It’s a Grand Opening!

Our little “comics dynasty” has an online shop of its own.

The most important part of making any art, I think, is simply the act of self-expression. We can't help ourselves. There are stories to tell, pictures to draw, themes to explore—and they all flow onto the page and screen. The second most important thing, however, is finding an audience. Because we artists want to connect with you, our readers.

“We artists,” in this case, are also family. I've mentioned my youngest brother, R. Sikoryak, who has enjoyed a long career as cartoonist and illustrator while living and working in New York City. He started out as an assistant to Art Spiegelman, freelanced in publications and animation, and has published four graphic novels with Drawn & Quarterly (the fifth is due in time for Independence Day, hint, hint.)

Rob is married to Kriota Willberg, who is also a cartoonist and anatomical illustrator, known for Draw Stronger, a self-care book for visual artists. She has come by her work in graphic medicine honestly, thru a career that includes dancing, choreography, massage therapy and bioethics. Most recently, she's working on a memoir that Fantagraphics will publish in 2027.

Along the way, these two have created a considerable body of work, much of which is only available if you happen to cross paths at a comics fest, like MoCCA in Manhattan, SPX in Bethesda, or TCAF in Toronto. But as I said, we all crave connection with an audience. So I suggested that we join forces and launch our own online store, which is now open for business.

It's an interesting mix of styles and content. R. has made a name for himself with "Masterpiece Comics," his own maniacal mash-ups of great literature and familiar comics. There's a half-dozen poetry mini-comics, which present the work of Whitman, Frost and Dickenson (among others) in the style of classic Marvel, crime, and horror comics (among others). And even his sketchbooks lean toward the canonical, with shades of Melville and Cervantes.

Kriota (who was the first to refer to the three of us as a "comics dynasty") has an equally eclectic bent, mixing memoir with precisely rendered anatomical drawings in her series “Cadaver Chronicles.” She also enjoys exploring the human animal in all its peculiarities, and the feline animal in all its humble majesty. Combined with my own pop-culture inflected auto-bio comics, we have nearly two dozen products for your perusal.

Most of these are mini-comics, so-called for their modest distribution, rather than their size. Until now, their release to the world was often dictated by external event, like an upcoming comics fest. R. and Kriota have also taken on a few 24-hour comics challenges to kickstart an idea into reality (I can only imagine... it takes me 24 hours just to figure out a proper outline). Even though all three of us are hard at work either creating or promoting a new graphic novel, there's always a need to produce something shorter to experiment or just play around.

It's true that our books are available elsewhere in the world, at a few stalwart comic shops and even online, but there isn't another place where so much of our work is displayed together. I'm proud to be a part of this little family operation. I hope you'll take a look at our offerings, and maybe choose to take something home for yourself or a friend. Because the third thing that artists strive for is to make our careers sustainable. And every little bit helps!

Please check out our shop, and thanks for reading!

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ALSO: The Inglorious Treksperts have just dropped their latest episode presenting a panel from last year's Star Trek Las Vegas convention—featuring yours truly. If you've read Trekkies you'll know much of the story, but the panel rounds out my recollections with guests Adam Malin of Creation Entertainment, former Paramount publicist Eddie Egan, and filmmaker Zasie Sales. Best seen on You Tube (with video and photos) but a fine listen as well.