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

Initial Research: Ai Yazawa

NANA

 Nana K. and Nana O. - Ai Yazawa

NANA is a serialised manga drawn and written by Japanese manga-ka, Ai Yazawa.

First published in the year 2000, it began its publishing shelf life in the magazine Cookie.

  Now NANA has reached a plateau of popularity, so far having 21 published volumes, two films, a variety of games for different consoles, an anime series and an extended line of merchandise to its name. It is one of Ai Yazawa's most popular and well-loved manga to date - although not finished, as due to illness Yazawa has been on hiatus from her career since mid 2009. 

Ai Yazawa is notoriously secretive about her private life, giving few interviews, allowing only one photo of her to be published worldwide. She has only ever given one interview in English that has been published in a western magazine, which featured only thirteen questions and none of them directed at her personal life. 

In interviews, Yazawa has stated that her influences mostly come from music and fashion (At one point commenting that she was a fan of the U.K band Muse.) as well as other manga-ka, whether they be in Japan or elsewhere. One of the stand-out features in Yazawa's work is the level of detail and focus on clothing and fashion, which is inspired by Yazawa's obvious love of fashion and her experience in a fashion course in university (In Paradise Kiss for example, it features some of the characters taking Fashion at an art university named "Yazawa Arts') Also, she has said that one of her characters in NANA had been specifically inspired by Sid Vicious - the bass player in The Sex Pistols.

When asked what inspired her to create NANA, Yazawa simply stated she had been asked by her publisher to next design a story to fit a wider audience. Daunted but determined, Yazawa's base idea was to create two girls with very different personalities - so at the very least, people reading it could empathise with at least one of them.  

I've been a fan of Ai Yazawa for six years now, first reading Paradise Kiss and then finally NANA. Yazawa touches on a lot of issues through her work that my age-group can empathise with - in Paradise Kiss, it centers around a girl of eighteen who is studying hard to meet her family's standards, but is disheartened at the fact she still does not know what she's working so hard for. When she is scouted to be a freelance model by some fashion students, her whole life is introduced to another way of thinking, which makes her confront what she really wants to aim for as a career. 

NANA is also very realistic; but is much more story-based too. Much longer than Paradise Kiss (With Paradise Kiss only having 5 volumes, and NANA reaching 21 in total so far) it follows the lives of Nana K (nicknamed Hachi) and Nana O, two very different girls that through circumstances end up living together whilst chasing their different dreams in the city of Tokyo. Hachi is usually the character most end up empathising with - making life mistakes, not knowing what career to go for, always doubting and changing her mind. Nana O is usually the character, according to Yazawa, that her fans admire and cheer on the most, along with Hachi. The stories are very well written and are drawn in such a way that draws you in very quickly. For me personally, I empathised very much with some of the situations depicted. 

In terms of the art, Yazawa has a beautiful, unique style of manga drawing that has the right amount of detail and uniqueness. 

NANA - Ai Yazawa

For me, Yazawa really captures emotions and movement well with her drawings, with a talent at shadowing and creating atmospheres through her drawings. From the page above, you can tell what kind of mood all the characters are in, what kind of stage Yazawa has set for them, just at a glance. This is why she is one of my favourite artists, and not just for manga. 

You can tell that NANA, and Paradise Kiss are both drawn and based in the 90's-2000 era, with the language characters use, the situations they are placed in and the eras of fashion that Yazawa references throughout her work. In NANA, one of the main characters talks about The Sex Pistols a lot, stating that it's her favourite band, and her style is very reminiscent of theirs as well. Also, a lot of brand names and events are named throughout the story, bringing it to the present day. With all this taken into account - the drawings, the fashion styles, languages and references of the modern world - NANA really feels like a piece of the real world. 

 Ai Yazawa

Interview references - January 18th 2006 interview with Shojo Beat