Bob and Harv's Comics

... it's the variety of takes on Pekar, provided by a plurality of artists, that makes American Splendor so good.

There's simply no doubt that Harvey Pekar and Robert Crumb are two American geniuses. They've known one another since the early 1960s when they both lived in Cleveland. They have much in common: obsessive collectors, music lovers, misanthropes mellowed (to some extent) by age, dependent on strong wives. But they're also quite distinctive. Pekar is the analyst of the everyday "outside" world. There's absolutely no one better at exploring the quirkiness, wonder, and occasional tragedy embedded in the quotidian. Like a Zen sage, Pekar has the vision to look at the same world the rest of us see and discern the significance that we miss. Crumb, on the other hand, is the analyst of the "inside" world, that psychic realm that typically remains hidden, certainly from public view but frequently from private view as well, in which all our deepest fears, lusts, hopes, anxieties, and distorted self-images breed. Crumb peels back the protective layers to exhibit his interior, and in doing so invites us to peep at our own. Pekar, a writer of insight and raw talent, can't draw. So he commissions artists to collaborate on his stories, and one of them is Crumb. This collection pulls together 31 stories put out by the Pekar/Crumb team between 1977 and 1987. They're brilliant. The material includes 3 "Jack the Bellboy" stories--Jack is Harvey's alter ego. It also has the fantastic "Standing Behind Old Jewish Ladies in Supermarket Lines" story made famous by the "American Splendor" film. What the film doesn't show, however, is the ending to the story, in which Harvey is stunned by the gratuitous kindness of an Old Jewish Lady, causing him to come to a much wiser conclusion than the film allows him. There's the "Young Crumb Story," an account of the Cleveland friendship between Pekar and Crumb before Crumb went off to San Francisco and underground comix fame. Mr. Boats and the assorted street philosophers from the Cleveland VA Hospital make appearances in the collection (Crumb's visual depiction of Mr. Boats is my favorite of all the artists Pekar has had draw him). And for my money, the short vignette called "Mr. Lopes' Gift" reveals Pekar and Crumb at the height of their talents. Truly, it's incredible. What we need is a book-length critical study of Pekar and Crumb that appreciates their genius. Whoever writes it will be grateful for this collection.

This is a terrific collection of Harvey Pekar and Bob Crumb's collaborations throughout the years. In my opinion, Crumb did some of his best work with Pekar. The only note of caution, most of these comics are in the other Harvey Pekar AMERICAN SPLENDOR collections. So, there really isn't anything new here, other than the introductions and a few covers.

While Harvey Pekar's work on his autobiographical comic "American Spendor" is always interesting, it's at it's best when he is working with his friend and collaborator Robert Crumb. The two met in Cleveland in the 1960's and have been working together and trading records ever since. American Splendor generally features multiple comic artists, but this collection is comprised entirely of stories illustrated by Crumb.The stories are almost entirely about Pekar's everyday life, his trial and tribulations in Cleveland. He writes about eating dinner, losing a book, exchanges at work or at the market, freeloading friends... in fact, one of the most entertaining segments in this book is a series concerning Freddy, Harv's freeloading pal. The anger he provokes in the admitted cheapskate Pekar is hilarious. There are also several stories where Crumb himself figures as a main character. For those with an interest in Crumb's life and background, there is much to learn in these Harv and Bob stories.Pekar is an important comic writer and "American Splendor" is definitely worth checking out. For the uninitiated, this book is a good place to start. Crumb has an excellent approach to the material and really brings it to life, giving us a real sense of the people and personalities at work here. His AS covers are also notable. American Splendor fans should realize that much, if not all, of this material appears elsewhere in The Complete Crumb Comics and in the now out-of-print American Splendor Anthologies. Of course, it all originally appeared in the American Splendor comic books, which Pekar self published annually since 1976 and can be difficult to find.

Two of the geniuses of comics, combining forces to tell the tales of everyday life in Cleveland! We can only be thankful they are using their considerable talents for good (very good) instead of evil.