American Splendor: Another Day - Volume 1 [Paperback]

Harvey Pekar (Author), Eddie Campbell Haspiel (Author), Ty Templeton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 7, 2007

First appearing in 1976, AMERICAN SPLENDOR rose from the streets of Cleveland to change the way comics readers and creators viewed the potential of their medium. The series won an American Book Award and became an Oscar-nominated film.

Following the success of his critically praised, top-selling graphic novel THE QUITTER, Harvey Pekar returns with an all-new volume of AMERICAN SPLENDOR, celebrating 30 years of the series that first showed how, as Harvey says, "ordinary life can be pretty complex stuff."

In this collection, Harvey is joined by an all-star roster of artists including his collaborator on THE QUITTER, Dean Haspiel. Three decades after his self-published debut, Harvey Pekar proves that while his life has changed, his ability to find the exceptional in the everyday has only grown sharper with time.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Underground comics favorite Pekar returns with another collection of autobiographical reflections. His narratives are subdued and unconventional, with the rhythm of ordinary life. In this collection he captures something every reader can relate to, whether it's worrying over his runaway cat or levelheadedly dealing with a plumbing disaster (leading him to the exclamation, Today I am a man!). It is the very lack of a point to these narratives that makes them work. The flaw of the stories in this collection is that they are of his current life—that is, the life of a freelance comic book writer. Many of the rambling thoughts reflect so closely on the act of creating what readers are holding in their hands that it's like looking at the infinite reflections in a pair of parallel mirrors. In one story, Pekar goes through all his thoughts when deciding whether he should search for more work or just take a nap; in another he details the hassles of getting paid for his latest comic. A number of talented artists illustrate this collection, giving spice and variety to the relentlessly average life of Pekar. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Pekar returns to form in this gathering of four recent issues of his long-running merican Splendor. His last several books have been long stories, two of them--nsung Hero (2003) and Ego and Hubris (2006)--not even autobiographical. This one contains mostly two- to six-pagers about his daily doings as a civil-service retiree now just writing comics and jazz commentary. A few are memoirs, and one is about a public-health physician, his friend, seeking a new job, which she finds with an extraordinarily busy doctor serving the uninsured at prices they can afford; this piece is a genuine day brightener. As usual in his autobiographical stuff, Pekar's anxiety and compulsiveness get him into minuscule scrapes that keeping his cool, or just waiting, soothes or dissipates. Now more than before, and maybe to greater comedic effect, cool is achieved (in the piece about fixing the toilet, downright triumph is achieved). Thanks to DC, Pekar here collaborates with several distinctive star artists (e.g., Gilbert Hernandez, Eddie Campbell) as well as established partners Gary Dumm and Dean Haspiel. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Paperback: 136 pages
• Publisher: Vertigo (April 7, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401212352
• ISBN-13: 978-1401212353
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 0.3 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,212,609 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the best, May 17, 2007

By 

A Reader from Chicago (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Splendor: Another Day - Volume 1 (Paperback)

I have gotten into Harvey's stuff mostly through his best-of collections, and this is certainly not up to that level of quality. The last of his books I read was "Our Cancer Year" which was excellent with no nonsense. "Another Day" has too much nonsense; perhaps a third or more of the book is made up of stories that are as fun as listening to someone talk about something you don't care about. In one piece he actually lectures to us about regionalism, which he drags out over six pages. It is fine to sneak in a little something about regionalism, but it seemed like blabbering and lecturing.

On the plus side there are some excellent artists doing some nice work and it is interesting to see the differences between artists.

Some of the stories are good, but too many of them tasted like re-cooked food or just basically uninteresting material. His stories that are good in this book are great, but there are others that are boring and others that are stale.

If you are new to Harvey Pekar, grab "Our Cancer Year" which is about a full year in his life. Or grab "The New American Splendor Anthology", or "American Splendor" or "The best of American Splendor", but note that these three, in contrast to "Our Cancer Year", are collections of short stories.

The best that Harvey does is tell stories that are interesting or frame a seemingly mundane situation in a way where we see it through fresh eyes and appreciate it and enjoy it. Not enough of this book was up to that level.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How can the mundane be so interesting?, November 24, 2007

By 

Babytoxie (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Splendor: Another Day - Volume 1 (Paperback)

I've read a few American Splendor collections in the past but haven't touched Harvey Pekar's work in quite a while. Nothing against the author, of course; I just had a lot of other comics to read. Seeing AMERICAN SPLENDOR: ANOTHER DAY at the shop recently, and not having anything else to buy, I picked it up and was very pleased. While the stories have certainly shifted in tone from his earlier work, I enjoyed it just as much as those other collections.

These are Harvey's simple everyday issues, such as worrying over his stepdaughter's safety, unclogging a toilet, and actually creating the stories in this very book. The selection of artists is very impressive - while regular AS contributors such as Dean Haspiel and Gary Dummare are included, there is an impressive roster of well-known newcomers: Eddie Campbell, Richard Corben, Chris Weston, and Leonardo Manco, just to name a few. I especially enjoyed seeing Pekar's stories illustrated by Corben and Weston and would love to see more related work from these two. I'm hoping that DC/Vertigo will continue with these collections, as well as bring some of the older American Splendor material back into print

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Great Day, May 14, 2007

By 

yamburgler - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: American Splendor: Another Day - Volume 1 (Paperback)

This is a shorter anthology than the others i've read, but a fantastic one. The art is all top-notch, the stories are great as ever, with a range of flashback and current tales. I've read the other AS anthologies, and knowing the back story on lots of the topics is extra good, but I imagine even a first-time reader would enjoy Another Day for its high quality storytelling and art. Also my favorite cover art yet.