December 15, 2009, 4:00 pm
Masterpiece Comics
by Lisa Agustin
Filed under: Comics, Illustration
I am happily perusing an early Christmas present to myself: Masterpiece Comics, a collection of R. Sikoryak’s mash-ups of comic strips and world literature. Some examples: Rex Morgan, M.D. + Macbeth = “Macworth.” Ziggy + Candide = “Candiggy.” From more recent times, Mike Judge’s Beavis and Butthead + Waiting for Godot = “Waiting to Go.” You get the idea. At first glance, it looks like Sikoryak is simply layering literary plotlines atop uncanny copies of famous cartoons. But the Masterpiece collection is more than that. Each classic tale has been carefully matched with a comic that shares its core sensibility, and the clever pairing emphasizes what they have in common, while at the same time creating something new. In “Good Ol’ Gregor Brown” (above), Gregor Samsa from Franz Kafka’s novella The Metamorphosis wakes up as a bug in the Peanuts world of Charles M. Schulz. Samsa and Charlie Brown are separated by time and place, but the futility and sad humor are the same. It’s just one of many examples that make you think, “Of course!” My only disappointment is that this volume is a little on the slim side– only 64 pages– but that’s only because I wish there was more to explore. Guess I will just have to wait for the next one (“Coming soon! Virgil! Chaucer! Flaubert!”)
See also:
R. Sikoryak’s web site (http://www.rsikoryak.com/index.html)
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