I knew that reading those classic novels in high school and college would pay off someday. Because I was able to get most of the jokes in R. Sikoryak’s MASTERPIECE COMICS collection. Although it’s not the New York-based artist’s only gig, he’s made a name for himself marrying modern-day cartoon characters to the plots of literature’s most famous works, and the result is brilliant, brainy parody.
Having read several here and there over the years, I was pleased to see them all collected in a sturdy, handsome hardback from Drawn and Quarterly. One need not have a degree in English Lit to enjoy the contents, but those with no familiarity with the books being spoofed will be unable to grant it the deep appreciation it deserves.
“Blondie” is the first target, with Dagwood Bumstead and his lovely wife recast as Adam and Eve, with Mr. Dithers playing God, in “Blond Eve.” In the book’s first true stroke of genius, the bubble-gum groaners of Bazooka Joe are reimagined into an eight-strip journey into Dante’s INFERNO.
Hell comes to Garfield, too, in “Mephistofield,” with Jim Davis’ fat cat sprouting horns and a master who studies black magic. Old fuddy duddy Mary Worth becomes “Mac Worth” in a soap-opera version of Shakespeare’s MACBETH, and Ziggy gets the Voltaire treatment in a greeting-card-ready tour of sins titled “Candiggy.”
“The Crypt of Brontë” is unearthed next, with WUTHERING HEIGHTS turned into a dead-on EC horror tale in two parts. Little Lulu becomes Hester Prynne in the most adorable adaptation of THE SCARLET LETTER ever, while Batman is the guilty party of CRIME AND PUNISHMENT, here turned into an issue of DOSTOYEVSKY COMICS. This story is perhaps the book’s masterstroke, with near-equals to follow when Charlie Brown becomes METAMORPHOSIS‘ Gregor Samsa (“Happiness is a pest-free home,” thinks Snoopy), and Superman is portrayed as THE STRANGER in a series of ACTION CAMUS covers.
No matter what the work being parodied — and on either side, book or comic — Sikoryak hits the bull’s-eye. It’s absolutely amazing how he’s able to ape each property. Not only does any given story capture its overall look and style, but the characters are dead ringers, and even the lettering is pitch-perfect. He has the fine points of parody down to an exact science.
So that’s how they look. Bonus: They read as funny as they are smart. I can imagine only the stuffiest of literature professors not finding this savage dressing-down of the classics at least amusing. Whether you love the big books or despised them, you’re apt to glean pleasure from Sikoryak’s tastefully twisted takes. —Rod Lott
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- Important Comics
- The Best American Comics 2008
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