TheDude

Hey everyone. Wanted to start a specific thread to discuss the underrated work of the late Harvey Pekar, including of course his American Splendor comics & other titles he wrote. I don't typically like creating threads, but I couldn't find one dedicated to HP's comics, just the movie.

Anyway, I can't remember when I first became an American Splendor fan - it may have in the very early 200X's (right before the film in 2003), or maybe right after. Though some may find his stories boring, I find his documenting of quotidian (i.e., everyday) occurrences interesting & relatable, and IMHO he was able to make the most mundane activities interesting: I.e., going grocery shopping for coffee, running errands, home renovations/repairs, working on a dull job & his interaction with his sometimes strange co-workers, wandering around Cleveland, interactions with friends, browsing at bookstores, dating/relationships, surviving through the harsh Cleveland winters, doing work around the house, getting his oil changed, etc. My favorite era of Pekar's American Splendor are the '70's - '90's. IMHO he came out with the most interesting stories at this time, or at least interesting to me.

It's too bad that he was never able to make much $ publishing them, but I guess the fact that they were indy b&w comics didn't really appeal to mainstream audiences.

I've especially noticed that I've enjoyed his stories more as I've gotten older. And, though I've never lived in Cleveland (I may have passed through there years ago), I feel as if I almost know the city through his comics. I also liked how he would use different artists for his stories, so each one had a different vibe/tone/feel. Though his most famous ones were obviously drawn by the iconic Robert Crumb, he had a lot of other great comics as well.

One of the difficulties with collecting Pekar's comics are the disjointed aspect of these collections (not counting his graphic novels, which are usually stand-alone). My understanding is that some of his early comics have never been reprinted anywhere. So, it would be great to see these stories reprinted in an Omnibus-type series of collected editions. A comic company (Dark Horse, possibly) really needs to really collect his strips in chronological order - note I don't mean chronological order re: the time periods they were set in (because that's across the board, i.e. he may write one strip about his life as a kid, and one right afterwards that's about him as an adult, etc.) - I mean chronological reprints re: when these comics were actually released. I would also like to see the original comic covers released in a collection; so far, IIRC very few (if any) of his collections include the original comic covers...That being said, it's unlikely that anything like this will ever happen, since AS is still quite obscure these days, even 12 years after the movie was released...

Though the 1996 Crumb/Pekar compilation (Bob & Harv's comics) is great, I'm not a huge fan of creator-centric collections since they leave a lot out - sure, Crumb is probably most associated with Pekar since he's one of the first that drew Pekar's comics (and it obviously helps that he's the most iconic artist associated with Pekar) but I prefer the other collections that mix the Crumb-drawn stories with other artists...

And, I do find some of Pekar's post-2003 collections - especially "Our Movie Year" - fairly uninteresting, at least to me. It seems that after the movie comes out & he gets "popular" (or as popular as he would get, since the movie only saw a limited theatrical release & was far from a huge Hollywood blockbuster) in many cases his stories center around the logistics re: getting the movie released & what happened afterwards (i.e., he & his family went to Cannes, I think), etc. - which, IMHO contradicted the "everyman" aspect to his strips - which were the main reason I liked them in the first place.

In fact, I found most of his 200X & 20XX output just alright, with two exceptions:

- The superb graphic novel Harvey Pekar's Cleveland (2012), which s focused on Pekar reminiscing on the history of his home-town & some personal anecdotes about the city, etc.

-The Quitter, which is about Pekar's life & jobs right after high school - great stuff.

majorjoe23

I'd definitely like a chronological collection. I have so many "best offs" that have duplicates and are missing other things.

Paul_SD

I first ran across American Splendor in the first Bud Plant catalog I ever got back in '82.
For the youngsters here, it's hard to express just what BP's catalogs meant to a comic art geek back then.
Anyway, the blurb and small illos from Splendor stuck out to me as something very special and unique in those days of the nascent direct market. The idea of a comic exploring the mundane aspects of real life hit me like a thunderbolt. One of my first orders with BP was for all the AS back issues, and I became a huge fan of Pekar's years before he showed up on Letterman. I think it was that first appearance though when I started to fall away. It was both extremely cool (to see him and his work recognized) and extremely awkward and uncomfortable to actually watch it. I felt embarrassed for him though I guess he ended up parlaying that awkwardness into a schtick that he repeated in subsequent appearances (almost all of which I missed). It was also by that point that the indie market was thriving with offbeat content, and I'd discovered EC's and undergrounds...so the special-ness of AS had begun to wane a little for me. The next time I caught up with his work was when I ran across a comic sized issue of AS I think from Dark Horse or Fantagraphics (his original self published issues were magazine sized). The main story in that issue detailed the circumstances of his last ever appearance on Letterman. It made for a good read.
Through the years I would see collections start to appear in bookstores and I was happy that he finally had gotten published and his work was promoted as valid graphic literature.
Eventually the film was made and that was a kick to see too.

Fast forward to a few years ago- The big city library was having a month long salute to the graphic novel, and was bringing in speakers every weekend. One of those weekends, Pekar was the guest and it was one of the rare instances I was actually motivated to get out of the house and "do something". His talk was a blast (to a surprisingly well packed 100+ seat auditorium), and he was MUCH different in person, in this venue than he had presented himself on Letterman. Very warm, very good humored and accessible, and he seemed genuinely touched and appreciative of the turn out.
It would only be a year later that he passed away. As sad as that was to hear, at the same time I was pretty sure he knew that by that point he had made a mark and was recognized as a serious writer of note- and that the graphic novel was seen as a legitimate form of literature- which was a dream/goal that he was expressing very early on in his strips.

I would love to have a full collected set of his work. If Joyce's health is good I would imagine that she would be working towards compiling something like this. I could easily envision a three or four slipcased set containing all his strips, plus some of his text only writing/reviews/articles/etc.
I would definitely clear out space on my shelf for a project like that.

majorjoe23

A few years back I interviewed Rob Schneider. It was shortly after Pekar's death, so I asked him about what he had hoped to do if he had been able to make the "American Splendor" movie he wanted to make (starring himself). It didn't sound too great. I think it would have been somewhat of a growth for him as an actor, but in the end it sounded more like a Rob Schneider movie than an American Splendor movie.

At one point an editor who was doing a web series of Pekar-related stories sounded interested in having someone illustrate it for a web comic, but seems to have died off.

It was also an odd interview because I asked him about some recent problems Mel Gibson had been having. Then Schneider's appearance was delayed a few months, so I couldn't really use either in what ran because they were no longer timely.

Unrelated to all this, I bought a used Perkar book a few years back and it turns out my copy came from the Cleveland Public Library. I thought that was kind of a nice touch.

TheDude

Thanks for the responses, everyone. Glad to hear they are other fans of Pekar's work here. I remember there was a brief surge of interest in his comics after the movie came out in '03 (including a new TPB collection of AS comics), but not a whole lot since then.

That being said, I like to think that the film was either directly or indirectly responsible for some of his high-quality (i.e., HC) 200X graphic novels that I especially liked, notably The Quitter & Harvey Pekar's Cleveland...Plus, I'm sure Pekar was able to get some well-earned $ as a result of the film...he was one of those comic personalities that got so little from the comic he published (and I think he self-published some of them) that he could never afford to quit his day job...

The funny thing is, Pekar & his comics completely passed me by in the '80's & '90's, as did his Letterman appearances during those decades. In the '80's I was a kid who collected super-hero/sci-fi comics, and though I liked some indy stuff at the time, I don't remember even seeing American Splendor on the stands - even in direct market shops at the time; to be fair, even if I had, I doubt I would have been that interested then anyway. I collected comics slightly in the '90's as well - though, again, don't remember seeing or even being interested in Pekar's output at that time either....

And, though I'm amused by RS's films - I can't imagine him playing Pekar in a movie; it would end up being a slap-stick like farce, which was definitely not the effect Pekar was going for in his comics. I think the AS film that ended up being made (starring Paul Giammati) was decent & was based on a lot of his comics - IMHO PG played the "everyman" schlub fairly well, and seemed to do a good job of channeling Pekar. I don't know how well the movie did @ the box office, but do remember I was happy that it got at least a limited release - IIRC, I saw it at a local indy theater...

Paul_SD

Oh yeah. He had a few stories in his early issues about the process. IIRC he would save up and print one issue each year, in the spring/summer, and then spend months trying to sell them- and repeat the process every year. I think I still have his second issue which was from '77 or '78. They were all self financed (on savings from his modest civil servant gig) up until that Dark Horse issue I picked up in the late 80's or early 90's.

That was one big thing about AS- the thought that someday I could do that- save up and self publish something on my own. If I just had a story to tell.
Just about every other indie or underground artist had a publisher to fall back on-like the Hernandez bros with Fantagraphics. Pekar, OTOH, was out there on a high wire all alone.

I think the Bud Plant catalogs must have been the highest profile exposure his mag was getting up till Letterman. The cool thing about those was that Plant wasn't afraid of giving the hard sell to something he felt was quality and merited more attention. When he liked something, he made sure to point that out in his product descriptions. I blind bought a lot of stuff based on his recommendations, very little of which I regretted. In an era prior to message board opinions, the championing that Plant did for underdog material counted for a lot.

TheDude

Yeah, I remember reading about Pekar's experiences self-publishing in some of his strips - it sounded like a difficult & time-consuming process. In fact, IIRC he actually lost some money in doing this - this really shows that publishing his comics was important to him - since he was willing to not only make very little -but also possibly lose $ on them...especially since, from all accounts, he struggled financially almost his entire life...

Re: his self-publication, you're right that, unlike mainstream & even other indy publications at the time, Pekar was out there by himself. Appropriate, since I always saw the guy as a loner - IMHO many of his comics involve him walking alone down the street, with his coat up to protect against the cold Cleveland winter(s)...This image was on the cover of Harvey Pekar's Cleveland.

Going along with this, I liked how Pekar went into a lot of detail about his life-long home-town, Cleveland. As I said, I've never lived there & have also never spent any time there, but I feel as if I know the city in his strips; the history, demographics, landmarks, etc. are fairly well documented in his stories. In fact, Cleveland may as well be another character in his comics...