>A couple of months ago I had posted a blog about my excitement for the release of Masterpiece comics, and now here we are with it occupying shelf space in the store finally, and occupying my collection at home so I can finally give a proper review.

Here’s the premise: mixing classic literature with classic comics to create such hybrids as Mephistofield (Faustus meets Garfield.) or the Crypt of Bronte, which takes Wuthering Heights and crams it together with EC’s Tales from the Crypt. You get the picture. This collection is a work 20 years in the making from writer/ artist
with the various strips appearing in such publications as Raw, Snake Eyes, New York Press, Monkeysuit, Reveal, Hotwire, and Drawn and Quarterly over the years. This is a brilliant satire of classic literature and old school comic art that pokes fun at both mediums while at the same time paying homage. The tales are abridged, mostly verboten interpretations of the novels they are derived from, with the visual and dialogue quirks of the comics they are amalgamated with. I could definitely see English professors getting some good yuks out of this.

Probably my favorite story among these is Little Dori in Pictureland, a mash up of Little Nemo and Oscar Wilde’s the Picture of Dorian Gray, it’s just enough blood and opium references for one page. Although Masterpiece comics won’t make you laugh out loud with a big hearty guffaw, they will make those familiar with classic literature snicker, and put a knowing smirk on their faces.

-Jim

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