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Masterpiece Comics
by
R. Sikoryak
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 c ...more
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 c ...more
Hardcover, 64 pages
Published
September 1st 2009
by Drawn & Quarterly
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(showing 1-30 of 763)
This is a book of short comics depicting stories from classic literature written and drawn in the style of familiar comic strips and comic books, usually with characters from the comics playing the roles of characters from the classics. This is a brilliant idea, but there are two distinct pitfalls Sikoryak has to avoid in order to make it work:
It can't be a wink-wink, nudge-nudge, painfully self-aware exercise in which the characters are constantly saying, "Hoho, we're little cartoon characters ...more
It can't be a wink-wink, nudge-nudge, painfully self-aware exercise in which the characters are constantly saying, "Hoho, we're little cartoon characters ...more
For over a century pop culture writers have taken classic stories and changed them just enough so that audiences and readers could not recognize that they were swiped from Homer, Shakespeare, and Dickens. Sikoryak stakes the ground in-between this and adaptation. It is obvious that he is using classic sources, in fact it is one of the selling points, but he also recasts familiar comic strip and book characters to play the leads. Batman becomes Dostoyevsky’s murderer in a Detective Comics version
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What a delight, what a lark! Being a Victorian literature geek and a comic book nerd, how much fun was it to read some of my favorite works interpreted as pulp and classic strips? My favorite was The Heights, a 1950s dimestore rag portrayal of the Emily Bronte gothic epic - just an example of how well Sikoryak thought out the parallels and literal allusions between classic works of literature and comic art symbolism. I don't typically endorse watering down the great classics, but with a kryptoni
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"Doing classic literature as comics so kids will understand it, man" is as old as the comics medium, so it's fun for someone like Sikoryak to come along and do the whole thing with a wink and a nudge. Thus, "the Stranger" becomes "Action Camus" (after "Action Comics") with the absurdity of Superman emitting existential, miserable one-liners as he's led to the guillotine, while "the Scarlet Letter" becomes "Lil' Pearl" by way of "Little Lulu." While most are played for lulz, "Wuthering Heights" w
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Classic literature told through the guise of classic comic strips: Kafka's Metamorphosis by way of Peanuts: Scarlet Letter by way of Little Lulu; Macbeth by way of Mary Worth; Dante's Inferno through the Double Bubble Gum comics, and others. Surprisingly, the plots of the stories are accurately presented, just a different and fun medium. Note of Caution: These are definitely Not For Children. The stories are not bowdlerized. For example, Blondie and Dagwood tell the story of Adam and Eve with fu
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If you like comics and classic literature this book will make you laugh.
A friend informed me of the existence of this work and I must thank him heartily. The work has several fine details going for it, including art which gloriously mimics and parodies the work of Jim Davis, Charles Schulz, and countless others. While some had more impact on me than others – a character like Bat-Man as the protagonist in Crime and Punishment was far more enjoyable than the Tales from the Crypt / Bronte mashup – this is, perhaps, more linked to my fondness for Dostoevsky over Bronte.
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A great collection of comics by Sikoryak, and a must have if you didn't read the strips when they were being printed in places like Raw. Brilliant in that they don't adapt the classics, but rather comment and engage them, making it work on something like a half dozen levels for any reader familiar with the stories and comics he uses to tell them.
Loved it! Comic books were a rare treat for me when I was a kid, and the funny pages an obsession. In this collection, each comic is a top-notch homage to one classic comic and one literary masterpiece.
My three favorite examples: The Scarlet Letter as a Little Lulu comic; Kafka's Metamorphosis as a Peanuts comic; Waiting for Godot as performed by Beavis and Butthead. The "casting" of the characters from the referenced comic is hysterical, the artwork terrific, and the story in most cases would s ...more
My three favorite examples: The Scarlet Letter as a Little Lulu comic; Kafka's Metamorphosis as a Peanuts comic; Waiting for Godot as performed by Beavis and Butthead. The "casting" of the characters from the referenced comic is hysterical, the artwork terrific, and the story in most cases would s ...more
R. Sikoryak has done something quite ingenious in this volume. He has opted to retell works of classic (not classical) works of literature in comics form. However, rather than aiming for straight adaptations, Sikoryak uses the style and characters of specific classic comics for each retelling, e.g. 1950s EC Comics for the retelling of Brontë's Wuthering Heights in "The House-Keeper's Tale (in The Crypt of Brontë) and early Batman stories from Detective Comics for the retelling of Dostoyevsky's C
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R. Sikoryak’s “Masterpiece Comics” is an inspired mash-up, combining classic works of literature with classic comic book and comic strip characters. At their best, the stories unite shared themes underlying each work. “Blond Eve” settles the Bumsteads in the Garden of Eden, where Dagwood’s open gluttony and Blondie’s innocent curves subject them to the raging wrath of Mr. Dithers.
It’s fun to watch Sikoryak connect the dots. Garfield’s selfishness takes a sinister turn as he tempts Jon Arbuckle ...more
It’s fun to watch Sikoryak connect the dots. Garfield’s selfishness takes a sinister turn as he tempts Jon Arbuckle ...more
Dec 23, 2009
Erik Graff
rated it
liked it
Recommends it for:
Classic Comics fans
Recommended to Erik by:
Rick Strong
Shelves:
art
My Dad lives in East Dundee, Illinois, right along the Fox River, and I spent most of elementary school nearby, just north of the Meadowdale Shopping Center, back when the family couldn't afford anything like a riverside home. One day when I was about eight we were in town together, at the drugstore, on the same steet where, years later, they would film part of Road to Perdition. Whatever his business was, Dad, as was his wont, was browsing--a lengthy process of comparison pricing. I was browsin
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I have nothing to add to the publisher's synopsis by way of review, save that I would substitute "clever mashups" for "hilarious parody." As implied by the publisher, Sikoryak is a gifted visual mimic who has (mostly) successfully redacted classic works of the literary canon. He uses verbatim dialogue in some cases and eschews it where appropriate to the context (as in the full-page Beavis & Butthead realization of Waiting for Godot in which Didi regales Gogo as a "dumbass"). I thought the m
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“R. Sikoryak has drawn cartoons for numerous media giants, including Nickelodeon Magazine, The New Yorker, and The Daily Show with John Stewart, as well as for independent publications, films, and theatre productions. His cartoon side show series Carousel has been presented around the U.S. and Canada. He also teaches and lectures on comics and illustration.”
– Masterpiece Comics
Masterpiece Comics is a strange blend of black humor and satirical genius, merging plots from classic literature with ch ...more
– Masterpiece Comics
Masterpiece Comics is a strange blend of black humor and satirical genius, merging plots from classic literature with ch ...more
Definitely one of the top ten graphic novels of 2009, Sikoryak’s clever amalgamation of major comic books tropes and styles with classic novels and characters from world literature is an amazing read that leaves no doubt that he is one of comic-dom’s most brilliant creators living today. (And to think that I hadn’t heard of him until I picked this up just recently.)
Imagine Garfield as Christopher Marlowe’s Faust if Jim Davis had drawn it as a cartoon strip, Wuthering Heights as a Tales from the ...more
Imagine Garfield as Christopher Marlowe’s Faust if Jim Davis had drawn it as a cartoon strip, Wuthering Heights as a Tales from the ...more
These were hit or miss for me. I think you have to know both the classical source material and the comic being parodied to get them. Macbeth in the style of Mary Worth? Meh. Garfield as Mephistopheles in Faust? Clever. The Scarlet Letter as Little Lulu? Meh. Gregor Samsa as Charlie Brown? Genius!
Neat idea. I mostly browsed this book. I don't feel like you really need to actually read each story, but it's fun to look at the pictures. My favorite is Waiting For Godot in the style of Beavis and Butthead. Pretty hilarious.
Very funny, I may be the EXACT audience for this collection, as I adore books and classic literature, but don't mind some poking fun of them, and I am familiar with the newspaper comics enough to get those jokes (thank you comics curmudgeon!) Teens would probably find this book awesome, but I wonder if they would be familiar with Mary Worth and Tales from the Crypt. The knowledge isn't necessary, but it does add an extra level of fun and funniness.
My favorite was the Tales from the Crypt/Wuther ...more
My favorite was the Tales from the Crypt/Wuther ...more
Delightful. I've little to add to what others have said--but I'll confirm that it's a great trot for a few things I don't want to read, or don't want to read again.
This book is very funny. Great for anyone who's a fan of classic literature.
This book was so cool! Sikoryak takes literary classics like The Scarlet Letter, Crime and Punishment, and The Metamorphosis and re-tells them in the style of classic comics! Anyone who's loved Little Lulu will enjoy her as "Pearl" in "Red Letter Days"; her mom plays Hester and Tubby plays Hester's long lost husband! And poor old Charlie Brown makes a perfect Gregor Samsa. I'd give this book to older kids if it weren't for the Creation story with Dagwood and Blondie in their pre-sin state of nak
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In a year where the brain dead PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES mashup sold oodles and publishers sold their souls to crap out the next zombie/monster/classic mashup (okay, I’m speaking in hyperbole…publishers have no souls), R. Sikoryak’s insanely funny, smart, and deep (yes, deep!) collection of comic/classic mashups is the kind of book to be read and reread and you’d still not catch all the brilliant metaphors and links to themes of both classic lit and classic comic. That, or just delight in
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The canon as comic book. Rather than "illustated classics", these are wonderfully clever parodies that use masterful take-offs on classic comics. Ziggy as Candide. Little Nemo as Dorian Gray. Superman as the Stranger from Camus. There's a great retelling of Genesis using Blondie and Dagwood. And a rockin version of Wuthering Heights done as a Tales From the Crypt EC Horror comic. It's clever, the comics are spot on... The only problem is that there's not enough of it. But rest assured, I'm sure
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It's artfully done- Sikoryak is a very competent stylist and mimic- and I enjoyed it, but ultimately this is a one gag book built around a single formula. And it revels in the a fatal weakness of modern comics for self-reference...the last thing we need is another comic about comics or comic writers- we need the talent to concentrate on expanding the frontiers not closing them off. It's all very knowing and ironic, but it rather makes me yearn for the innocence of the original golden age comics
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A great book for the literati, literature-minded, previous English majors, you name it! You've got Dostoyevsky's Crime & Punishment in a "Batman" comic form, The Scarlet Letter in "Little Pearl" comic form, Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus is played out through "Garfield", Wuthering Heights is told through a "Tales from the Crypt Keeper" strip, and it goes on. Highly entertaining for a literature geek . . . even the "advertisements" that accompany comic books have literature metaphors pl
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Witty and delightful, especially for those of us who tend to lean more towards literature than comics. This really does show the power of comics, the breadth of the medium. The shorter pieces - the parody of Candide and The Stranger - are the strongest, because I think Sikoryak is more expressive here. He's not as bogged down in fully representing a long and complex story, but rather captures the essence of a classic work of literature, distills it down to it's recognizable elements and then run
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A classic of our day.
Fun interpretations of literary classics (from the story of Adam and Eve to Wuthering Heights to Kafka) as portrayed by classic comic book characters. I particularly enjoyed the letter "question and answer" portion at the end of each section which explained Sikoryak's thoughts and reasons behind why he chose which comic book characters to tell which stories.
Being familiar with these stories seems helpful, although there were several I was not familiar with and I enjoyed their comic book versions ...more
Being familiar with these stories seems helpful, although there were several I was not familiar with and I enjoyed their comic book versions ...more
This review was deleted following Amazon's purchase of GoodReads.
The review can still be viewed via LibraryThing, where my profile can be found here.
I'm also in the process of building a database at Booklikes, where I can be found here.
If you read/liked/clicked through to see this review here on GR, many thanks.
The review can still be viewed via LibraryThing, where my profile can be found here.
I'm also in the process of building a database at Booklikes, where I can be found here.
If you read/liked/clicked through to see this review here on GR, many thanks.
This book manages to parody both classic newspaper cartoons/comics and classic literary works in an amusing and smart way. Everyone from Garfield to Batman gets a classic reworking here from the likes of Shakespeare and the Brontes. The author even took the time to parody ads for toys and get rich quick schemes like the ones that used to appear in comics and the letters to editors page. Extremely enjoyable.
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