[...] other news, Stan Lee’s “crowning achievement“, the graphic novel Romeo and the Juliet: The War announced last August, comes out this week [...]

Of course, such an involvement would be a monumental undertaking, and would be best served under the influence of someone obsessed with the material and do it in a manner that would make sense. The closest comparision would be Wayne & Shuster’s treatment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhQ9aeCE8Oo

These Canadian comics were devoted fans of Shakespeare, and would parody his work whenever they got the chance. Their considered masterpiece is a cross between a classic and a Noir setting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR_5h8CzRcI

We need more inspirational work like these, and not “updated” classics that just tell the same old story over and over.

No Johanna, you don’t understand – in this one the robots and the superheroes HATE each other! And the robot kid and the superhero kid FALL IN LOVE! Their worlds will be completely ROCKED!

Honestly I can see the appeal of grabbing Shakespeare and doing “your own version”. But damn – Romeo and Juliet has been done to death at this point and, frankly, the plot of that play just isn’t worth it. If you’re going to be derivative of Shakespeare, why not go bigger and go with something few people have touched? Henry VI in space? Or imagine how much fun you could have with a post-apocalyptic superhero dystopian Julius Ceasar/Antony and Cleopatra yarn?

Nobody does these things – everyone goes right for Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and MacBeth (with the occasional nod towards the Tempest – as with Forbidden Planet – or a few well recognized comedies like the Taming of the Shrew). I assume because they’re recognized as his “best” plays and they’re the ones that everyone had to read in High School (so film studio heads are familiar with them and want to throw money at them).

Still – a space opera version of Henry VI – that has some possibilities. If only as a backdrop…