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A review by kurtwombat
American Splendor: The Life and Times of Harvey Pekar by Harvey Pekar
5.0
I was blessed to discover Harvey Pekar on LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN back in the 1980’s. He shambled out on stage, plopped into the guest seat and would not sit still. Agitated and annoyed, his intense eyes would flare and his coarse tongue flame in response to Letterman’s show biz BS. I viewed Letterman differently after that. Pekar had a way during those interviews of cutting straight to life’s bone—refusing to play along with the game of shallow presentations that most of TV is. I loved Letterman back then and still like him today, but watching Pekar fight to remain himself amidst the high show biz gloss seemed to pull back the curtain and reveal that TV was not life but a puppet show instead. And Pekar would not have his strings pulled by anyone even at the risk of damaging his career.
This same battle can be seen on every page of AMERICAN SPLENDOR. It would be very easy to read a story or two of Pekar’s and come away unimpressed. Often sparsely worded and little action to speak of, most of the stories feel like overheard conversations or those thoughts that make us pause a moment before stepping back into the usual rhythms. These are moments that question who we are and what we really want or how much our day to day lives are costing us. There is humor in his work, not all irritated gloom. Though I can’t say I laughed, I did quite often smile recognizing the truth of the life sprawled out before me. Even when the stories are gloomy and seemingly lacking in hope, there is a tough minded perseverance by the author that rarely fails to inspire. During his career, Pekar’s work was illustrated by several different artists—most famously by R. Crumb. The switching up of artists from story to story adds to the power of the work, giving the sense of jumping around inside Pekar’s mind—denying any quality of linear thinking having a singular illustrator might imply. As I mentioned, one or two stories might not impress you but each story adds wattage to the bulb so that by the time you reach the end there is a bright light indeed.
This same battle can be seen on every page of AMERICAN SPLENDOR. It would be very easy to read a story or two of Pekar’s and come away unimpressed. Often sparsely worded and little action to speak of, most of the stories feel like overheard conversations or those thoughts that make us pause a moment before stepping back into the usual rhythms. These are moments that question who we are and what we really want or how much our day to day lives are costing us. There is humor in his work, not all irritated gloom. Though I can’t say I laughed, I did quite often smile recognizing the truth of the life sprawled out before me. Even when the stories are gloomy and seemingly lacking in hope, there is a tough minded perseverance by the author that rarely fails to inspire. During his career, Pekar’s work was illustrated by several different artists—most famously by R. Crumb. The switching up of artists from story to story adds to the power of the work, giving the sense of jumping around inside Pekar’s mind—denying any quality of linear thinking having a singular illustrator might imply. As I mentioned, one or two stories might not impress you but each story adds wattage to the bulb so that by the time you reach the end there is a bright light indeed.