I'm so upset! Harvey Pekar has died! SADNESS!! Pekar is my favourite graphic novelist, since seeing American Splendor years ago. I was hoping to enjoy his biographical stories until he was an even-grumpier 90 year old!
Aw menowz. His writing was so honest and vulnerable, and even though he was a depressed and sad guy, and depressed about the world, he still viewed it with a lot of compassion.
Fernando and I saw the movie when it came out, without knowing anything about it other than it had good reviews. We lurved it, and I ran out and bought the American Splendor collections and read them all. I still have one left that I haven't read, and I'm sort of treasuring it.
Do see the movie, it's so good. And of course, I recommend the comics themselves.
2 comments:
"...even though he was a depressed and sad guy, and depressed about the world, he still viewed it with a lot of compassion."
Wow. I think you nailed him there.
Take heart! Apparently he still has one more project that he was finishing up when he died, so there's another book to come!
I am always impressed with people who can write with such honesty. I think it is even rarer in men. Whether it is songwriting, or comics, or other things, I often want to write with that kind of candour, but never quite have the nerve. I, like so many of us, have walls firmly in place around the real me... Ah, brave, sweet, Harvey.
I agree, he was super super brave. When I read his works, SO much of it is achingly familiar, either from my own psyche, or from the people I know, esp the men I know.
I was recently reading some comments about the dearth of women comedians (after accusations of sexism at The Daily Show) and a couple of the female comedians theorized that women are conditioned to not make fun of themselves/their less attractive bits, than men are, and it makes a big difference to how funny you are. So... maybe that's where men feel more comfortable being "real." In their humour?
Whereas maybe women are better at the "confessional biography" style of writing.
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