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''American Splendor'' is a series of Autobiographical Comic Book s and Graphic Novels written by Harvey Pekar and drawn by a variety of artists. It was adapted into a movie in 2003. OVERVIEW Pekar was one of the first writers to believe that everyday Real Life could be a viable topic for comic books, traditionally the province of fantasy-adventure and other genre stories. He began his series in 1976 while working as a file clerk at a Veteran's Administration hospital in Cleveland, Ohio . As Pekar was not an artist himself, and was incapable of "drawing a straight line," he recruited his friend, Underground Comics artist Robert Crumb , to help create a comics series based on Pekar's own life. A wide assortment of other artists have also illustrated his stories, which are realistic and mostly true narratives dealing with the mundane troubles and frustrations of the everyday world. Besides Crumb, other notable ''American Splendor'' illustrators include Alison Bechdel , Chester Brown , David Collier , Gary Dumm , Frank Stack , Drew Friedman , Dean Haspiel , Val Mayerik , Josh Neufeld , Brian Bram , Spain Rodriguez , Joe Sacco , Gerry Shamray , Jim Woodring , Joe Zabel , Ed Piskor , and even writer Alan Moore . Pekar tends to document difficult living conditions ("keeping an old car alive in a Cleveland winter") and other people in his life such as co-worker Toby Radloff , who fills a life (initially appearing rather empty) with a variety of projects including fandom, inexpensive computers, and the Revenge Of The Nerds movie. The series gained him cult-fame and notoriety, especially after Pekar became a recurring guest on '' Late Night With David Letterman ''. Pekar's run on Letterman became more sporadic after a 1988 interview segment in which Pekar criticized Letterman for ducking criticism of GE , the parent company of NBC . The interview ended with name-calling, in which Pekar said Letterman looked like a G.E. " Shill " and Letterman mocked Pekar's comic book and called him a " Jerk ". Pekar wrote 17 issues of the original ''American Splendor'' series from 1976 to 1993, which, except for the last few issues, he also self-published and self-distributed. By keeping back issues in print and available (contrary to the industry practice of the time), Pekar continued to receive income on previously-completed work, although at the time some of them were published, according to his Comics Journal interview, he was losing thousands of dollars per year on the books. Starting in 1994, Pekar wrote additional ''American Splendor'' comics to be published by co-worker Robert McNeill. In addition to the 31 issues of ''American Splendor'', Pekar has written two larger works which carry the American Splendor label, ''Our Movie Year'' ('' (Four Walls Eight Windows, 1994), co-written with Pekar's wife Joyce Brabner and illustrated by Frank Stack , and ''The Quitter'' ( DC Comics , 2005, illustrated by Dean Haspiel . In September 2006, Pekar released a four issue ''American Splendor'' mini-series through DC Comics imprint Vertigo , 30 years after his first issue in 1976. The mini-series was collected into a Trade Paperback in April 2007 {Link without Title} . It is also worth noting that several ''American Splendor'' reprint anthologies exist from various publishers, their material not (for the most part) overlapping. FILM See Also: American Splendor (film) In ''). STAGE Theatrical productions based on ''American Splendor'' have been mounted over the years. The first of these was produced by The Independent Eye in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1985, adapted and directed by Conrad Bishop . The second, produced in 1987 at Washington, DC 's Arena Stage , was adapted by Lloyd Rose and directed by James C. Nicola . The third, which is represented in fictionalized form in the ''American Splendor'' movie, ran from September 1990 through September 1991 at Hollywood's Theatre/Theater in Los Angeles, California ; it was adapted and directed by Vince Waldron , and starred Dan Castellaneta as Harvey. TRIVIA
TRADE PAPERBACKS AVAILABLE EXTERNAL LINKS
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