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
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.
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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
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
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another Great Day, May 14, 2007
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.
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