In Memoriam: Harvey Pekar

One of the greatest and most-singular voices in American comic books has passed away. (thanks to Toilet & Bowels, of the Sonic Youth Gossip Forum, for the news)

Harvey Pekar, 70, the graphic novelist whose autobiographical comic book "American Splendor" chronicled his life as a filing clerk, record collector, freelance jazz critic and one of life's all around misfits, was found dead early today at his home in suburban Cleveland.

The AP reported that police were called to Mr. Pekar's home by his wife about 1 a.m. and the artist was found between a bed and dresser. Mr. Pekar had been suffering from prostate cancer, asthma, high blood pressure and depression, police said. - ( Terence McArdle - Washington Post )

If there ever was anyone that came out of the underground comics world with honest literary quality it was Harvey Pekar. In a medium known mostly for the artwork, and derided by many for sub-par writing, Harvey Pekar was the first in comics to truly shove his real life in one's face and shout "TAKE THIS SHIT SERIOUSLY! IT IS MY LIFE GODDAMNIT!"
His long-running book, American Splendor, was drawn by so many of the greats, from the original Robert Crumb, to Spain Rodriguez, Joe Sacco, and Gilbert Hernandez. While not for everyone, Pekar's inimitable world-view and deep-bred cynicism struck a chord with many readers who could relate to his tales of the every day degradations and humiliations that a man must suffer to live in the world, and with his caustic humor in the face of it all.
Here is a great interview done fairly recently with Harvey Pekar.
-FUPPETS- is glad that Harvey Pekar existed and that he stuck it out. He did things his way, never earning big bucks, but never selling his soul out to some faceless conglomerate for the sake of an easy pay-day.

Harvey Pekar Obituaries and Remembrances

The New York Times
The Washington Post
Newsweek
The Los Angeles Times

Here is an infamous 1988 appearance by Harvey Pekar on Late Night with David Letterman. Harvey later said of his many appearances on Letterman's show, "[W]ith Letterman ... you either lay down and let him insult you or you do something about it. Most people keep their mouth shut and let him dump on them. I don't wanna do that."

ROBOT BULLY

The good people at ROBOT BULLY (Online Comics For Humans) have put up a new comic, guaranteed to entice the fanboy in all of you. Per Mr. Lara's request, you are hereby required to, "Tell your friends and party like you just blew up the death star!"

Here is but one example, for your pleasure, titled "The Road" (click image for full size).

Who Watches The Watchmen?

There are less than two weeks until the opening of the most anticipated movie in years. The Watchmen, a 2+ hour-long, heavy R-rated movie, based on the nearly overwhelmingly dense and fabulous 12-issue comic saga by writer extraordinaire Alan Moore (V For Vendetta, Swamp Thing, From Hell, etc.), understated but immensely detailed and subtle artist Dave Gibbons, and masterful colorist John Higgins, is among the top achievements in the field of illustrated story-telling, which is usually called (derisively by many), comic books.
The long and convoluted story of the making of this film is nearly as involved as the story presented on the pages of this book. Entertainment Weekly is doing a series of covers as a promotional tie-in with the movie. They have published a cool article detailing the impressive build-up to this movie's release. It is very gratifying to read that the director fought to make the movie as true to the source material as possible, preventing the studio executives from dumbing it down or softening the edges to make it a more kid-friendly and marketable PG-13 rating. No way, no how! This movie is slated to receive a very hard R rating, and it should, for the comic is not a children's story. -FUPPETS- is freaking out and cannot wait!!!!!

Here is a photo-gallery, provided by EW.com , which contains images taken by photographer Clay Enos, who followed the production of the movie from the very beginning. His portraits of the Watchmen cast — major players and background actors — have been collected in Watchmen: Portraits, from Titan Books, on sale now.
If you have not yet read the story, -FUPPETS- suggests you head to your local bookstore and buy it, or head to your local library and check out a copy. You will not be disappointed, unless you are looking for some soft-ass Spiderman bullshit.