INTERVIEW: Comix Legend and Creator of American Splendor – Harvey Pekar
The way you documented your health crisis through your work was remarkably brave… Did you surprise yourself at all during that process.. your courage, your perseverance? Did you think you had it in you?
I was off of work for the first — I had cancer twice.. the second time was after I retired — but the first time I was off of work for months, and I had built up so much sick leave that I didn’t miss a pay check.. ‘cause I never used to use my sick leave and stuff.. and sure enough, it was like having a lot of money in the bank when I finally did have a problem… I just kept getting my sick leave… and I went back to work when I felt OK, like I said, the work wasn’t all that demanding… so it wasn’t like it was messing me up
Your life was made into the movie American Splendor.. That must have been a surreal experience… You got a taste of the whole Hollywood machinery… Did it leave you wanting more?
Well it wasn’t made by Hollywood type film makers… they were independent film makers like Ted Hope… I don’t know if you know him..
From Good Machine?
Yeah, right.. I mean he tries to make really good arty movies, you know artful… and he’s worked with Ang Lee a lot… the famous Chinese director who’s so well thought of and did a version of the HULK… Hehehe!!…
Yeah it wasn’t one of my favourites..
Nahh.. and Bob Pulcini and Shari Berman were the ones that wrote the script and directed it… They were just starting out… I mean they had been to school and everything and had
made a couple of short documentary things, but they hadn’t had done any kind of commercial work at all… and the thing was shot within a month and was shot all in Cleveland so there wasn’t really anything glamorous about it… I just used to go down there every day cause I liked to eat the food that they made for the crew…
(laughs)
“…and HERE COMES PARIS HILTON arriving at our party and she fell into the POOL!!”
But it went to all these major festivals, surely you must have gotten some kind of tertiary Hollywood experience from it all?
I mean, to the extent that I didn’t like it… I thought I wouldn’t like it, and I DIDN’T like it… You meet a lot of shallow kind of fucked up people who don’t have anything together… There’s people that are really pathetic… Like the guy who was the distributor of the film threw a big party and he invited PARIS HILTON!! And my kid happened to be outside… and it was pretty cold in the wintertime even though it was L.A… and HERE COMES PARIS HILTON arriving at our party and she fell into the POOL!! I mean I feel sorry for her…
I mean, I can eat what I want… I got the stuff I want… I guess she got the stuff SHE wants maybe, even though the stuff she wants COSTS more… I mean I’m SATISFIED with my material stuff… I dunno… but she’s portrayed as a BUFFOON… you know, STUPID RICH GIRL and all that kind of stuff… Its pathetic, man..
I know your wife is very political … Do you share any of her fervor? As we’re in another one of those election years, I have to ask the question.. ‘Are you throwing your endorsement towards any particular candidate?’…
Yeah I’m into politics, I always have been, but you know, I’m not an activist.. But I mean I vote in every election and stuff like that…
“Would you ever consider doing a book STRICTLY on politics?
I HAVE… Although, not about domestic politics… I did a book called MACEDONIA… and nobody was writing about Macedonia at all in prose… and I thought what was happening over there was pretty important so I wrote that with this woman who went over there… Heather Roberson… and I just got a book out… I didn’t do the whole thing, but I made a pretty significant contribution to it… about SDS (Students for a Democratic Society)… that just came out not too long ago.. and I wrote a thing about the history of the Beat Generation.. Now the guy who wanted me to do the SDS thing and the Beat Generation thing, he asked me to do a history of the Middle East… which I can do… which I actually HAVE done, and I don’t know whether anyone’ll actually like it or not but I’ve got a structure… I don’t have a CONCLUSION yet… I sent him what I’ve done so far and I wanna swap ideas with him about how he thinks I should tie it up… So that’s another project that I’m involved in..
I’ve also written a biography of Lenny Bruce… It’s just been delayed and delayed…
Is it going to be turned into a graphic novel?
Yeah, yeah… these are ALL graphic novels.
So you’re working on a lot of stuff then?
Yeah I’m trying to work as much as I can, because this is really my only SERIOUS source of income… I can’t MAKE it on my pension and my Social Security combined… and I don’t know how long I’m gonna keep on being able to make these comics… I’m gonna try and get as much work as I possibly can WHILE I can… you know… see what happens.. I don’t really have much choice…
That’s an amazing thing to hear, because you’re a living legend.. You would think you would be this rich successful guy…
But my stuff is not real popular… I mean, look at James Joyce… He never was rich…
But Crumb, who I think has been directly influenced by YOU, I mean, he influenced you as well, but in turn you influenced HIM, and he’s living in a CHALET in France!
Yeah that he bought with a boxful of sketchbooks…
You couldn’t sell your original manuscripts?
Nahh I don’t think that there’s any market for that… I never heard anything—
I would think that it would probably go for a lot of money…
I dunno… I mean… I guess that’s something that needs to be looked into.
(LAUGHS)
Put some signed stuff on Ebay and it’ll go for a lot of money I can tell you that!!
Well, I’ll tell my wife, I can’t use the computer… but I’ll tell my wife to put something on Ebay… and we’ll see what it brings…
Yeah, you should…
But I’m saying there have been people that have been considered successful artists that really haven’t made much money… I mean Joyce’s books didn’t sell! I mean who was gonna subsidize him?? Not too many people did… You know, he wasn’t exactly POVERTY stricken, but he lived in pretty modest circumstances, you know.
Reading this article, all I could think of is how a piece on this website about some vapid, talentless fuckwad gets dozens of comments defending said vapid, talentless fuckwad. That Harvey Pekar has not been given his proper due of success and financial security for his body of work is an absolute fucking crime.
It is incredible isn’t it.
[...] interview with Harvey. Learn more about Harvey on his Wiki [...]
This is a great interview, thanks for posting it. I’ve never really read an at-length interview with Harvey Pekar before, and I think you asked a great range of questions. I loved your capitalized response when he said that his wife had sold his records!
American Splendor was a great comic, and I think what Pekar did just keeping it going year after year was really impressive. It was a real work of art, and it is a true loss that he has passed away. My best wishes go out to his friends and family.
Thanks.. Harvey’s passing is a great loss.. Heartens me to see how appreciated he was..