Constitution Illustrated

Up until now, the US Constitution has proven to be a sturdy and adaptable document that has guided the country through troubled times by describing the rule of law as well as the basic rights afforded to Americans. Portions of it have been hotly contested and reinterpreted over centuries, and it has slowly been transformed through amendments. In Constitution Illustrated it gets further transformed with the addition of comics art to communicate the big ideas, making this landmark document more accessible in a time when folks should brush up on their rights.

I teach social studies teachers, and they seek ways to make difficult texts more approachable, and I love the way that the Constitution is parsed into manageable chunks in this book. Additionally, another scaffold is provided with the artwork, which can act as imagery to help recall the text or also extend it by adding another aspect for analysis and examination. These images run the gamut from classic works like Krazy Kat, Little Lulu, and superhero fare to more contemporary ones like Captain Underpants and Rick and Morty.

What I like about this book are the many ways you can approach reading it. A long-time comics reader, like me, can play "guess the pastiche" as I peruse the pages. One could also think of rationales for the pairings between sections and amendments and the comics style/artist/characters. Alternatively, a reader could also just be amused to see the juxtaposition of the governmental policies and comics artwork or, if nothing else, laugh at how the characters are rendered in colonial dress. I like the combination of humor and politics in this book, and I think it is an excellent way to get introduced to or just review the founding  document of the US government.

This book's creator, R. Sikoryak, teaches in the illustration department at Parsons The New School for Design. He has been making comics for decades, appearing in books such as Masterpiece Comics, in prominent publications like The New Yorker, and in anthologies like Raw. He speaks about his work adapting the Constitution in this interview.

All of the reviews I have read about this book have been positive. Ryan Carey called it "the most grand, ambitious, and relevant application of his unique skill set to date." Publishers Weekly wrote, "This pastiche of comics and politics is a cleverly educational and irresistible way to engage with this foundational text." Paul Buhle opines, "Wake up, reader. Look at the constitution with new eyes. Or else."

Constitution Illustrated was published by Drawn & Quarterly, and they offer more information about it here.

Know your rights!

 

Masterpiece Comics

R. (for Robert) Sikoryak has been creating comics and illustrations professionally for 2 decades, and his ability to assume a variety of styles has led him into a career illustrating high profile publications such as The New Yorker and Nickelodeon Magazine. His works in Masterpiece Comics take elements of popular culture combined in novel ways with classic works of literature. The blend of low and high brow elements bring a different sense of understanding and interest to the comics, as well as an element of humor.

Masterpiece Comics collects various works that have appeared in Drawn & Quarterly and Raw over the years. The unlikely combinations that appear in this volume include Dante's Inferno done in a series of 10 Bazooka Joe gum wrapper cartoons, Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment re-imagined in the style of the Bob Kane-era Batman comic, and Kafka's The Metamorphosis recast with the Peanuts gang (starring "Good ol' Gregor Brown").

As an educator, I see a lot of connections that could be made between the adaptations here and discussions of the literature included. There is great potential in speaking about the choices Sikoryak made in choosing the genres and comics he did for these adaptations as well as how well the tenor of the original work fits into this different context. And if nothing else, these adapted versions can get some reluctant readers to be at least familiar with the classic stories they portray.

These comics do not parody the original works of literature so much as they do the cartoon sources drawn upon, as pointed out in this thoughtful review by Douglas Wolk. Sikoryak's ability to tell long narratives in very shorthand ways and communicate these tales to broader audiences is praised in these reviews by Tim Gebhart and Martin Levin. There is a range of reviews of this book also available at Goodreads.

For those seeking more of his work or further adaptations he has created, R. Sikoryak's official homepage is here. Some preview pages of Masterpiece Comics are also available there.