From off the streets of Cleveland, Harvey Pekar’s American Splendor chronicled his working class life with a wry and self-deprecating style. It gained a cult following and inspired a 2003 movie starring Paul Giamatti.
For most of his life, he made little money from comics. For decades, he was a file clerk at a VA hospital.
Pekar loved jazz and was a critic and record collector before venturing into comics.
In a 2005 interview with WCPN, Pekar said it was meeting fellow jazz lover and illustrator R. Crumb that changed his view of the medium.
PEKAR: Comics could do anything that any other art form could do. It was just that they had been used in a very limited way. And when I started thinking about what could be done with them, that’s what sort of led to my getting into comics because the field was so ripe for innovation.
Pekar’s longtime friend Toby Radloff worked with him at the VA, and gained his own 15 minutes of fame through Pekar’s comics and the movie. Radloff describes his friend as a brilliant technophobe.
RADLOFF: “I would say he’s always been an eccentric. I would say he’s always been behind the times which has been good for him. And, he’s always had great insights into his writing.”
For now, Radloff says there’s at least one way to honor Pekar.
RADLOFF: “If possible, even if you have to go to a bookstore, the internet, buy an American Splendor book. It would be a tribute to him.”