The Virgin Read: Frank Santoro Convinced Her To Poke A Sacred Cow

American Splendor # 3
Written by Harvey Pekar
Art by Darwyn Cooke, Warren Pleece, Rick Geary, Dean Haspiel, Sean Murphy, Chris Samnee, John Cebollero & Josh Neufeld
Published by Vertigo Comics

Back around 2001 or so, I spent my day as a temp for a financial firm, and while updating contacts and printing out documents, I also built up my career as a "net surfer."  Now, this was before everyone was blogging.  (I love how when you type the word blog or blogging, spell check still underlines it in red.  Thus underlining the fact that blogging is still "newish" and was not around in force back in '01).

My favorite site at the time was New York City's Craigslist's "Missed Connections" board.

If you're not familiar with it, it's the message board to reach out to the "cutie" you eyed on the train but couldn't get the nerve up to speak to.  (I think I started reading it in the hopes that I'd find someone desperately seeking me.)  But rather, I found some of the most creative writing I'd read in a long time.  Along with the typical "Missed Connection: Curly hair on L train, red shirt", you'd find, "Missed Connection with Air Conditioning."  Or  "MC: My Self-Respect," and a very well written and witty post would follow.  This was hours of fun.  I mean hours.  (Shh…don't tell Beverly!)

It was one of the most active boards I've ever seen – until this really uptight and controlling freak started flagging anyone who posted anything that was not a true "missed connection."  This person was so sure that someone was searching for them and was so angry about all these posts that would "clog up" the board.  Which, you know, is not even possible.

Anyhow, I'm digressing in my digression. 

Somewhere along the line, we all had the great pleasure of meeting Haiku Master Matt.  Randomly, interspersed with all the MCs one would find a witty Haiku from the Master.  They must have started as Missed Connections, actually, but eventually became haikus about what was presently occurring in life or on the board.  So, a few of us joined in, writing Haikus.  You know, the old 5-7-5.

But, lo.  That is not all there is to Haiku-ing.  One very special day the Master gave us a lesson via Craigslist (mind you, I think the Master was all of 19).  He told us that not only should a Haiku be 5-7-5 or 6-8-6  – but the clincher is that the last line should always have a reversal. (Okay, there should always be the mention of a season, too). For instance:  

Hot Summer Sweat drips

On my new white linen pants.

Move away fat man.

Right?

Okay, so I still suck at haikus.  And that's what American Splendor reminded me of:  bad haikus.  Kinda disappointing.  I'd built this series up in my mind.  I mean, I'd heard of it because I remember that there was a movie by the same name, about the same comic, and I'd always meant to go see it.  Haven't yet.  Coincidentally, after picking it as my comic choice for this week, it arrived from Netflix.

Didn't watch.  May not.  May just send it back and continue with my Buffy marathon.  Which I'm doing on my own, thank you very much.

I mean, here we are with these short stories.  Sort of...about nothing.  I mean, I guess they are about the life and times of Harvey Pekar.  And that's cool and all.  But its like these little snippets that you think are going somewhere, and then you get to the last panel and there is some attempt at reversal, but it just falls flat.

These days – and not that I know much about "the old comic book days" – but these days there are autobiographical comics everywhere.  To all those writers:  Good for you!  I know it's hard to write.  I know "they" always say to write about what you know.  So, you write about yourself--but what we all finally learn somewhere along the line, and usually after a lot of therapy, is that most of us aren't that interesting.  n the day to day that is, in a big picture sense, I'm sure we're all interesting. 

I just attended Mocca.  Got to see a lot of art, meet a lot of people, hear some people speak, including the passionate Frank Santoro.  What was striking about hearing Frank speak as opposed to some others who spoke about their autobiographical comics – who were fine – was that I felt elevated by Frank.  He spoke about symmetry, the Golden Mean and the overarching connection of all things.  He spoke about being moved and inspired and how great art can affect us all.  And I was left totally ecstastic by the experience.

And that's it.  You can write a decent comic (or book, or magazine, or song), you can write a good one, or you can try to write a great one.  And honestly, chances are if you're focused on yourself and talking about yourself its not going to be as, well, elevating to another person as your contribution to the world could be.

I mean, Harvey Pekar seems to have a lot to say about aging, the "new age" of computers, reviews, jazz and all his many thoughts on the subjects.  But honestly?  Total honesty?  I got bored. 

After reading Samuel Gaskin's Fatal Faux Pas, I was so struck by how great the medium of comic books are for getting ideas down.  Ideas that may not be funny in mere conversation if you were to explain them, nor would they come across if you just wrote them, but commiting them to the page with word and picture seemed to be the exact right thing to do with ones thoughts.  A great way to "collect" them.  And so, I get what Mr. Pekar is going for in American Splendor – unfortunately I'd recently read someone who did it better, and so I am sad to report that I did not enjoy my long-awaited read.

-Nina Stone, 2008

Comments

[John]

The original series of American Splendor, in the 70s and 80s, was great, innovative work, but it's true to say that a lot more people have done autobiographical comics since, and some of them have done it better.

I read Pekar's Our Movie Year collection recently and found it very disappointing in comparison with his earlier work, partly because he's now writing as a minor celebrity rather than a file clerk.

I also found the movie a mish-mash of styles that didn't work well together. I really wanted to like it, and I'm glad it was a success, because Pekar deserves it for what he's done for comics.

So, Nina, I'm agreeing with you, but I still recommend you find a good American Splendor anthology because you are missing out on some fantastic stuff there.

[John]

The original series of American Splendor, in the 70s and 80s, was great, innovative work, but it's true to say that a lot more people have done autobiographical comics since, and some of them have done it better.

I read Pekar's Our Movie Year collection recently and found it very disappointing in comparison with his earlier work, partly because he's now writing as a minor celebrity rather than a file clerk.

I also found the movie a mish-mash of styles that didn't work well together. I really wanted to like it, and I'm glad it was a success, because Pekar deserves it for what he's done for comics.

So, Nina, I'm agreeing with you, but I still recommend you find a good American Splendor anthology because you are missing out on some fantastic stuff there.

[Nina]

Thanks, John. I'll definitely take that recommendation. I'm sure American Splendor didn't earn its legendary reputation by mistake, and I'd be happy to read the issues from the era when it garnered its status. Thanks for reading and commenting! N

[Matthew J. Brady]

I would recommend the movie as well, since that was kind of my introduction to Harvey Pekar, and it really shows what he was doing and what kind of person he is. I haven't read a lot of the older American Splendor comics, but from what I understand, he has kind of softened in his old age, becoming less irascible and argumentative, which were things that made his stuff pretty entertaining. Also, he's retired now, and he's kind of a minor celebrity, so he doesn't have the pressures of working a regular job as a file clerk to propel him forward. I still enjoy reading his stuff; it's like hearing stories told by an old uncle or something. But I should also try to read some of the collections, since that's probably the good stuff.

Oh, and I would recommend the movie for Paul Giamatti's performance, if nothing else. He's really good. And there's some cool interlaying of reality and adaptation; Pekar narrates, and there are occasional breaks from the "story" to see him sit around the movie set and chat with the director. I really dug it.

[Guy Smiley]

"Okay, so I still suck at haikus. And that's what American Splendor reminded me of: bad haikus."

You are brilliant. Your reviews never fail to entertain, and the way you snap that amazingly digressive anecdote into this hard slap ... lovely.

I wouldn't mind an off-topic post on your Buffy marathon, come to think of it. My girlfriend and I are briefly stalled, by life, in Season 4 -- a season mostly to be waded through to get to more interesting stuff ahead.

Anyway -- thanks for completely defining how I'll think of American Splendor from now on. As sucky haiku.

[Gary Dunaier]

As a longtime Harvey Pekar fan, I wouldn't recommend "Our Movie Year" to newcomers because it's not, as might be expected, Harvey writing about the making of the film, but an unannotated collection of promotional comic strips that ran in various publications across the country. Some are interesting, but a lot of it is repetitive.

As for the review itself, while you have your right to your opinion and if you don't like the book I'm certainly not going to try to convince you otherwise, I didn't like your review because you spent an awful lot of time setting it up before you got to your actual comments.