Original Cartoon Strip & Article For Harvey Pekar
July 15th, 2010 by admin
On July 12th, 2010, the world lost an original voice. I was on my way home, passing through the cell-phone wormholes of Vermont’s mountains, when my wife, Kristin, called to deliver the news. I almost had to pull over.
In my life, few “famous” peoples’ passings have affected me. Last year when Michael Jackson passed, sure I felt that something significant had occurred, but I didn’t get choked up about it. Thus far only the deaths of Jim Henson and Charles Schulz had touched me deep down, and now Harvey Pekar has joined that unfortunate list.
The works of Harvey Pekar gave me courage to begin creating comics three years ago. He was, for me and other cartoonists, the equivalent of punk rock and DIY bands inspiring folks to express their own voice, saying “hey, I can do that!” His entertaining and insightful comics about everyday life elevated mundane experiences to a place of importance and gravity. You didn’t have to live in Chicago, San Francisco, LA, or New York to make art. Just look around you. Begin with the personal. Pick your medium. And go with it.
The movie of his life: American Splendor is an example of the bioflick/documentary done right. It pays homage to the medium he worked in while incorporating “the man himself.” The movie acts as a common ground for my wife and me when approaching the life of a cartoonist/creative type. It’s always been helpful to put on when she’s trying to make sense of my…comic/obsessive tendencies.
As a writer, Pekar was brilliant. He knew how to use comics to their greatest potential without getting overly flashy or showy with the art or page-layout. Since he never drew a single finished comic but relied on several artists to create the comic worlds of each narrative, his autobiographical “self” was always visually shifting from story to story. The Pekar of American Splendor was a character more than a representation of the author. Give his work a chance and it will win you over. It won’t feel like other shoe-gazer bio-comics (like mine) because Pekar was always interested with his relation to other things and people. In a way his musings and stories were those of an Everyman. While deeply personal, he found a way of speaking what others felt was true in their own lives (the mark of good memoir).
Harvey Pekar will be greatly missed by those of us in the comics world and anyone who has enjoyed his work. His is a voice and an example that I hope continues to inspire creators in the comics world and beyond.
Sam Carbaugh is a professional cartoonist. He is responsible for all the great graphics on Sounds Good Ink as well. Check out more of his work at: www.samcarbaugh.com
That was a wonderful tribute to him.
Thank you Sam.