Legendary Comics has announced they’re giving a Shakespeare classic an alternate take.

Tragic, which is written by Dana Mele (People Like Us; Summer’s Edge), will offer a queer retelling of Hamlet. A synopsis for the story reads:

Tragic is told through the eyes of 17-year-old Harper Hayes. After her father Hamilton dies a mysterious and tragic death, Harper is convinced that he was murdered, and her first suspect is her uncle, who has been sleeping with her mother. With the help of her ex-girlfriend Talia and her best friend (sometimes with benefits) Holden, Harper is determined to find her father's killer. But when Caius, Talia's father and Hamilton’s business partner, is also found dead, Harper realizes the answer to Hamilton’s murder is more complicated than she had initially realized.

As Harper begins to see her father’s ghost in the form of a teenage Hamlet everywhere and starts slipping into hallucinations of his murder that end with blood on her hands, one thing becomes clear—in order to uncover the truth about what happened to her father, Harper has to confront her own demons and ones that haunt the Hayes family.

In a statement, Mele said:

“Tragic is a YA thriller family drama mashup with an intensely visual presentation. I was inspired by a story very close to my heart, Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Years ago, I played Hamlet in college and what I love about retellings is the familiar heartbeat of a beloved story in sometimes a strange or quirky, unexpected form. I've always seen Hamlet as a queer character, as someone with a deeply intimate relationship with Horatio. And if Hamlet were written today, I think it would be a psychological thriller, so that's the story that came about organically. Tragic, in essence, is about anxieties surrounding identity, obligation, and mortality.”

To help bring this graphic novel to life, Mele has enlisted artist Valentina Pinti (SMASH! Thunderbolt the Avenger; Noise Press’ The Steams; NoLand Comics’ Rust) and colorist Chiara Di Francia (Jungle’s Le Renard de Morlange; Les Humanoides’ Associes Hard Rescue). Legendary Comics’ editor Nikita Kannekanti said:

“It has been great to work with Dana on bringing a new queer version of Hamlet to the page, and Tragic is such an intriguing retelling. “Valentina and Chiara have done a fantastic job capturing the human and theatrical elements in the vivid art of this tale, and I am really looking forward to sharing Harper and her messy life with readers.”

Tragic will be released in spring 2022.