Customer Reviews

American Splendor and More American Splendor: The Life and Times of Harvey Pekar

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It's one of the marks of a genius that he can see what's extraordinary in the ordinary. That's Harvey Pekar's gift. While he may seem mordbid or depressing to some, the way he renders the little moments in life is truly inspiring. I would recommend this book to anyone who says "drama is not the stuff of ordinary life." Wrong! It just takes the right eye to see it. Pekar also reminds me of Charles Bukowski (Post Office) and Richard Perez (The Losers' Club). I recommend American Splendor: The Life and Times of Harvey Pekar -- highly!

This book contains two classic comic anthologies in one volume. It features the contents of the out of print books American Splendor and More American Splendor. Obviously, this was released to capitalize on the publicity that the American Splendor film is getting. Well, if the movie inspires people to search out the comics of Harvey Pekar, that is a good thing. This is great stuff. Harvey has a way of making ordinary life seems interesting. I think if you saw the movie and liked it, you will also dig this book.

This is the first paperback collection of Harvey's work, and no collection is complete without it. There are more one- and two-page stories than his later work, and this edition does concentrate on Harvey's work life more than anything else. The longer story on how he got to meet Bob Crumb is priceless. It never fails to amaze me how truthful Harvey is about his character flaws, and that's one reason his work is so compelling. Definitely worth the money and time to have Amazon hunt this one down for you.

For those that have seen the film version of Harvey Pekar's AMERICAN SPLENDOR and are interested in learning more about him and his work, this is the best place to begin. This collection features many of his early works, up until the early 80's (before he married Joyce). Many of these comics feature artwork by R. Crumb (some of Crumb's best work in my opinion)and were recreated in the film.

Don't be afraid that they are "comics". I'm sure once you begin reading, you will have a new appreciation for the artform.

When I was a student at the University of South carolina in 1987, I was browsing through the library and I came across "American Splendor" with the cartoon cover of Harvey on a Johnny Carsonish talk show. It looked interesting, and when I read it- WHOA!

These are stories straight from real life like you've never read them before! The tale of the old man who tells Harvey great stories,but clams up when he meets an attractive lady. Emil,the lonely Slav whose racism covers his insecurities, Mr. Boats, the cranky old man whose race (African-American) is never called attention to in the stories. I was moved more than anything I've read since Charles Schulz and said, "DAMN! If this guy can write like this,I should give it a try."

Since then,I've been a newspaper commetator as well as a writer of historical articles.

Thank you Harvey, for showing me that I can.

I had all of Harvey's comic books up until 1980. When I came back from Navy boot camp I looked all over the house for them. I couldn't find them, however, and came to find out my mom threw them away! It was a huge disappointment because anyone that has read his accounts can identify with the material. I forgot about American Splendor until a few years ago...when I came across a copy of the anthology at a book store here in Cleveland. I bought it and found the other anthology and Our Cancer Year at Amazon. Bought both issues without a thought. You can take solace in the fact that "you aren't the only one" going through these things. It is very cathartic. Sometimes I'm glad I don't have Harvey's problems and other times I would trade mine for his. A friend of mine, knowing my conservative views, was surprised to find my interest in American Splendor. "Sure", I told him, "Harvey is on the left and I'm on the right politically, but life's problems aren't political. Hey, when you get to thinking about it a broken down car or lost glasses afflict us all." I would recommend this book to everyone because
we are all in the same boat...some just sink faster.

"Ordinary life is pretty complex stuff". After seeing the trailer of the movie adaptation of American Splendor I knew that I had to see it. Although I haven't been able to see the film just yet, I did get a chance to purchase the book in my college bookstore! Harvey has a way of writing his comics to give you the REAL way of looking at the world in which we live in. Having had a friendship with Robert Crumb makes Harvey Pekar's work right up to par with Crumb. I think that Harvey Pekar is one of the best comic book writers out there, although under-rated, but I think that he's been able to come through for the fans and I can't wait to see the movie!

This is our world, this is life, this is American Splendor :) .

This collection of Pekar writings from the 1970s and 80s was issued on the heels of the film "American Splendor," and it collects some of the best of Pekar's earlier work. Although not exclusively chronological, the presentation of the material gives a good idea of Pekar's life from his post-high school days through his meeting and marrying Joyce Brabner. (For a strictly chronological memoir, see Pekar's recent The Quitter.)

In the later Pekar work, the centerpiece of much of it is Pekar's obsessive-compulsive anxiety. But a lot of this work focuses on what might be described as Pekar's existential anxiety: his terrible loneliness, his anger and alienation, his dark reflections on the meaning of life, his desire for recognition, his regret over wasted opportunities and adolescent hubris, and his worries about future contingencies (financial security, illness and death, old age). The Pekar who comes through in these pages isn't the lovable crank of the film. Rather, the person who comes through is the outsider, a self-educated man, extremely knowledgeable in literature and music, who disdains a "normal" lifestyle and seeks freedom through nonconformity. Perhaps the finest single piece Pekar has ever written, "I'll be Forty-three on Friday (How I'm Living Now)" speaks to all this. The collection's lead story, "The Harvey Pekar Name Story," in which Pekar winds up asking "Who IS Harvey Pekar?" is a perfect set-up.

Of course, there are also lighter moments in this collection. Mr. Boats (wonderfully illustrated by R. Crumb) appears here a couple of times, and he's always good for a bit of gently funny homespun wisdom. "Mrs. Roosevelt and the Young Queen of Greece" and "On the Corner: A Sequel, June 1976" are touching pieces about the bittersweetness of memory. And the penultimate story in the collection, "Common Sense," would make even a dyed-in-the-wool misanthrope love humanity.

Highly recommended.

American Splendor: The Life and Times of Harvey Pekar is the largest published collection of the comic series, containing the complete text of American Splendor and More American Splendor. With an introduction by R. Crumb and art by Kevin Brown, Gregory Budgett, Sean Carroll, Sue Cavey, R. Crumb, Gary Drumm, Val Materick, and Gerry Shamray this is 320 pages of a classic American comic.

Pekar's work is a cerebral approach to the comic medium. Many of the panels have no dialog and only illustrate the external while the text reveals the thought stream of Pekar's mind. His ability to portray the inner workings of his thoughts, in a humorous and sympathetic manner, is the key to the success of his writings. The comic is a working class version of Seinfeld with a populist self-made intellectual as the leading character. Yet there is a Existentialist angst to this work that puts it in a class by itself.

I purchased this book because i liked the movie so much. i chose THIS book because it looked like the best value for money offer avaiable and i wasn't wrong.
this for sure ain't an easy read and it takes some time to work your way through all the stories. but i think it is worth it. This is a great book and even if the crumbdrawn stories stand out on first sight i found the other artists as interesting on second sight.

One thing that occurd to me is how much more complex and interesting and deep the original stories are in comparison to the abovementioned movie. this is a good example to study how they they flatten and manipulate the real life and the real world to squeeze it in a screensized format.

So, this is a very cheap book with great art in it and i recommend it to everyone who seeks for true stuff produced by people stubborn enough to produce it.