Comic Review: American Splendor #4

[jakebe]

It’s a little harder to get excited about this one. Pekar tries his hand at longer form here, breaking up an eventful day into a series of little vignettes. He talks about a telephone call he has with a friend about directions to his HMO the next day, the incredibly nice thing a receptionist does for him when his battery dies, his attempt to repay the kindness of a friend who’s done him a favor, and his battle for his house with the dreaded clutter.

Once again I’m just warmed by how much little things mean to him. The receptionist at his doctor’s office offers to call AAA for him so they can start his car for free, by pretending the car is hers. Later, a friend’s brother helps him fix the rear bumper of his car, and he repays him by finding a good NASCAR coffee table book. For some reason, both he and his friend remark on the “logical” layout, which is just a weird thing to talk about for me. Sometimes when he praises things he sounds like a badly-written commercial, which just throws me.

He goes into detail about where he is professionally, and how great the movie was for him. And you know, it really was. I would have had no idea who he was had I not seen it, and I’m sure an entire generation of new fans were born from the exposure. Suddenly Pekar is a darling of the independent comics circuit, and he’s travelled quite a bit, giving intereviews, book signings, and editing comics anthologies all over the place. However, it’s made his taxes a lot more complicated, and that segues nicely into a glimpse of how his relationship with his wife Joyce tends to work. She keeps him on the straight and narrow in regards to so many things; he’s very lucky to have her.

Overall this four-issue series has provided a pretty neat glimpse into the life of Harvey Pekar, and how he’s adjusted to fame and old age. The art for the various shorts have been mostly adequate, with only a few standouts (Ty Templeton, Zachary …, just to name a few) to mention. The cover to number #3 is my personal favorite; Harvey as a frighteningly large, but benign moon looking down on a lone astronomer.

I’d recommend this if you’re fascinated by the secret inner lives of people, or have an interest in learning about what makes people tick. If you’re bored by comics where people just look at each other or like for them to have a point, then you might want to give this a miss. This collection is one-part confessional, one part journal, one part biography. It’s quietly solid and even meditative in its own way.

Rating: 6/10
Avg. Rating: 6.75/10