A weekly feature spotlighting new & unusual features on the GoComics A-Z roster

Feature: The Quixote Syndrome
Creator: Peter Mann
Format: large format
Frequency: every Monday
Recommended if you like: Existential Comics, elaborate sketches torn out of the notebook of your Western Civ classmate who reads too much philosophy and eats too much acid.

What exactly is "The Quixote Syndrome" ? Comic Historians I spoke with were baffled at the question. WebMD offered zero help. The cartoonist himself has referred to it as "a chronic graphic condition characterized by inflammation of the bookish imagination - often irreverent, occasionally profound, and always with a heavy dose of strange." A deep search in the annals of the Laugh Tracks blog revealed an interview with Peter Mann in which he states that the comic began as an accompaniment to his teachings in the freshman humanities program at Stanford University, where he earned a doctorate in History and Humanities.

My own personal scan of the TQC reveals something at once brilliant and juvenile - a mix of expressionism, surreal character sketches, and an illuminating look at historical riddles such as what became of Rasputin's, err... magic wand. The comic isn't for the faint-hearted, and doesn't offer much in the way of recurring characters, reliable punchlines or modern-day Web jargon such as "I eat all the bacon" (though it certainly could - both Nietzche and James Joyce are rumored to have been big fans of bacon). As an old friend and classmate of Peter's (full disclosure), I've been a big fan since Day 1. But the recent "Boy Giant and Beckett" series (a fictional blend of real events and actual Beckett quotes) has me revisiting the unusual comic all over again.

Read The Quixote Syndrome every week right here on GoComics.