Harvey Pekar changed comics for me forever. I had always been a huge fan of comics and my entire collection consisted of Superman, Batman, The Flash, Daredevil... a ton of hero books. That is until I came a cross American Splendor and it's writer, Harvey Pekar. What I found in American Splendor was a deeply personal, honest reflection of Harvey Pekar's life. At times hilarious, others very sad, but always amazing. Not to mention illustrated by some incredible artists, most famously, Robert Crumb. I felt like someone splashed cold water into my face! At a time when I was a teen and feeling insecure about a million things, here's this guy openly discussing all aspects of his life, even the personal parts all too often reserved only for ourselves. I stopped reading hero books for years after that.
I've since came back to some of my favorite super heroes with as much passion as I had for them before, but I needed the time to discover another side of comics. A side shown to me by the great Harvey Pekar.
A lot of his stuff has been re-released, and even made into a FILM so you should have no problem finding something at your local comic shop. But if they're insane and don't carry it, you can grab a collection of American Splendor HERE
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