The first every man of the comic industry, Harvey Pekar grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and ultimately died in Cleveland all the while becoming the “poet laureate of Cleveland,” of the city in which he loved. While working as a file clerk at the Cleveland V.A. hospital, Harvey began working on what was to become “American Splendor”, the everyday life of the mundane and the detailed. He believed in the philosophy of “You can use pictures and words to create anything you want”. He met the “Grandfather of Underground Comics” R. Crumb in the late 1960’s and Crumb began illustrating Pekar’s works.

“We should have all kind of books in comic form” Pekar said before his death at the age of seventy on July 12, 2010. Pekar described “American Splendor” as “an autobiography written as it’s happening.” Pekar produced seventeen issues of American Splendor from 1976 to 1993. All but the last two were self published and self distributed.

 

 

Pekar wrote about the mundane such as being behind a lady in a grocery store or buying day old bread at the local bakery. He used a lot of his friends in his comics. They were all excited to see if they were in the current issues when he brought them to work.

Pekar was the first person to write comic book memoirs. Before the internet allowed everyone to write about their personal experiences, Harvey was doing it in the 1970’s.

 

 

Bibliography

• American Splendor: The Life and Times of Harvey Pekar (Doubleday, 1986)

• More American Splendor (Doubleday, 1987) ISBN 0-385-24073-2

• The New American Splendor Anthology (Four Walls Eight Windows, 1991) ISBN 0-941423-64-6

• Our Cancer Year, with Joyce Brabner and Frank Stack (Four Walls Eight Windows, 1994) ISBN 1-56858-011-8

• American Splendor Presents: Bob & Harv’s Comics, with R. Crumb (Four Walls Eight Windows, 1996) ISBN 1-56858-101-7

• American Splendor: Unsung Hero, with David Collier (Dark Horse, 2003) ISBN 1-59307-040-3

• American Splendor: Our Movie Year (Ballantine Books, 2004) ISBN 0-345-47937-8

• Best of American Splendor (Ballantine Books, 2005) ISBN 0-345-47938-6

• The Quitter, with Dean Haspiel (DC/Vertigo, 2005) ISBN 1-4012-0399-X

• Ego & Hubris: The Michael Malice Story, with Gary Dumm (Ballantine Books, 2006) ISBN 0-345-47939-4

• Macedonia, with Heather Roberson and Ed Piskor (Ballantine Books, 2006) ISBN 0-345-49899-2

• American Splendor: Another Day (DC/Vertigo, 2007) ISBN 978-1-4012-1235-3

• Students for a Democratic Society: A Graphic History (Hill and Wang, 2008) ISBN 978-0-8090-9539-1

• American Splendor: Another Dollar (2009) ISBN 978-1-4012-2173-7

• The Beats (2009) ISBN 978-0-285-63858-7

• Studs Terkel‘s Working: A Graphic Adaptation (2009) ISBN 978-1-59558-321-5

• Circus Parade by Jim Tully. Foreword by Harvey Pekar. Introduction by Paul J. Bauer and Mark Dawidziak. (Kent State Univ. Press, 2009) 978-1-60635-001-0

• Huntington, West Virginia “On the Fly” (2011) ISBN 978-0-345-49941-7

• Yiddishkeit: Jewish Vernacular and the New Land, with Paul Buhle (2011) ISBN 978-0-8109-9749-3

• Not the Israel My Parents Promised Me, with JT Waldman. Epilogue by Joyce Brabner. (2012) ISBN 978-0-8090-9482-0

• Harvey Pekar’s Cleveland, with Joseph Remnant. Introduction by Alan Moore. (2012) ISBN 978-1-60309-091-9

 

List of the issues of American Splendor:

(Source: http://www.comicvine.com/american-splendor/4050-28361/)