Harvey Pekar (born October 8, 1939 in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American 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. American Splendor documented daily life in the aging neighborhoods of Pekar's native Cleveland, where Pekar worked (throughout his life, including after gaining fame) as a file clerk in a large Veteran's Administration hospital.

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.

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. He wrote about the effects of the film in American Splendor: Our Movie Year.

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 went on to make the American Splendor movie a reality.

In 2006 Pekar will release a five-issue American Splendor miniseries through Vertigo He also released his first non-autobiographical book for Ballantine/Random House, Ego & Hubris: The Michael Malice Story, about the life of Michael Malice, now a founding editor of OverheardinNY.com [http://www.OverheardinNY.com. Also due out from Ballantine in 2006 is Macedonia, Pekar's collaboration with student Heather Roberson and artist Ed Piskor.

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.

He was married from 1960 to 1972 to Karen Delaney, a writer and educator, who currently lives in Chicago. 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.

Books

• More American Splendor (Doubleday, 1987) ISBN 0385240732
• The New American Splendor Anthology (Four Walls Eight Windows, 1991) ISBN 0941423646
• Our Cancer Year, with Joyce Brabner and Frank Stack (Four Walls Eight Windows, 1994) ISBN 1568580118
• American Splendor Presents: Bob & Harv's Comics, with R. Crumb (Four Walls Eight Windows, 1996) ISBN 1568581017
• American Splendor: Unsung Hero, with David Collier (Dark Horse, 2003) ISBN 1593070403
• American Splendor: The Life and Times of Harvey Pekar (Ballantine Books, 2003) ISBN 0345468309
• American Splendor Our Movie Year (Ballantine Books, 2004) ISBN 0345479378
• Best of American Splendor (Ballantine Books, 2005) ISBN 0345479386
• The Quitter, with Dean Haspiel (DC/Vertigo, 2005) ISBN 140120399X
• Ego & Hubris: The Michael Malice Story, with Gary Dumm (Ballantine Books, 2006) ISBN 0345479394
• Macedonia, with Heather Roberson and Ed Piskor (Ballantine Books, 2006)

External links

• Personal homepage (last updated in 2003)
• Interview on The Sound of Young America: MP3 Link
• New York Press Interview
• 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)

1939 births | American comics writers | Comics writers | Harvey Award winners | Jewish American writers | Living people | Ohio writers | People from Ohio | Underground cartoonists

Harvey Pekar | Harvey Pekar | Harvey Pekar | Harvey Pekar