cover image Constitution Illustrated

Constitution Illustrated

R. Sikoryak. Drawn and Quarterly, $14.95 trade paper (128p) ISBN 978-1-77046-396-7

Sikoryak (Terms and Conditions) returns to his arch comics treatment of classic works with this amusing and enlightening illustrated version of the U.S. Constitution as enacted by famous cartoon characters. He captures the look and spirit of the original characters (each bedecked in colonial garb) with uncanny accuracy, while wittily matching them to appropriate sections of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and amendments added subsequently. Some particularly inspired choices include Carl Barks’s Scrooge McDuck limning Section Eight’s outline of tax and duties collection, Jack Davis’s ghoulish Crypt-Keeper explaining protocols of replacing a president who has died in office, and H.G. Peter’s version of Wonder Woman breaking free of chains to illustrate women’s right to vote. Sikoryak’s use of the Muppet Babies and the Super Friends to represent a fractious congress has a distinctly mocking edge, while characters from creators of color such as Barbara Brandon, Aaron McGruder, and Gene Luen Yang, as well as LGBTQ cartoonists Alison Bechdel and Howard Cruse, speak eloquently to American diversity. Sikoryak’s love of the cartoon form and its visual language radiates throughout. This pastiche of comics and politics is a cleverly educational and irresistible way to engage with this foundational text. [em](July) [/em]