Initial Research: Harvey Pekar

 American Splendor

American Splendor - Harvey Pekar and Robert Crumb

"The theme is about staying alive. Getting a job, finding a mate, having a place to live, finding a creative outlet. Life is a war of attrition. You have to stay active on all fronts. It's one thing after another. I've tried to control a chaotic universe. And it's a losing battle. But I can't let go. I've tried, but I can't."

Harvey Pekar is an American comic book writer, most famed for his comic series American Splendor, based around his life and everyday happenings in a very sarcastic, humerous fashion. American Splendor gained a huge fan base, so much a film of the series was released in 2003. The first issue was released in 1976, and was released irregulary until the final issue, published in 2008. It has interestingly been published by a few different companies - D.C Comics, and Dark Horse Comics for two examples, and at one point it was Pekar himself, self-publishing his work.

It was not Pekar himself who drew the work; as he said himself, "he could barely draw a line". Robert Crumb, already an artist in his own right, was shown Pekar's work and agreed to work with him, as well as showing the initial outlines for the storyboards to other artists. Pekar met with Crumb in 1972, and it was not until 1975 that Pekar decided to finally publish his ideas with Crumb's help in a comicbook style.

In interviews, as Pekar started a new genre in a sense of comicbook styles, it is usually talked about how much he has influenced the world of comicbooks as a whole. He says his material had been building up for years, but not necessarily for comics - he had been a wanting comedian at one part of his life too, and his used these old humerous stories and notes to create the comics that are now so loved. Even in his interviews, his dry sense of humour shows through - Pekar will always be Pekar, whether you're reading his work or reading interviews, he is always himself. Even the title of American Spendor is a joke in itself - he said in an interview about his work Ego and Hubris that when he was growing up in the 1940's, all the comics were called "All American Comics" or "Starspangled Comics", so his title was a parody of those comics.

"Early Life" - Robert Crumb

Robert Crumb's artwork is immediately recognisable from the work he did for American Splendor. Using a crosshatch shading style, rough but detailed, he creates his pictures with a sense of life, his work quite old-fashioned by today's standards. It reminds me very much of newspaper sketches, but he has done work in the past for comedic sketches in media. 

Although I usually don't choose to look into this style of drawing, it goes well with Pekar's plain-and-simple style of humour. 

I think anyone can really empathise with Pekar's work, which is why it is so likable. Even if you haven't been through similar situations to Pekar, his work is so straight-forward and honest, you can empathise with his emotions, at times you've felt the same. The struggles he goes through in daily life documented in his trademark humour is something I find special. He also touches on issues that can be quite sensitive; talking about his cancer years, the treatment and the support of his third wife throughout. I think his way of writing about everyday happenings - and happenings that are not everyday, but are well-known events - is really unique in the comicbook world and is something that will be missed.

American Splendor - Harvey Pekar and Robert Crumb

References - 

Ego and Hubris interview
Walrus Comix interview

Trouble with Comics interview

The Daily Cross Hatch interview