Diamond in the Rough
When the name Harvey Pekar is mentioned in a crowd of people, it is safe to assume that there is a good chance that no one will know who he is, what he has done or what he is currently doing.
This could be due much in part to the fact that the splendor comics are known as “underground.” The film American Splendor helped get his work more widely known. Personally, it opened my eyes to a new aspect and style of publishing that I didn’t realize existed.
In the film “American Splendor, it is quite obvious that Pekar possesses traits that are not normally found in average working Americans. He is portrayed as negative, pessimistic, and miserable for much of his mid life.
Although seemingly gloomy throughout the film, Pekar shows some signs of being a passionate, loving, and caring individual when the pieces fit right for him.
Pekar worked as a filing clerk in a veteran’s hospital for many decades before retiring in 2003, as well as a noted jazz critic on the side. He met a fan desperate for his comic American Splendor (Joyce Brabner) and married her shortly there after.
She later became the inspiration he needed for one his finer pieces of work “Our Cancer Year”, which gave readers an in depth look at Pekar’s experiences of living with and fighting cancer.
Due to Pekar’s personality, he was a big hit on the David Letterman show, visiting eight times, before being banned because of his comments about G.E who owned NBC. He would not return to the show until the early 90’s. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Pekar)
Aside from creating American Splendor, Pekar has done a number of other things. He wrote a non autobiographical book titled, Ego & Hubris: the Michael Malice Story, a story that details the life of OverheardinNY.com founding editor, Michael Malice, as well as a contributing columnist to the Cleveland Free times.
Pekar is also a radio commentator for WKSU-FM in Kent, Ohio, writes about jazz and books for a variety of sources, and travels the country making guest appearances at various colleges and institutions.
“I really enjoy talking to college students. Generally they’re enthusiastic and knowledgeable” says Pekar.
Pekar has won several awards for his multitude of work including: the 1987 American Book Award for his autobiographical comic book American Splendor, and awards for his essays that are broadcast on public radio.
( http://imdb.com/name/nm0670688/bio)
In order to get a better and more in depth look at Harvey Pekar himself, I searched the web and I found something pretty amazing. Mr. Pekar himself and his wife Joyce, have an online blog. While examining these day to day blogs I found that Mr. Pekar seems to be quite calm and down to earth, and nothing like he appears in the film American Splendor.
On Friday October 10, 2007. Harvey said: “O.K., now it’s 3:30 PM. I’m back from having my cat scan. It was all right. The technician had a tough time finding a vein she could use. She also asked me a lot of personal questions, which I welcome, it makes time go faster, and told me my foster kid was lucky to have me as a guardian. I don’t know if she is, but it was nice to hear that anyway.”( http://www.harveypekar.com/)
I found this to be a huge and surprising difference in the way that the film portrayed him to be.
I did find some excerpts that depicted his conveyed personality in the film. For example “I was looking at some videotape shot of me at the Cannes Film Festival last May and, I’ll tell you, I’m not only getting old, but looking like I’m getting old. There are all these turkey wrinkles in my neck and I’m practically bald. On top of that my memory fails me sometimes these days. I’m not too happy about the fact that I’ve got nowhere to go but downhill physically, but there’s nothing to do but accept it and try to take care of myself so I don’t slip too fast.” (http://www.harveypekar.com/)
Although Mr. Pekar is depicted as a miserable, dead end job writer from Cleveland, Ohio, he is an amazing writer who portrays himself as some what of a loser in the comics and film he has produced. But when I look at his background, achievements, and work, I see a man who is a brilliant artist that has an uncanny ability to view his life, and put it into words that others can relate to.
Sources
The internet movie database
http://imdb.com/name/nm0670688/bio
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Pekar
Harvey Pekar’s official blog: From off the streets of Cleveland
http://www.harveypekar.com/
Filed under: American Splendor Reviews