Harvey Pekar on the cover of American Splendor: Portrait of the Author in his Declining Years

Harvey Pekar (pronounced /ar-vay pea-kar/) (born October 8, 1939 in Cleveland, Ohio) is a U.S. underground comic book writer. His friendship with Robert Crumb led to the creation of the autobiographical comic book series American Splendor, later adapted as a movie of the same name. Crumb and Pekar became friends through their mutual love of jazz records, and Crumb became the first artist to illustrate American Splendor. The comic documents daily life in the aging neighborhoods of Pekar's native Cleveland, where Pekar worked (throughout his life, even after gaining fame) as a file clerk in a large Veterans Administration hospital. Image File history File links AS_portrait. ... October 8 is the 281st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (282nd in leap years). ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full year calendar). ... Cleveland redirects here. ... Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic  - President George Walker Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from... The term underground comics or comix describes the self-published or small press comic books that sprang up in the US in the late 1960s. ... Robert Dennis Crumb, often credited simply as R. Crumb (born August 30, 1943 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a U.S. artist and illustrator recognized for the distinctive style of his drawings and his critical, satirical, subversive view of the American mainstream. ... A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ... American Splendor film poster American Splendor is a series of autobiographical comic books and graphic novels written by Harvey Pekar. ... Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ... American Splendor is a film adaptation of the comic book series of the same name by Harvey Pekar. ...

In the late 1980s, Pekar's comic book success led to eight guest appearances on Late Night with David Letterman. However, his confrontational style and overt on-air criticism of General Electric (which owned NBC) led to the show banning him as a guest until the early 1990s. The 1980s refers to the years of and between 1980 and 1989. ... Late Night with David Letterman was a nightly hour-long comedy talk show on NBC hosted by David Letterman. ... GE redirects here. ... NBC (an acronym for National Broadcasting Company) is an American television network headquartered in the GE Building in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ... The 1990s decade refers to the years from the start of 1990 to the end of 1999. ...

A film adaptation of American Splendor was released in 2003, to critical acclaim. It featured Paul Giamatti as Pekar, as well as appearances by Pekar himself. Pekar wrote about the effects of the film in American Splendor: Our Movie Year. Also that year Pekar released his first non-autobiographical work, American Splendor: Unsung Hero documenting the Vietnam War experience of Robert McNeill, one of Pekar's African American coworkers at Cleveland's VA hospital. American Splendor is a film adaptation of the comic book series of the same name by Harvey Pekar. ... Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti (born June 6, 1967) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor. ... Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000...

On October 5, 2005, the DC Comics imprint Vertigo released Pekar's autobiographical hardcover The Quitter, with artwork by Dean Haspiel. The book detailed Pekar's early years, and was created in part to reward Haspiel for his role in introducing Pekar to the producers who made the American Splendor movie. October 5 is the 278th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (279th in leap years). ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... DC Comics is one of the largest American companies in comic book and related media publishing. ... Vertigo logo Vertigo is an imprint of comic book and graphic novel publisher DC Comics. ... Dean Haspiel (born 1967 in New York City) is a comic book artist living in Brooklyn, New York. ...

In 2006, Pekar released a four-issue American Splendor miniseries through Vertigo. He also released another non-autobiographical book for Ballantine/Random House, Ego & Hubris: The Michael Malice Story, about the life of Michael Malice, who was the founding editor of OverheardinNY.com [1]. Pekar was also given the honor of being the first guest editor for the The Best American Comics 2006 collection published by Houghton Mifflin, the first comics publication in the "Best American series" series. Also due out from Ballantine in May 2007 is Macedonia, Pekar's collaboration with student Heather Roberson and artist Ed Piskor [2] [3]. Houghton Mifflin Company is a leading educational publisher in the United States. ... The Best American series is an annually-published collection of books, published by Houghton Mifflin, each of which features a different genre or theme. ... Ed Piskor (born July 28, 1982 in Homestead, Pennsylvania) is an alternative comics artist operating out of Pittsburgh, Pa. ...

In addition to writing American Splendor, Pekar is a prolific jazz and book critic. He has also won awards for essays broadcast on public radio. Jazz is a style of music which originated in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States at around the start of the 20th century. ... Public broadcasting is a form of public service broadcasting (PSB) intended to serve the diverse needs of the listening public. ...

He was married from 1960 to 1972 to Karen Delaney (his first wife), a writer and educator, who currently lives in Chicago. She was the (uncredited) photographer who took many of the pictures of Pekar that appeared in "The Quitter." Pekar's third wife is writer Joyce Brabner, with whom he collaborated on Our Cancer Year, a graphic novel autobiography of his struggle with lymphoma which won a Harvey Award for Best Graphic Album of Original Work. He won the American Book Award for his 1991 collection The New American Splendor Anthology. He lives in Cleveland Heights, Ohio with Brabner and their foster daughter, Danielle. Joyce Brabner (born 1952) is a writer of political comics and sometimes collaborator with her husband Harvey Pekar. ... Our Cancer Year is a graphic novel written by Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner and illustrated by Frank Stack. ... Trade paperback of Will Eisners A Contract with God (1978), often mistakenly cited as the first graphic novel. ... This article is about lymphoma in humans. ... The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in comic books. ... The American Book Award was established in 1978 by the Before Columbus Foundation. ... Cleveland Heights is a city located in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. ...

Books

• 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: The Life and Times of Harvey Pekar (Ballantine Books, 2003) ISBN 0-345-46830-9
• 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)
• American Splendor: Another Day (DC/Vertigo, 2007) ISBN 978-1-4012-1235-3

Our Cancer Year is a graphic novel written by Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner and illustrated by Frank Stack. ...

External links

• Personal homepage (last updated in 2003)
• Interview on The Sound of Young America: MP3 Link
• New York Press Interview
• Pseudonymous article by Pekar about his Late Night experience.
• Harvey Pekar at the Internet Movie Database
• An extensive list of Pekar's American Splendor collaborators
• An Archive of Pekar's Jazz Reviews for the Austin Chronicle
• Another archive of Jazz reviews
• Harvey's interview on Late Night With David Letterman
• The Bat Segundo Show #40 (podcast interview -- 2006)
• November 10, 2005 Interview on Fresh Air with Terry Gross
• Profile of and Commentaries by Pekar on WKSU-FM, Kent, Ohio