Robert Sikoryak (born 1964) is an American artist whose work is usually signed R. Sikoryak. He specializes in making comic adaptations of literature classics. Under the series title ''Masterpiece Comics'', these include ''

Crime and Punishment ''Crime and Punishment'' is a novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. It was first published in the literary journal '' The Russian Messenger'' in twelve monthly installments during 1866.

'' rendered in

Bob Kane Robert Kane ( Kahn ; October 24, 1915 – November 3, 1998) was an American comic book writer, animator, and artist who created Batman and many early related characters for DC Comics. He was inducted into the comic book industry's Jack Kirby ...

–era

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

style, becoming ''Dostoyevsky Comics'', starring Raskol; and ''

Waiting for Godot ''Waiting for Godot'' ( or ) is a 1953 play by Irish writer and playwright Samuel Beckett, in which the two main characters, Vladimir (Waiting for Godot), Vladimir (Didi) and Estragon (Gogo), engage in a variety of discussions and encounters w ...

'' mixed with ''

Beavis and Butt-Head ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' is an American Adult animation, adult animated Animated sitcom, sitcom created by Mike Judge. The series follows Beavis and Butt-Head, both voiced by Judge, a pair of teenage slackers characterized by their apathy, Stupi ...

'', becoming ''Waiting to Go''.

Early life

Sikoryak was born in 1964. He is originally from

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

"Rob Sikoryak"

Lambiek Comiclopedia Galerie Lambiek is a Dutch comic book store and art gallery in Amsterdam, founded on November 8, 1968 by Kees Kousemaker (, – Bussum, ). His son Boris Kousemaker has been the owner since 2007. From 1968 to 2015, it was located in the Ke ...

. Retrieved January 22, 2017. and graduated from Manville High School as the

salutatorian Salutatorian is an academic title given in Armenia, the Philippines, Canada, Afghanistan and the United States to the second-highest-ranked graduate of the entire graduating class of a specific discipline. Only the valedictorian is ranked higher. ...

of the class of 1983. He earned his BFA from the

Parsons School of Design The Parsons School of Design is a private art and design college under The New School located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhattan art ...

in 1987, and is on staff at the school."Robert Sikoryak"

. Retrieved January 20, 2017.

Career

Shortly after graduating from Parsons, Sikoryak worked on staff at '' Raw'', before embarking on a freelance cartooning career. He co-edited with

Art Spiegelman Itzhak Avraham ben Zeev Spiegelman ( ; born February 15, 1948), professionally known as Art Spiegelman, is an American cartoonist, editor, and comics advocate best known for his graphic novel ''Maus''. His work as co-editor on the comics magazin ...

, and contributed to, the

comic jam A comic jam is a creative process where one or more comics artists collaborates on drawing or painting one single comic. Often the process is that one artist creates the first page, and then another artist creates the second, and a third does the ...

The Narrative Corpse ''The Narrative Corpse'' is a chain story, or comic jam, created by 69 all-star cartoonists in the early-to-mid 1990s. A graphic novel compilation of the result was published in 1995. Edited by Art Spiegelman and Robert Sikoryak, ''The Narrati ...

'', published in 1995. Sikoryak's cartoons and illustrations have appeared in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', ''

Drawn & Quarterly Drawn & Quarterly (D+Q) is a publishing company based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, specializing in comics. It publishes primarily comic books, graphic novels and comic strip collections. The books it publishes are noted for their artistic con ...

'',Flamming, E.C. (January 19, 2017)
"Check Out These Horrifying and Amazing ''The Unquotable Trump'' Comic Book Covers by R. Sikoryak"
''

Paste Paste is a term for any very thick viscous fluid. It may refer to: Science and technology * Adhesive or paste ** Wallpaper paste ** Wheatpaste, a liquid adhesive made from vegetable starch and water * Paste (rheology), a substance that behaves as ...

''. ''

Nickelodeon Magazine ''Nick Magazine'' is a defunct American children's magazine inspired by the children's television network Nickelodeon. Its first incarnation appeared in 1990 and was distributed at participating Pizza Hut restaurants; the version of the magazine ...

'', '' World War 3 Illustrated'' and ''RAW''; and on ''

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

''. Sikoryak is also known for his ''

Carousel A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (International English), or galloper (British English) is a type of amusement ride consisting of a rotating circular platform with seats for riders. The seats are tradit ...

'' series of multimedia comics slide shows, featuring cartoonists such as Lauren Weinstein,

Michael Kupperman Michael Kupperman (born April 26, 1966), also known by the pseudonym P. Revess,Spurgeon, Tom"A Short Interview With Michael Kupperman,"The Comics Reporter (August 7, 2005). is an American cartoonist and illustrator. He created the comic strips '' ...

, Jason Little and himself, which have been presented in various venues in the United States and Canada since 1997. In 2017, Sikoryak published ''The Unquotable Trump'', a collection of parody comic book covers depicting

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

, illustrated in the style of iconic comic book covers from the Golden,

Silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

Bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

, and

Modern Age of Comic Books The Modern Age of Comic Books is a period in the history of American superhero comic books which began in 1985 and continues through the present day. During approximately the first 15 years of this period, many comic book characters were redesi ...

. Each illustration is patterned after the a specific classic cover from series like '' The Walking Dead'' and '' Richie Rich'', and drawn in the style of the original artists, who include

Jack Kirby Jack Kirby (; born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comics artist, comic book artist, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He grew ...

Jerry Robinson Sherrill David "Jerry" Robinson (January 1, 1922 – December 7, 2011) was an American comic book artist known for his work on DC Comics' Batman line of comics during the 1940s. He is best known as the co-creator of Robin and the Joker and for ...

, John Romita and

Jim Lee Jim Lee (; born August 11, 1964) is a Korean-born American comic book artist, writer, editor, and publisher. As of 2023, he is the President, Publisher, and Chief creative officer, Chief Creative Officer of DC Comics. In recognition of his work ...

. Each illustration is also thematically connected to the line of dialogue spoken by the Trump character, each of which is taken from controversial or otherwise notable comments the real-life Trump made at public events or in interviews during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, such as his comments on Mexico, black voters and torture.Couch, Aaron (January 18, 2017)
"Artist Turns Donald Trump Into Classic Comic Book Villains"
''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

''. March 7, 2017 saw the publication of ''

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

Terms and Conditions A contractual term is "any provision forming part of a contract". Each term gives rise to a contractual obligation, the breach of which may give rise to litigation. Not all terms are stated expressly and some terms carry less legal gravity as ...

: The Graphic Novel'', which satirizes

Steve Jobs Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American businessman, inventor, and investor best known for co-founding the technology company Apple Inc. Jobs was also the founder of NeXT and chairman and majority shareholder o ...

and

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Comput ...

Like ''The Unquotable Trump'', each page of the graphic novel is patterned after a page from an seminal comics storyline, and drawn in the style of the original artist, with a caricature of Jobs taking the place of a man character in the sequence, and the dialogue and narration taken entirely from the eponymous contractual terms of Apple's iTunes media player.Sikoryak, Robert
''iTunes Terms and Conditions: The Graphic Novel''

tumblr Tumblr (pronounced "tumbler") is a microblogging and Social networking service, social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and is owned by American company Automattic. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content ...

. Retrieved January 22, 2017.

Personal life

As of 2017, Sikoryak is based in New York City.

Bibliography

* ''Raw'' (1989–91) * ''Snake Eyes'' (1990–93) * ''The New Comics Anthology'' (1991) * ''The New Yorker'' (1994–99) * ''Drawn & Quarterly'' (2000) * ''Masterpiece Comics'' (Drawn & Quarterly, 2009) * ''Terms and Conditions'' (Drawn & Quarterly, 2017) * ''The Unquotable Trump'' (Drawn & Quarterly, 2017) * ''Constitution Illustrated'' (Drawn & Quarterly, 2020)

References

General references

Inline citations

External links

* * * Montero, Patrick. (September 20, 2009
"Comics Meet Literature in the Work of R. Sikoryak"
''

New York Daily News The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Tabloid (newspaper format ...

'' (New York) * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sikoryak, Robert American comics artists American satirists American satirical comics artists 1964 births Living people Alternative cartoonists American parodists The New Yorker people Artists from New York City People from Middlesex County, New Jersey