Book excerpt: The intrigue and royal conspiracy in the Bard’s Richard III is given a dark manga twist that will appeal to aficionados of both comics and the classics. Richard, the ambitious third son of the House of York, believes he is cursed, damned from birth to eternal darkness. But is it truly fate that sets him on the path to personal destruction? Or his own tormented longings? Based on an early draft of Shakespeare’s Richard III, Aya Kanno’s dark fantasy finds the man who could be king standing between worlds, between classes, between good and evil. Richard, mourning his loved one, tumbles in a wave of grief. Still, he finds the strength to stand again and hold up his sword with a mighty righteousness as the showdown with Richmond begins. The curtain finally rises on the Battle of Bosworth, and the story of King Richard and the War of the Roses comes full circle.