Ever wondered what would happen if Garfield were to meet Christopher Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus? Or if Beavis and Butt-head were left waiting for Godot? Probably not. But luckily comic-book artist R. Sikoryak has, as he demonstrates in the clever and fun Masterpiece Comics, which mashes up classical works of literature with comic strips to great effect.
Shakespeare, Wilde and Camus are just some of the writers that get the surprising pop-culture-twist treatment, and what makes the book succeed beyond its canny concept is Sikoryak’s thoughtful marriage of the disparate materials. In “Dostoyevsky Comics,” he’s made loner vigilante Bruce Wayne Crime and Punishment’s Raskol (instead of the bat signal, he gets an ax). And in our personal favorite, “Good Ol’ Gregor Brown,” lovable loser Charlie Brown wakes up a cockroach à la Kafka’s The Metamorphosis (Snoopy is the maid). Good grief, indeed.
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an excerpt from Masterpiece Comics
Masterpiece Comics
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