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ohahconday's review against another edition
4.0
I am glad to have read American Splendor this way taking in the best of Harvey Pekar. In this “Best Of” you get a great sense of who he Pekar is. In many ways, he is an exhausting man whose neuroticism exhausted me. Those comics where he is in his own head for 3+ pages frustrated me the most. However, the stories where he interacting with folks at work or on the bus were so delightful. Stories focused on Joyce (his wife) and Danielle (his foster daughter) were my favorite. Those comics gave me the best sense of who he is and trying to be. Because on first read Pekar is a depressed paranoid man, but as you get a fuller sense of who he is, he really is a man who is doing his best.
What’s not to love about that?
What’s not to love about that?
uosdwisrdewoh's review against another edition
3.0
After reading Jonathan Ames's The Alcoholic and finding it a bit wanting, I'd wanted to take on this innovator and master of autobiographical comics. This is a collection of the odds and ends of his long running comic, with most material coming from the 90s. It's very low key stuff. Reading the book feels like nothing more or less than simply like spending time with Harvey. He'll tell you about books he's reading, his neuroses, his encounters in the workplace, through stories that don't particularly go anywhere. Sometimes, though, he'll give homespun wisdom that makes you want to tear out certain pages and put them above your desk. He works with a variety of artists of varying quality, from very expressive Dean Haspiel, whose work I admired in The Alcoholic, to the solid but not spectacular art of Gary Dunn and Joe Sacco. Most of the stories, though, are illustrated by the underground comics stalwart Frank Stack, whose art, while expressive, is also very sketchy and impressionistic. At its best it lends an immediacy and verve to the stories, but more often than not, Harvey and his surroundings look a bit ill-formed and lumpy.
This volume is a bit odd to read in that most of the stories rotate around Our Cancer Year. You get stories referring back to his time with cancer and how it affected his body, his career, and his marriage, but not the full details of that year itself. As such, The Best of American Splendor comes off as more of a supplement to that book than a volume that stands on its own. It's interesting in its own right, but not essential.
This volume is a bit odd to read in that most of the stories rotate around Our Cancer Year. You get stories referring back to his time with cancer and how it affected his body, his career, and his marriage, but not the full details of that year itself. As such, The Best of American Splendor comes off as more of a supplement to that book than a volume that stands on its own. It's interesting in its own right, but not essential.
anttirask's review against another edition
4.0
I knew of Harvey Pekar way before I read any of his work. In fact, I had borrowed this same book from the library a few years ago, but for some reason I didn’t end up reading it until now.
Perhaps I thought the book to be too wordy and about too heavy subject matters, accompanied by somewhat harsh black-and-white illustration. Now, I was right about all this, but the book is not just that. It’s that and much more.
The parts that I did enjoy the most were the times he was writing about jazz. You could tell that it was a real passion of his and that he had a lot of original thoughts about the matter. And although I did also like his rants about various things, I have to say it was a pleasure to read about the more positive aspects of his life.
A lot could be said about the art and the various artists involved, but I’ll just say that I liked some more than the others. And had the art been more consistently good, I would’ve given this the fifth star.
Perhaps I thought the book to be too wordy and about too heavy subject matters, accompanied by somewhat harsh black-and-white illustration. Now, I was right about all this, but the book is not just that. It’s that and much more.
The parts that I did enjoy the most were the times he was writing about jazz. You could tell that it was a real passion of his and that he had a lot of original thoughts about the matter. And although I did also like his rants about various things, I have to say it was a pleasure to read about the more positive aspects of his life.
A lot could be said about the art and the various artists involved, but I’ll just say that I liked some more than the others. And had the art been more consistently good, I would’ve given this the fifth star.
chelseamartinez's review against another edition
5.0
At first I wasn't enjoying this one as much as other anthologies of the comic... I think this is because the structure has too many stories from the same period lumped up at the beginning, and thus too many of them have the same preface about Pekar needing to write more and more comics because of his health problems, inability to live off pension alone, and foster parenthood. Not to discount these things! And maybe they are at the beginning to give context to a person coming to the comics after seeing the movie (i'm one of those people but there was a 15-year stretch between seeing the movie and reading the comics... and this isn't the first compendium of his work that I have read). Anyhow, if you keep going the stories get more varied in theme and time period.
I think you get a better sense in this collection of how much Pekar has written about music and how knowledgeable he is.
My favorites were:
Ameritech
Peeling and Eating a Tangerine
Oh My Goodness!
Violation
A Story About a Review
Why I Haven't Visited the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame
Inky Dies
Self Justification or Anticipating the Critics
Recycling
Candor
Cell Phones
Huckster
Interviewing the Interviewer
Danielle
I think you get a better sense in this collection of how much Pekar has written about music and how knowledgeable he is.
My favorites were:
Ameritech
Peeling and Eating a Tangerine
Oh My Goodness!
Violation
A Story About a Review
Why I Haven't Visited the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame
Inky Dies
Self Justification or Anticipating the Critics
Recycling
Candor
Cell Phones
Huckster
Interviewing the Interviewer
Danielle
thebobsphere's review
4.0
The life of times of Harvey Pekar. A guy who observes daily goings on and documents it in comic format.
As such this is a sort of best of and features Pekar's best writing and humorous stories. Even when suffering from testicular cancer or losing his voice, Pekar manages to slip in some jokes. It's a heartfelt story and a good accompaniment to the film.
As such this is a sort of best of and features Pekar's best writing and humorous stories. Even when suffering from testicular cancer or losing his voice, Pekar manages to slip in some jokes. It's a heartfelt story and a good accompaniment to the film.
franklinfantini's review
5.0
Maybe you don't relate to him all the time but I think most of us can relate to Mr Pekar at some point along the way. He speaks the grumpy American truth.
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