{{short description|American artist (born 1964)}} {{Infobox comics creator | image = 1.20.17RobertSikoryakByLuigiNovi1.jpg | imagesize = | caption = Sikoryak at a signing at JHU Comics in Manhattan for ''The Unquotable Trump'', on the day of President Trump's 2017 inauguration | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1964|12|4}}{{citation needed|date=January 2025}} | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | nationality = American | area = | cartoonist = y | write = | pencil = | ink = | letter = | color = | alias = R. Sikoryak | notable works = ''Masterpiece Comics''<br>''Carousel''<br>''The Unquotable Trump'' | awards = | spouse = Kriota Willberg<ref>Tsurumi, Andrea. [https://therumpus.net/2013/08/the-new-york-comics-symposium-interview-with-r-sikoryak-kriota-willberg/ "THE NEW YORK COMICS SYMPOSIUM: INTERVIEW WITH R. SIKORYAK & KRIOTA WILLBERG,"] ''The Rumpus'' (Aug. 2, 2013).</ref> | website = {{official website|http://www.rsikoryak.com}} }} '''Robert Sikoryak''' (born 1964)<ref name=lam /> 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'' rendered in Bob Kane–era Batman style, becoming ''Dostoyevsky Comics'', starring Raskol; and ''Waiting for Godot'' mixed with ''Beavis and Butt-Head'', becoming ''Waiting to Go''.
==Early life== Sikoryak was born in 1964. He is originally from New Jersey<ref name=lam>[http://www.lambiek.net/artists/s/sikoryak_rob.htm "Rob Sikoryak"]. Lambiek Comiclopedia. Retrieved January 22, 2017.</ref> and graduated from Manville High School as the salutatorian of the class of 1983.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/18544019/shirley-marshalek-manville-high/ "159 get diplomas at Manville High"], ''The Home News'', June 11, 1983. Accessed June 22, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "The keynote speeches were delivered by valedictorian Karen Cheng and salutatorian Robert Sikoryak."</ref> He earned his BFA from the Parsons School of Design in 1987, and is on staff at the school.<ref name="Parsons">[http://www.newschool.edu/parsons/faculty.aspx?id=48466 "Robert Sikoryak"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100723215318/http://www.newschool.edu/parsons/faculty.aspx?id=48466 |date=2010-07-23 }}. Parsons School of Design. Retrieved January 20, 2017.</ref>
==Career== [[File:MOCCAGroupPhoto.jpg|thumb|left|Robert Sikoryak, Danny Fingeroth, Arie Kaplan, Jerry Robinson and Eddy Friedfeld at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art in 2006]] Shortly after graduating from Parsons, Sikoryak worked on staff at ''Raw'', before embarking on a freelance cartooning career.{{citation needed|date=October 2015}} He co-edited with Art Spiegelman, and contributed to, the comic jam ''The Narrative Corpse'', published in 1995.
Sikoryak's cartoons and illustrations have appeared in ''The New Yorker'', ''Drawn & Quarterly'',<ref name=Paste>Flamming, E.C. (January 19, 2017). [https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/01/check-out-the-unquotable-trump-comic-book-covers-b.html "Check Out These Horrifying and Amazing ''The Unquotable Trump'' Comic Book Covers by R. Sikoryak"]. ''Paste''.</ref> ''Nickelodeon Magazine'', ''World War 3 Illustrated'' and ''RAW''; and on ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart''.{{citation needed|date=October 2015}}
Sikoryak is also known for his ''Carousel'' series of multimedia comics slide shows, featuring cartoonists such as Lauren Weinstein, Michael Kupperman, Jason Little and himself, which have been presented in various venues in the United States and Canada since 1997.<ref name="Parsons"/>
In 2017, Sikoryak published ''The Unquotable Trump'', a collection of parody comic book covers depicting Donald Trump, illustrated in the style of iconic comic book covers from the Golden, Silver, Bronze, and Modern Age of Comic Books. 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, Jerry Robinson, John Romita and Jim Lee. 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.<ref name=Paste/><ref name=HollywoodReporter>Couch, Aaron (January 18, 2017). [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/artist-turns-donald-trump-classic-comic-book-villains-965683 "Artist Turns Donald Trump Into Classic Comic Book Villains"]. ''The Hollywood Reporter''.</ref><ref>Moran, Lee (January 14, 2017). [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-quotes-comic-book-cover-robert-sikoryak_us_5879fa81e4b0b3c7a7b19f7f "Artist Turns Donald Trump’s Most Controversial Quotes Into Comic Book Covers"]. ''The Huffington Post''.</ref>
March 7, 2017 saw the publication of ''iTunes Terms and Conditions: The Graphic Novel'', which satirizes Steve Jobs and Apple Inc. 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.<ref name=HollywoodReporter/><ref>Sikoryak, Robert. [http://itunestandc.tumblr.com ''iTunes Terms and Conditions: The Graphic Novel'']. tumblr. Retrieved January 22, 2017.</ref>
==Personal life== As of 2017, Sikoryak is based in New York City.<ref name=HollywoodReporter/>
== 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=== * {{gcdb|type=credit|search=Robert+Sikoryak|title=Robert Sikoryak}}
===Inline citations=== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} * {{official website|http://www.rsikoryak.com}} * {{comicbookdb|type=creator|id=11676|title=Robert Sikoryak}} * Montero, Patrick. (September 20, 2009) [http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/2009/09/21/2009-09-21_comics_meet_literature_in_the_work_of_r_sikoryak.html "Comics Meet Literature in the Work of R. Sikoryak"]. ''New York Daily News'' (New York) *{{cite web|title=Interview: R. Sikoryak Pt. 1 [of 3]|url=http://thedailycrosshatch.com/2009/07/14/interview-r-sikoryak-pt-1-of-3/|publisher=The Daily Cross Hatch|author=Brian Heater|date=14 July 2009}} *{{cite web|title=Interview: R. Sikoryak Pt. 2 [of 3]|url=http://thedailycrosshatch.com/2009/07/21/interview-r-sikoryak-pt-2-of-3/|publisher=The Daily Cross Hatch|author=Brian Heater|date=21 July 2009}} *{{cite web|title=Interview: R. Sikoryak Pt. 3 [of 3]|url=http://thedailycrosshatch.com/2009/08/03/interview-r-sikoryak-pt-3-of-3/|publisher=The Daily Cross Hatch|author=Brian Heater|date=3 August 2009}} {{Inkpot Award 2010s}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sikoryak, Robert}} Category:American satirical comics artists Category:1964 births Category:Living people Category:Alternative cartoonists Category:American parodists Category:The New Yorker people Category:Artists from New York City Category:People from Middlesex County, New Jersey