Harvey Pekar

From Philosopedia

Pekar, Harvey (8 October 1939 - )

Pekar, the Cleveland-born writer of American Splendor (1986) comics, is an average working-class Joe who is capable of being optimistic and pessimistic at the same time. In the mid-1960s, he met cartoonist Robert Crumb in a jazz record swap meet, and Crumb's work has served as an inspiration for stories aimed at an adult audience.

In 2003, American Splendor won the Sundance Film Festival grand jury prize and received an Academy Award nomination for best adapted screenplay.

He has written,

• There are plenty of people who, based on the evidence they perceive, are agnostics, not believing they have answers as to what the purpose of life is and if and when it ends. You can’t force them, including me, to be spiritual.

In 2006, his Ego & Hubris describes an antihero who alienates friends and family, gets fired as a blogger, and has a disregard for social norms. Pekar describes such a blogger with such an outlook: "To be an Ayn Rand follower these days - it's just him and Alan Greenspan."

Pekar also is a jazz and book critic who has won awards for public radio broadcasts. With his third wife, Joyce Brabner, he collaborated on Our Cancer Year, A Graphic Novel, in which he describes his struggle with lymphoma.