CLEVELAND – Comic-book writer Harvey Pekar (PEE'-kahr), whose "American Splendor" was made into a 2003 film starring Paul Giamatti, has been found dead in his Ohio home.
Coroner's spokesman Powell Caesar in Cleveland says an autopsy will be performed. He had no details on the death of the 70-year-old Pekar.
Cleveland Heights police Capt. Michael Cannon says officers were called to Pekar's home by his wife about 1 a.m. Monday. Cannon says Pekar had been suffering from prostate cancer, asthma, high blood pressure and depression.
Pekar's "American Splendor" comics, which he began publishing in 1976, chronicle his grousing about work, money and the monotony of life.
American Splendor was one of the few "comic books" I still read. Pekar was an innovator in the comic field who demonstrated that comics could be so much more than dipshit superheroes running around in their long underwear. Pekar's comics were slice of life narratives about his job, co-workers, & neighbors in Cleveland that were as artistically valid as any novel.
While Pekar spent many years churning out his stories in almost complete obscurity, working a day job as a VA file clerk, he did find one media home on the old David Letterman show. To Pekar's credit, he never appeared to kiss Letterman's ass, often peppering Dave with uncomfortable questions & oodles of attitude.
Harvey, you will be missed. It's a pity the comic field never followed your lead, preferring to milk the pocketbooks of stunted middle aged adolescents who have never been able to dispense with their Batman addictions.
Rest In Peace.
4 comments:
A blast from the past.. I think Letterman distinguished himself in that series of interviews.
This will cheer you guys up. Head on down to the Gulf Cost and attend free concerts with wonderful performers such as Jimmy Buffet. It's all good down there, they say. Don't listen to all that negative talk about oil and dead birds, fish and turtles. Come on down and get your feet wet and enjoy some great Gulf Coast Seafood.
http://blog.cmt.com/2010-07-12/jimmy-buffett-concert-may-only-be-the-beginning/
f you caught Jimmy Buffett and Friends: Live From the Gulf Coast when it aired Sunday night (July 11) on CMT, then you had to have noticed the huge crowd that turned out for the free show in Gulf Shores, Ala. I don't know the exact number, but it looked like attendance came pretty close to the 35,000 mark that organizers were expecting. That's a great thing for the people and businesses of the Gulf Coast area and, at the very least, shows one thing to local officials: People still want to head to the beach -- especially if you give them a special reason. To that end, it looks like Buffett's show may only be the first in a series of free concerts held on the Alabama coast. According to the Associated Press, there's a $15 million tourism grant from BP that could be used to put on more shows. Promoters are already pointing toward Faith Hill and Zac Brown Band (who had to miss the Buffett show due to a scheduling conflict) as possible performers, as well as Hawaiian beach rocker Jack Johnson. What do you think? Who would you want to see? And how much would it help the area?
Eric, if your algae farm story is true, isn't it just another episode of "Through My Tears I See Opportunity?"
Shrub, this
"People still want to head to the beach -- especially if you give them a special reason."
is quite informative.
People want to head to the beach?
Really?
In summer?
Wow! I'm amazed.
& here I am, stupidly thinking that it was the whole "beach covered in oil" deal that was the problem.
Instead, all folk really need are "reasons."
Maybe BP could use some of those tourism stimulus $$$s to build a big slip & slide at the next concert event. Obviously folk also need a "reason" to love all that fucking oil.
That could be a start.
M. Bama it is not you that needs the lobotomy it is a lot of other people. You know what I fucking mean, man? Not me, not you. These other fucking people. As genuine candidates for holes drilled in their skulls and brain matter ripped out from their heads, these people have to be dealt with by people like us. Let them boast about their possessions and the like. They will die one day. And they will not be able to take their stuff with them.
They will be dead like dogs. Buried in the bacteria-infested ground. In the mean time it's bubble-headedville.
I don't know. Does it seem like Hilter would understand me too? Patience to me is better than pride.
We are fucked.
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