Stephanie Kay
Oct 11, 2007, 05:18 pm
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dc/0906/AmericanSplendorCv1.jpg"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dc/0906/AmericanSplendorCv1t.jpg" alt="American Splendor #1" hspace=10 align=left></a> Reviewer: Robert Cammarata
"I dunno, maybe it’s just not in the cards for some people to have happy lives"
Writer: Harvey Pekar
Artists: Dean Haspiel, Ty Templeton, Hilary Barta, Greg Budgett, and Gary Dumm
Letterer: Pat Brosseau
Cover Artist: Glenn Fabry
Assistant Editor: Angela Rufino
Editor: Johnathon Vankin
American Splendor Created by: Harvey Pekar
Published by: Vertigo/DC Comics (www.dccomics.com/vertigo)
American Splendor--long-time respected, Indy comic series turned recent Academy Award nominated respected movie--returns to the funny pages in this new Vertigo published American Splendor mini-series. The premise for American Splendor in all its various incarnations over the decades is a simple one. It is about life, specifically its creator Harvey Pekar’s life, as he takes us into his sometimes simple, often difficult world. Pekar’s poignant observations about daily life continue in this new Vertigo book so that long-time fans of his many works will not be disappointed with this one.
Harvey Pekar is one of those names in the industry that everyone has heard of. As for me, he’s a name I’ve known about for many years but I was only recently indoctrinated into this man’s life and body of work in the remarkable movie American Splendor starring Paul Giamatti. If you have not yet seen this flick I highly recommend it for any comic fan. The film is almost impossible to describe without actually watching it as it intercuts typical movie interaction between actors playing real-life characters with images straight out of Pekar’s comic book, and then inserts fascinating clips of Pekar on David Letterman and performing interviews to the camera right in the middle of the film. The introduction I received from the film helped me jump right into this series.
This version of American Splendor begins with one issue that contains four stories all of varying length with different artists penning each story. The issue opens on a high note with the best story of the piece with wonderful art by Ty Templeton. Templeton at times draws in an almost photographic realist way for the present day narrations of an older Pekar but uses more traditionally grounded artwork for the flashback scenes that I find reminiscent of some of Will Eisner’s stuff. This opening tale is about Pekar’s parents, about their lives and about their deaths. The last page of this story ends with a wonderfully drawn and written scene of Pekar, alone, reflecting on life in general and really confronting for himself and the reader some important issues about life/death. The next story is a very short two-page tale that is played for laughs. The more cartoony art of Hilary Barta is not my preference in art and is a far cry from the sophistication of Ty Templeton’s on the proceeding story. However, the cartoony artwork is perfectly suitable for this comical story.
The third story, The Day’s Highlights, I think perfectly reflects my feeling towards the book and prediction for the future of the series. The Day’s Highlights is the longest story of the bunch making up the bulk of the issue. It simply recalls complications in a day of Harvey Pekar that Pekar worries and stresses about throughout and which he sort of resolves in the end. I can really relate to Pekar in this tale. I am a practicing and chronic worrier. I worry about everything. I worry about big things, small things. I worried while writing this review and then I worry about the fact that I worry too damn much. That being said I totally get and like Pekar stressing over things such as the whereabouts of his adopted daughter, money problems etc. The downside of this type of story is that while it accurately reflects real life and the psychosis of comic reviewers like myself, it just sometimes is not that interesting. A lot of the poignant statements found in the powerful opening piece about Pekar’s parents spoiled me for the rest of the issue as that sort of vivid and bone-chilling contemplation is replaced here by pretty typical and often mundane musings. Again, Pekar’s focus is on everyday, ordinary life and if you are fans of his body of work you will like this tale. Its only problem is the problem with ordinary life, it is sometimes, well, just plain ordinary. Dean Haspiel provides good artwork that fits the story and works well in the black and white format of the book. American Splendor then ends with a hilarious two-page story about flying, peanuts and political attitudes (trust me, it works). The art is realistic enough that you know you’re seeing Pekar but cartoony enough to really get the comical punch it wants to deliver.
Overall, American Splendor does not offer up many surprises. The tales all depict occurrences from real life and attempt to sway different emotional reactions from the reader that run the gamut from sadness and sympathy to laughter and “wow that happens to me too” light moments. Pekar seems best at writing short stories that gets to the point, delivers a clever message or scene and gets out. His musings in first-person are both amazingly mundane and neurotic while being fascinating and reflective. His dialogue is bit more rigid and tends to lack the punch of his longer diatribes. If you are a fan of fights, explosions, sex, violence, people in tights and all that good stuff I implore you to take a pass on this book. However, for any nuts of autobiographical fiction, biographies or just plain stories about the comings and goings of daily life, Pekar is at the top of the ladder in delivering these types of stories. If I have not swayed you one way or another on reader Vertigo’s American Splendor, I hear there is a movie out there with coincidentally the same name. And I hear it’s a good one.
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vhalf.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vnone.jpg
Buy American Splendor online now from X-World Comics and save! (http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=2439&cat=AMERICAN+SPLENDOR)
"I dunno, maybe it’s just not in the cards for some people to have happy lives"
Writer: Harvey Pekar
Artists: Dean Haspiel, Ty Templeton, Hilary Barta, Greg Budgett, and Gary Dumm
Letterer: Pat Brosseau
Cover Artist: Glenn Fabry
Assistant Editor: Angela Rufino
Editor: Johnathon Vankin
American Splendor Created by: Harvey Pekar
Published by: Vertigo/DC Comics (www.dccomics.com/vertigo)
American Splendor--long-time respected, Indy comic series turned recent Academy Award nominated respected movie--returns to the funny pages in this new Vertigo published American Splendor mini-series. The premise for American Splendor in all its various incarnations over the decades is a simple one. It is about life, specifically its creator Harvey Pekar’s life, as he takes us into his sometimes simple, often difficult world. Pekar’s poignant observations about daily life continue in this new Vertigo book so that long-time fans of his many works will not be disappointed with this one.
Harvey Pekar is one of those names in the industry that everyone has heard of. As for me, he’s a name I’ve known about for many years but I was only recently indoctrinated into this man’s life and body of work in the remarkable movie American Splendor starring Paul Giamatti. If you have not yet seen this flick I highly recommend it for any comic fan. The film is almost impossible to describe without actually watching it as it intercuts typical movie interaction between actors playing real-life characters with images straight out of Pekar’s comic book, and then inserts fascinating clips of Pekar on David Letterman and performing interviews to the camera right in the middle of the film. The introduction I received from the film helped me jump right into this series.
This version of American Splendor begins with one issue that contains four stories all of varying length with different artists penning each story. The issue opens on a high note with the best story of the piece with wonderful art by Ty Templeton. Templeton at times draws in an almost photographic realist way for the present day narrations of an older Pekar but uses more traditionally grounded artwork for the flashback scenes that I find reminiscent of some of Will Eisner’s stuff. This opening tale is about Pekar’s parents, about their lives and about their deaths. The last page of this story ends with a wonderfully drawn and written scene of Pekar, alone, reflecting on life in general and really confronting for himself and the reader some important issues about life/death. The next story is a very short two-page tale that is played for laughs. The more cartoony art of Hilary Barta is not my preference in art and is a far cry from the sophistication of Ty Templeton’s on the proceeding story. However, the cartoony artwork is perfectly suitable for this comical story.
The third story, The Day’s Highlights, I think perfectly reflects my feeling towards the book and prediction for the future of the series. The Day’s Highlights is the longest story of the bunch making up the bulk of the issue. It simply recalls complications in a day of Harvey Pekar that Pekar worries and stresses about throughout and which he sort of resolves in the end. I can really relate to Pekar in this tale. I am a practicing and chronic worrier. I worry about everything. I worry about big things, small things. I worried while writing this review and then I worry about the fact that I worry too damn much. That being said I totally get and like Pekar stressing over things such as the whereabouts of his adopted daughter, money problems etc. The downside of this type of story is that while it accurately reflects real life and the psychosis of comic reviewers like myself, it just sometimes is not that interesting. A lot of the poignant statements found in the powerful opening piece about Pekar’s parents spoiled me for the rest of the issue as that sort of vivid and bone-chilling contemplation is replaced here by pretty typical and often mundane musings. Again, Pekar’s focus is on everyday, ordinary life and if you are fans of his body of work you will like this tale. Its only problem is the problem with ordinary life, it is sometimes, well, just plain ordinary. Dean Haspiel provides good artwork that fits the story and works well in the black and white format of the book. American Splendor then ends with a hilarious two-page story about flying, peanuts and political attitudes (trust me, it works). The art is realistic enough that you know you’re seeing Pekar but cartoony enough to really get the comical punch it wants to deliver.
Overall, American Splendor does not offer up many surprises. The tales all depict occurrences from real life and attempt to sway different emotional reactions from the reader that run the gamut from sadness and sympathy to laughter and “wow that happens to me too” light moments. Pekar seems best at writing short stories that gets to the point, delivers a clever message or scene and gets out. His musings in first-person are both amazingly mundane and neurotic while being fascinating and reflective. His dialogue is bit more rigid and tends to lack the punch of his longer diatribes. If you are a fan of fights, explosions, sex, violence, people in tights and all that good stuff I implore you to take a pass on this book. However, for any nuts of autobiographical fiction, biographies or just plain stories about the comings and goings of daily life, Pekar is at the top of the ladder in delivering these types of stories. If I have not swayed you one way or another on reader Vertigo’s American Splendor, I hear there is a movie out there with coincidentally the same name. And I hear it’s a good one.
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vhalf.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/vnone.jpg
Buy American Splendor online now from X-World Comics and save! (http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=2439&cat=AMERICAN+SPLENDOR)