Hamlet gets choosy in an interactive book by Ryan North

Ever thought Hamlet would have been much more interesting if the melancholy Dane had taken more action and done less whining? Luckily enough, Dinosaur Comics creator Ryan North agrees with you.

North has spearheaded the development of To Be or Not to Be, a project that sees Shakespeare’s tale of tragedy, revenge, and a colossal case of indecision melded with a Choose Your Own Adventure-type format. Readers (playing as young Hamlet, old Hamlet, and Ophelia) work their way through snippets of text that see their characters confront obstacles such as pirates, ghosts, and perhaps the occasional international terrorist.

The imaginative text will be accompanied by illustrations by a slew of artists, including Aaron Diaz, Andrew Hussie, Anthony Clark, Braden Lamb, Shelli Paroline, Branden Bird, Brian McLachlan, Carly Monardo, Chip Zdarsky, Chris Hastings, Chris Jones, Danielle Corsetto, David Hellman, Dave Kellett, David Malki, Dustin Harbin, Dylan Meconis, Emily Carroll, Emily Partridge, Jeph Jacques, Jess Fink, John Allison, John Campbell, John Keogh, John Martz, Kate Beaton, Kate Leth, KC Green, Kean Soo, Lar deSouza, Marlo Meekins, Meredith Gran, Mike Holmes, Noelle Stevenson, Randall Munroe, Ray Fawkes, Raynato Castro and Alex Culang, Ryan Pequin, Sam Logan, Scott Campbell, Steve Wolfhard, Tyson Hesse, Vera Brosgol, and Zach Weiner.

If all this has yet to get your literary senses tingling, check out the project’s promo below for more encouragement.

Keep in mind that although the project was fully funded within three-and-a-half hours of today’s launch, you can still contribute to the cause and get a copy of your very own by heading to To Be or Not to Be’s Kickstarter page.

Follow Jennie Ramstad on Twitter at twitter.com/jennieramstad.