Masterpiece Comics [Hardcover]

R. Sikoryak (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2009

HILARIOUS PARODIES OF CLASSIC LITERATURE REIMAGINED WITH CLASSIC COMICS

Masterpiece Comics adapts a variety of classic literary works with the most iconic visual idioms of twentieth-century comics. Dense with exclamation marks and lurid colors, R. Sikoryak’s parodies remind us of the sensational excesses of the canon, or, if you prefer, of the economical expressiveness of classic comics from Batman to Garfield. In "Blond Eve,” Dagwood and Blondie are ejected from the Garden of Eden into their archetypal suburban home; Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray is reimagined as a foppish Little Nemo; and Camus’s Stranger becomes a brooding, chain-smoking Golden Age Superman. Other source material includes Dante, Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky, bubblegum wrappers, superhero comics, kid cartoons, and more. 

Sikoryak’s classics have appeared in landmark anthologies such as RAW and Drawn & Quarterly, all of which are collected in Masterpiece Comics, along with brilliant new graphic literary satires. His drawings have appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, as well as in The New Yorker, The Onion, Mad, and Nickelodeon Magazine.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. This slim but densely sly volume collects, at long last, 20 years of Sikoryak's classic lit/classic comics mashups. Blondie and Dagwood act out Genesis in Blonde Eve; Garfield tempts Jon into a deal with the devil in Mephistofield; and Batman turns into Raskol for a reworking of Crime and Punishment. What could be simple parody in other hands is elevated to multileveled artistry by Sikoryak's uncanny ability to mimic the line of artists from Winsor McCay through Jack Davis to Charles Schulz. He goes far beyond mere imitation to eerily inhabit the artistic sensibilities of a dozen cartoonists; the result is as funny as it is impressive. These retellings linger on the philosophical underpinnings of such tales; coupled with the allusions and baggage of these familiar cartoon characters, the crossovers take on a life of their own to become legitimate adaptations. For instance, Little Pearl in Red Letter Day features Marjorie Henderson Buell/John Stanley's Little Lulu characters in a note for note retelling of Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, contrasting the grim Puritan narrative with the animated expressions of the Bueel/Stanley originals to cast the sin-obsessed settlers into even sharper relief. Readers who pick this up for the well-deserved laughter will get a bonus with the thoughtful metaphors. (Sept.)
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From School Library Journal

Grade 11 Up–The practice of retelling classic literature in comic-book form gets turned on its head in this entertaining mash-up. With a varied compilation featuring Blondie and Dagwood newly created and naked in the Garden of Eden, or a typically wry Garfield in the role of Mephistopheles, Sikoryak successfully merges the main themes and plot points with the artistic components unique to the individual comics. For instance, old school Superman's square jaw perfectly conveys The Stranger's nihilistic detachment, presented by the covers of Action Camus instead of Action Comics. Though each story's impact depends on readers' frame of reference with the material (teens might readily recognize the Macbeth plot but not the Mary Worth comic strip), the book provides a good entry point for discussing satire. Added details like Letters to the Editor, a drawing contest, and advertisements for a toy model of the Pequod complete the package, ensuring more than a few chuckles.–Joanna K. Fabicon, Los Angeles Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 64 pages
• Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly (September 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1897299842
• ISBN-13: 978-1897299845
• Product Dimensions: 12.1 x 9.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #322,957 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #53 in Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > Publishers > Drawn and Quarterly

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Parody & Profundity, September 2, 2009

By 

Roochak - See all my reviews

This review is from: Masterpiece Comics (Hardcover)

R. Sikoryak is so good an artist, it's frightening, but now he's my new hero. Comic book parodies of literary classics are nothing new, but no one has ever made the source and its comic variation cut as deeply into each other as Sikoryak does in his graphic re-imagining of the Western canon. Perhaps the creative fuse that lead to this collection was lit in response to Harold Bloom, who credited the creation of modern self-consciousness to the shock effect that works of literary genius, particularly Shakespeare, have had upon our concept of ourselves. Or it could just be that Sikoryak finds it funny as hell that Dante's moralistic allegory of the wages of sin works just fine when condensed to the size of a bubblegum wrapper.

That's only one of the formal strategies on display in this collection. Sikoryak, clearly a man who enjoys a challenge, not only finds astonishing parallels between characters from highbrow literature and pop culture, but he paintstakingly draws each cartoon parody in a line-perfect recreation of the original's style, right down to the flat, four-color palette that comics were stuck with in the pre-computer era. It's a virtuoso performance.

Nothing will give you a better idea of what Sikoryak is up to than the table of contents:

"Blonde Eve" -- Mr. Dithers creates the world and appoints Dagwood and Blondie caretakers of the Garden of Eden. Things don't go very well.

"Inferno Joe" -- Bazooka Joe tours the nine circles of Hell in thirty-one bubblegum-wrapper-sized panels.

"Mephistofield" -- Jon Faustus makes a deal with the devil to become lord of all the Earth. His constant companion is a fat, lazy, unflappable feline demon who's clearly the brains of the operation.

"MacWorth" -- Mary Worth advises her husband, Rex (Mac) Morgan, to murder his boss, Mr. Duncan, and take his place at the head of the firm. No one counted on Mac's feverish imagination working overtime.

"Candiggy" -- Voltaire's innocent nebbish trudges through a world of horrors while clinging to his indefatigable optimism.

"The Crypt of Bronte" -- The wildly melodramatic tale of Heathcliff and Cathy and their doomed love is given the EC horror comics treatment, complete with narration by "the House-Keeper."

"Hester's Little Pearl" -- Little Lulu is cast as the all-seeing innocent at the heart of America's weirdest allegorical novel, with her mom and pop in the roles of Hester Prynne and the Rev. Dimmesdale.

"Dostoevsky Comics" -- The arrogant, impoverished student Raskol dons his cape, cowl, and hatchet to take the law into his own hands. He is aided on the arduous road to redemption by Sonny, the boy prostitute wonder, and Commissioner Porfiry Petrovich, all drawn in Dick Sprang's noir-influenced style.

"Little Dori in Pictureland" -- Oscar Wilde meets Winsor McCay. Cruelty, selfishness and murder make up the dream life from which Little Dori will awake...at a cost.

"Good ol' Gregor Brown" -- The little round-headed guy awakes from uneasy dreams to find himself transformed into a gigantic insect. Good grief!

"Action Camus" -- The Stranger, with cruel words and actions far beyond those of conventional morality, can't bear to live in a world as absurd as this one. The existential anti-hero is drawn to look a lot like Wayne Boring's version of a certain Strange Visitor from Another Planet.

"Waiting to Go" -- Beavis and Butt-head, as imagined by Samuel Beckett. One page, to be re-read ad infinitum.


If you read only one graphic novel this year, make it this one.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ROFL, September 10, 2009

By 

M. Hyman "Artist at large" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Masterpiece Comics (Hardcover)

What a great mix of two wonderful genres: comic books and classics. The author maintains and merges both forms with equal veracity. I have been laughing on every page, whether Dagwood and Blondie as Adam and Eve, or the Tales of the Crypt version of Wuthering Heights.

Marvelous fun.

The book also includes all of the wonderful back of comic ads that enhance comic book experience, tying them into the stories told within.

A lovely find

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars form follows function, September 21, 2009

By 

Chuck Furnace "Love, LIGHT and Laughter," (Hartford, CT) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Masterpiece Comics (Hardcover)

great idea well executed, using the style and characters of various cartoon and comic books and strips, the artists reveals the underlying archetypes that link great literature and great comics. The "Good Grief" of Charlie Brown echoes Kafka's Human Cockroach Gregor in railing against an unfair world, Dostoevsky and Batman collide over the concepts of Crime and Punishment, and the true meaning of Gothic is highlighted when Jane Austin gets the EC Horror treatment. Highly recommended