash in ‘King Lear,’ you can almost hear the swords ring.

“It’s sort of like coming up with an Errol Flynn sequence,’’ said Hinds. “I have to come up with a way to make it more theatrical, and at the same time to convey some of that speed and subtlety.’’

He is aware that action is partly why high school students have been known to line up eagerly for copies of his work. But to Hinds, again, it’s about being true to the text and his art form.

“ ‘King Lear’ has all these fights described in it in the stage directions. Of course, some theatrical companies might downplay those because they are hard to stage. But in Shakespeare’s time, back when all of the actors were competent swordsmen, these were pretty dramatic fights,’’ said Hinds. “So, I’m trying to bring the full drama that it should have, and fleshing it out fully.’’

Hinds uses traditional materials: pencil, ink, watercolor, papers, and wood. Some special effects he creates digitally. But he refuses to go entirely digital, even though he is well-versed in the medium. He spent 12 years creating graphics for computer games.

“What I like about watercolor is that it picks up the texture of the paper,’’ said Hinds. “One of the things that I don’t like about traditional comics is that the coloring is flat color. Or it has an air-brushy or slick computer color look. It doesn’t look like any traditional materials ever touched it. So I really like to bring more of a fine art sensibility into my comics.’’

Hinds spent the last 18 months creating his largest work yet: a 256-page adaptation of “The Odyssey.’’ He worked on it in his home studio, and even developed a few sketches at area cafes and while riding the T.

“It took a long time. It has a lot of detailed drawings because there are an awful lot of crowd scenes. I flew through the section where it’s just Odysseus on a raft. But when I got to their version of the Olympic games? Well, that went a little slower,’’ he said laughing.

“The Odyssey’’ is due out next fall, but Hinds will provide a sneak peak at tomorrow’s reading. Meanwhile, Candlewick Press has encouraged him to break new ground with his next work.

“There’s starting to be a lot more competition in this area. It used to be that nobody else was doing graphic novels of the classics. Now there are three different companies doing Shakespeare adaptations,’’ said Hinds. “So right now, I’m in an exciting and confusing place. I’m considering all of the possibilities: original, nonfiction, historical fiction, more Shakespeare,’’ he said.

“It all interests me and the graphic novel has so much potential in so many areas.’’

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