INTERVIEW: Comix Legend and Creator of American Splendor – Harvey Pekar
Are there any artists out there today that you enjoy at all?
I don’t read too many comic books… you talking about comic book artists?
Yeah…
Well, there’s some guys that are good, sure… I mean a lot of people I like… I think actually still today though that the best alternative comix were done in the 60s… people like Frank Stack and Spain Rodriguez… but I mean there are guys today that are… like Joe Sacco… Chester Brown… there’s a bunch of people… Joe Matt…
Well he LOVES you… We did an interview with him and he mentioned how big an influence you were to him…
Yeah I know… He told me… I wrote a blurb for this book called ‘Spent’ that he did… Yeah I feel like, you know, he feels like he’s so much in my debt that it’s embarrassing…
I’m sure a lot of people feel that way…
“Without you, there wouldn’t be a JOE MATT”! you know, that kind of thing… Well, I dunno, anyway…
So three quick questions…
Yeah OK…
Favourite muscial artist?
Oh, I don’t have a favourite musical artist… there’s too many…
I mean if you wanna talk about favourite traditional jazz artists… you wanna break it down… maybe I could say Louis Armstrong…
Favourite Modern Jazz artist?
Probably… like the best guy was Charlie Parker… he was very talented…
Any albums spring to mind?
Yeah, tons of them… a lot of stuff Miles Davis did… Charlie Parker… Coltrane… Thelonius Monk…. and then, you know, Duke Ellington… I was into ALL periods of jazz and I really think I appreciated all of them… I LIKED all of them… I didn’t have one that I didn’t pay attention to.. I listened to them all and I LEARNED about them all..
Whose record collection is more impressive, yours or Robert Crumb’s?
Well, mine is GONE… My wife got rid of it all…
She GOT RID OF THEM?
Well, I mean they were sitting around and I wasn’t listening to much music at all… they were taking up a lot of space and it was driving her nuts… she couldn’t turn around without bumping into a pile of records… so… she kept on me and on me… and records became less important to me… so that finally she got a decent price from some guy… for the CDs anyway… she sold those and…
ANYWAY, Crumb only collects 78s… and he only likes music from 1933 and before.. so YOU be the judge!
(laughs)
I guess it depends on what you think a good record collection is. For ME, Crumb’s tastes are pretty narrow… He gets along… One thing about him is if it’s old, he doesn’t seem to care about the genre, he just LIKES it… He likes old folk music and old pop… corny old pop stuff.
Do you still hang out?
Nooo… I never see him… He doesn’t come around here anymore.. He’s always in France… and um… he used to come to the mid-west… I mean there’s still a lot of people that he knows… It’s probably just depressing for him… He just goes to New York and then he goes to.. he’s got some girlfriend in Oregon that he goes and sees sometimes.
I can’t remember the last time I talked to him… I mean, you know… we’re still on good terms as far as I know… I wish him the best of luck and he did me a tremendous favour by getting me into comix… it’s one of the turning points of my life… NO doubt about it… and it probably wouldn’t have been possible without his encouragement..
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..