American Splendor by Harvey Pekar
At Headlines, World Book Day holds a special place in our hearts because telling great stories is what we’re passionate about.
This year, we asked the team to tell us about their favourite book, poem or piece of writing. From sports gossip to seminal graphic novels – we’ve got eclectic taste!
Read on ... and you never know, you might find your next book suggestion.
Brian Amey – Head of Design
What is your favourite thing to read?
I really like American Splendor by Harvey Pekar. It’s a graphic novel, but it’s not your typical superhero-style graphic novel. Instead, it’s all about Harvey Pekar’s everyday life, with stories drawn from his own experiences. But it’s not just the stories that are different, the artwork is great too. Pekar’s good friend Robert Crumb worked on a lot of early editions, but the series has no set style, with cartoonists interpreting each story with their own style.
What makes American Splendor so special to you?
It’s like reality TV before reality TV became a ‘thing’. It celebrates the mundane, finding drama in all of the small things in life. What really pulls me in are the stories – his long-running obsession with record collecting and his hatred of the habit, or his meltdown while being interviewed by David Letterman.
What drew you in initially?
I was given an issue of the graphic novel as a present for Christmas. I liked it so much that I ended up buying and reading the rest of the collection. You can chart Pekar’s life through the editions – it’s been running since the 70s and stopped in 2008 when Pekar died. The topics are completely different from other graphic novels and I love how unique they are.
What does it make you think about or feel?
It’s just really refreshing and interesting to see life experiences depicted this way. There’s one edition called Our Cancer Year which takes an uncompromising look at the realities of Pekar’s battle with cancer. The series follows the ups and downs of life – it’s sad, funny, moving and life-affirming all at once.
