Word: pekar
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Harvey Pekar hears the news in "9-11: Emergency Relief...
...other thing "American Splendor" has become known for are its shaggy-dog stories of everyday life. Though he has done fewer of them in recent issues, the latest contains two that are typical. "Reduction," in which Pekar's co-worker, Toby, explains his new diet, concludes with the explanation: "I'm determined to lose weight for the millennium." How simple, yet how radical...
...centerpiece story, "Danielle," drawn by Frank Stack, continues Pekar's examination of his home life. As usual, it's a shockingly naked portrayal, this time of his relationship with children. It begins, "The early and middle seventies-what a lonely, awful time for me! It seems like it was always snowing and I was always looking out the window by myself." This leads into his story of getting a vasectomy and eventually adopting, with his wife, a ten-year-old named Danielle...
...thoughtful piece, full of issues about love and communication and personal history affecting the present. But at only ten pages or so, it would have been nice to see it developed a bit more. Pekar's self-absorption can turn drama into mere exposition. In one case he fills almost an entire panel with text, explaining his lack of communication with Danielle. At the bottom he looks at us, as if in conversation, while in the background, home from school, she runs up the stairs. It says more than it means to, I think...
...Pekar would be the first to say that as a "special issue," "American Splendor: A Portrait of the Artist in His Declining Years," is a crock. It neither focuses on the history of the series nor appears different in any way from previous issues. Still, even as an un-special issue, "American Splendor" deserves attention. Pekar is like the Lenny Bruce of comix. Often funny, sometimes poignant, but always truthful in a medium that mostly specializes in fiction...