Product Description: First appearing in 1976, AMERICAN SPLENDOR rose from thestreets of Cleveland to change the way comics readers and creators viewedthe potential of their medium. The series won an American Book Award andbecame an Oscar-nominated film.Following the success of his critically praised, top-selling graphic novelTHE QUITTER, Harvey Pekar returns with an all-new volume of AMERICANSPLENDOR, celebrating 30 years of the series that first showed how, asHarvey says, "ordinary life can be pretty complex stuff." In this collection, Harvey is joined by an all-star roster of artistsincluding his collaborator on THE QUITTER, Dean Haspiel.Three decadesafter his self-published debut, Harvey Pekar proves that while his life haschanged, his ability to find the exceptional in the everyday has only grownsharper with time.
Pekar the stoic One of the many appeals of Harvey Pekar's work is that he's all too aware of his many neuroses, and regularly pokes fun at his own obsessive- compulsiveness. The humor and gentleness with which he does it gives the rest of us permission, I think, to acknowledge our own faults. His triumphs over his anxieties, as well as his ability to spot the fascinating, hilarious, and noble in the ordinary things of life, are inducements not to take our own everyday lives for granted. On one level, then, Pekar's work is therapeutic.
But as he's gotten older, it strikes me that his work is also becoming wiser, and Another Day is (thus far) the single best reflection of this wisdom. Even though the collection begins with a story about his father's Alzheimer ("What Happened to Your Parents?") that seems to end on a rather forlorn, nihilistic note ("I dunno," Harvey says. "Maybe it's just not in the cards for some people to have happy lives--although we're here for such a short time, maybe it doesn't even matter that much."), another way of interpreting the story's ending is that it's a reminder for us not to take our personal histories so seriously. We're important, but we're also not the center of the universe; our life is terribly short. Letting go of self-importance is one way to out our anxieties in perspective and cultivate wisdom.
And many of the collection's subsequent stories illustrate just that point. Pekar's small victories--fixing a toilet ("Today I Am a Man"), finding his foster daughter's glasses ("The Day's Highlights"), cultivating mindfulness ("You Can't Rush Everything"), laughing at his own lapses into hubris ("Icarus" and "Grocery Shopping")--are reminders to slow down, to be patient, to put things in perspective. There's an almost stoical feel to some of the stories. And even when Pekar falls on his face ("Snow Chaos"), he does so in such a humorously self-aware way that the reader knows he'll bounce back soon.
As usual, the art is superb--with one exception. Although I'm a great admirer of Dean Haspiel's talent, I'm not sure the cover drawn by him works. It takes a second or third look to recognize the drawing as Pekar sitting up in bed. Initially, given the coloring and the sharply angled lines, the drawing looks more like a sci-fi nightmare: a steely-eyed silver robot standing in the midst of killer robot carnage.
How can the mundane be so interesting? I've read a few American Splendor collections in the past but haven't touched Harvey Pekar's work in quite a while. Nothing against the author, of course; I just had a lot of other comics to read. Seeing AMERICAN SPLENDOR: ANOTHER DAY at the shop recently, and not having anything else to buy, I picked it up and was very pleased. While the stories have certainly shifted in tone from his earlier work, I enjoyed it just as much as those other collections.
These are Harvey's simple everyday issues, such as worrying over his stepdaughter's safety, unclogging a toilet, and actually creating the stories in this very book. The selection of artists is very impressive - while regular AS contributors such as Dean Haspiel and Gary Dummare are included, there is an impressive roster of well-known newcomers: Eddie Campbell, Richard Corben, Chris Weston, and Leonardo Manco, just to name a few. I especially enjoyed seeing Pekar's stories illustrated by Corben and Weston and would love to see more related work from these two. I'm hoping that DC/Vertigo will continue with these collections, as well as bring some of the older American Splendor material back into print
Not the best I have gotten into Harvey's stuff mostly through his best-of collections, and this is certainly not up to that level of quality. The last of his books I read was "Our Cancer Year" which was excellent with no nonsense. "Another Day" has too much nonsense; perhaps a third or more of the book is made up of stories that are as fun as listening to someone talk about something you don't care about. In one piece he actually lectures to us about regionalism, which he drags out over six pages. It is fine to sneak in a little something about regionalism, but it seemed like blabbering and lecturing.
On the plus side there are some excellent artists doing some nice work and it is interesting to see the differences between artists.
Some of the stories are good, but too many of them tasted like re-cooked food or just basically uninteresting material. His stories that are good in this book are great, but there are others that are boring and others that are stale.
If you are new to Harvey Pekar, grab "Our Cancer Year" which is about a full year in his life. Or grab "The New American Splendor Anthology", or "American Splendor" or "The best of American Splendor", but note that these three, in contrast to "Our Cancer Year", are collections of short stories.
The best that Harvey does is tell stories that are interesting or frame a seemingly mundane situation in a way where we see it through fresh eyes and appreciate it and enjoy it. Not enough of this book was up to that level.
Another Great Day This is a shorter anthology than the others i've read, but a fantastic one. The art is all top-notch, the stories are great as ever, with a range of flashback and current tales. I've read the other AS anthologies, and knowing the back story on lots of the topics is extra good, but I imagine even a first-time reader would enjoy Another Day for its high quality storytelling and art. Also my favorite cover art yet.
Anything Goes Trivia
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Megaton Man
