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For those that don't know what American Splendor
is, it's a comic book about the everyday mundane
things that happen in Harvey Pekar's life. During
the 70's when there were all sorts of fantasy
superhero comics, barbarian titles, ultra dramatic
romance books and radical underground comics
Harvey thought of doing a comic that was grounded
in reality. He figured (correctly) that comics
were just words and pictures and they could be
about anything. Harvey had met Robert Crumb due to
their mutual love for old jazz records and later
on he became the big star of the underground comic
scene. Harvey discussed his idea with Crumb and
showed him some sample comics he made using stick
figures and Crumb thought they were really good.
He agreed to draw them and off they went.
Since then Harvey Pekar has continued to publish
one issue of American Splendor every year. He uses
a variety of artists for his stories, but Gary
Dumm has done the majority of the work. The book
pays for itself but not much else. He continued
working as a file clerk for the government
(Veteran Office), but did get some fame from being
invited onto the David Letterman show a few times
in the early 80's. Critically speaking his biggest
claim to fame was an original graphic novel called
Our Cancer Year devoted to him getting cancer and
beating it. All throughout this period he was
trying to get a movie deal for his comic and
finally one panned out.
This book takes place during the year American
Splendor was filmed and advertised. There are a
variety of short stories most of them about stuff
regarding the movie. From those that optioned it,
him hanging around the set while it was filmed,
his health problems after they stopped filming.
They also show him and his family flying all over
the world doing promotions for it, particularly
the Sundance Film Festival. He also does some
mini-biographies of the Jazz musicians he enjoys.
The book is really interesting. I've read some
American Splendor before and it's always a mixed
bag of entertaining and dull stories. The movie
element makes this book more entertaining. Only
problem is half way into the book Harvey begins to
repeat himself a lot. I found myself having to
force myself to read the same story over and over
again. But after the half way point the stories go
back to more original ground and becomes
entertaining again.
There are 10 different artists in here, among them
Robert Crumb, Frank Stack, Joe Zable, Dean Haspiel
and of course Gary Dumm. Gary gets to show off his
ability to draw a variety of styles as it's mainly
just him during the last chunk of the book. He
does a good job of making everything look
different each time. Die Hard superhero fans may
not like the art style, but if you're brave enough
to read something outside the big two, this book
is something you should read. Harvey needs the
money! He's got a wife and kid to support and his
pension won't do it. Despite the movie he is not
rich, nor is everything rosy.
I give the book an 8 out of 10.
Regards,
Jamie Coville
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