Harvey Pekar creates extraordinary art out of ordinary life. His ongoing comic book stories use the mundane detail of everyday existence. But in the flat nowhere zone he’s inhabited all his years, he also finds joy and meaning and sometimes revelation. He started writing comicsin the ’70s, providing text for a series of illustrators (including […]
American Splendor
Posted inMovies
Mingling comics and real life
In a no doubt apocryphal scene purportedly from the protagonist Harvey Pekar’s life, American Splendor opens with the young Harvey out Halloween trick-or-treating with some other boys. His friends are all dressed as superheroes — Batman, Superman, etc. — but Harvey steadfastly rejects costumes and maintains his own identity. The moment sums up most of […]
Posted inMovies
Let’s move to Cleveland
It’s probably just a coincidence that bombs started falling over Baghdad about 10 minutes after I checked into my hotel in Cleveland, where I was to cover their 27th annual International Film Festival. But there seems to be some unfortunate connection between me leaving town to watch movies and the occurrence of a horrible international […]
