Harvey Pekar and American Splendor

I consider myself to be an autism writer, but I would like to try something different this time. A friend of mine introduced me this summer to a comic called American Splendor, by Harvey Pekar. I found this to be such an amazing piece of work that I would like to share it with you. I'll tie it back to my normal subject matter before I finish this post.

American Splendor is an autobiographical comic, and as such, I can't really talk about it without talking about its writer, Harvey Pekar. The first questions you likely have are who is Harvey Pekar, and what has he done that's worth reading about? The simple answers are no one special, and almost nothing. That's what I find so fascinating about his writing. As he famously said, “ordinary life is pretty complex stuff.”

Pekar was an average working Joe, living in Cleveland. He typically worked low-wage jobs, until settling into one at a Veteran's Administration Hospital. He usually lived in small apartments, often spending what spare money he had feeding his obsession with jazz records, for which he would sometimes write reviews for publication.

In terms of relationships, Pekar would probably say he was not very successful for most of his life. He has been married three times. He stated that he would get married quickly because he tended to settle for any woman that would put up with him. Of course, he also said that he lucked out and met his match with his third wife, Joyce Brabner, who also wrote comics, and would occasionally co-write American Splendor.

Over the course of his life, Pekar struggled with various health problems, which played a role in his comics as well. He went through frequent bouts of depression throughout his life. This appears to have been highly influential in his writing, which I will get into later. He also had frequent problems with his voice, which initially required surgery, but the problem continued to resurface throughout his life, likely due to stress. In addition, Pekar collaborated with his wife, Joyce, in 1995 to produce a graphic novel titled Our Cancer Year, detailing his fight against prostate cancer. He died in July of 2010 from an accidental overdose of antidepressants.

In the mid-1960's, Pekar met Robert Crumb, a man who would help facilitate the creation of American Splendor. Pekar and Crumb shared an interest in records, and though they had similar taste in music, there was little overlap. They would often trade records, both thinking they were taking the other for a sucker.

Crumb himself is an underground comic artist, who's material has always been edgy and is frequently misogynistic. As their friendship developed, Pekar took notice of the differences between the superhero comics that we're all familiar with and the more adult themes of Crumb's work. He noted that a comic is just words and pictures, and that that format could be used to tell almost any kind of story. Contrary to the opinions of most comic writers of the time, Pekar felt that there was no limit to how good a comic can be.

One day, Pekar decided to try his hand at making a comic. He never learned to draw very well, so he made stick figure drawings, along with dialog and captions. While he was showing it to his friends, Robert Crumb commented on how good it was and asked to illustrate it. The first issue of American Splendor was subsequently published in 1972. It was always self-published, and Pekar was never able to make more money from it than it took to publish it. Several of his friends illustrated his comics over the years, usually as a favor to him.

As I said earlier, the content of American Splendor was usually centered around Harvey Pekar's own personal experiences. Typical stories have been recreating conversations with friends and co-workers, helping someone move, trying to find money to buy a rare jazz record, or even going to the store or trying to get motivated to go to work in the morning. Each panel would describe his thoughts and observations of the situation, either at the time or reflecting on it later.

Pekar was never afraid to portray himself in a negative light. He would often show himself being loud and obnoxious (possibly leading to his vocal problems) or abusive toward his friends. He would often portray thoughts that most of us keep to ourselves, such as those about the person in front of him at the checkout counter.

At the same time, he would often include some of life's lessons that he learned from his experiences. Lessons such as fighting often not being a good solution to confrontation, or when a hobby can become a problem (he unsuccessfully tried to steal some jazz records from a radio station once). He's talked about lessons in not judging others. A highly conservative acquaintance he had that he didn't got on with very well (he's always been something of a lefty) turned out to be the most reliable friend he had when he had to move suddenly. He's even provided some insight into what might cause racist attitudes in some people, which is a position I've never been able to understand until then.

I promised I would talk about the influence Pekar's depression had on his writing. There were times when he had absolutely no motivation to do anything except sleep. Even activities that normally excited him, such as reading or buying and listening to jazz records, held no interest to him. Though nothing really happened, these times would turn into some of the more interesting stories. Pekar's writing style is very cerebral, so the bulk of the story would be about what was going on in his head. I don't know if I can do these stories justice by describing them in detail here, so I suggest you read some of them yourself.

Since I consider myself an autism writer, it would be natural for you to ask if I think Harvey Pekar may have been autistic. The truth is I don't know. As far as I'm aware, he's never declared himself, and I see little value beyond idle entertainment in speculating.

The real reason I'm writing about this is what I feel like I've gained from reading American Splendor: insight. I've always felt that saying differences are only skin deep left out neurodiversity, since our differences go as deep as how our brains work. When there are people in the world like Harvey Pekar, who are willing to share their inner thoughts with us, the kinds of thoughts that most of us hide and pretend we don't have, it becomes clear that thought processes are just another shallow difference. It really was an eye-opening experience in how similar we all are as human beings.

If you are interested in American Splendor, there are some compilations that are probably a good place to start. You can probably buy them from most book sellers. Ask for it if they don't have any in stock. It's worth the read.