I’m in Cleveland this weekend. Cleveland has a big comics history, hence why they’re putting a giant statue of Superman up.
I love Superman, but I didn’t go to see the statue.
I went to go see this statue instead.
That’s Harvey Pekar.
Pekar’s best known for being a cranky David Letterman guest in the 1980s, and for a 2003 movie about his life where he was wonderfully played by Paul Giamatti. When Anthony Bourdain did a Cleveland episode, he styled it like a Harvey Peaker comic, and ate head cheese and pierogis with Harvey.
He was a comics writer, not an artist. His subject was always himself, the way photographers will focus on themselves for warts-and-all depictions of the human condition. He was seemingly born at 57 years old.
In the exact reverse of the social media person falsifying their regular life for just the good bits, Peaker only wanted to show the ordinary regular life that he led. He had a job as a file clerk in a VA hospital: this is an uninteresting job, and he showed you all the little ways it was steady but uninteresting.
He never drew but worked with a cadre of comics’ best, including Robert Crumb. He never moved out of Cleveland. He retired and then went full time writing stories about other regular people he knew, about the old jazz records he collected, about one time when he went on a plane ride to West Virginia.
(Comics people who visit his grave leave old markers and pens.)
Is the ordinary life worth documenting? Yes, even if most of the time the stories we tell each other about about the ordinary. We’re drawn to the extremes: we don’t write Yelp reviews unless they’re one- or five-star.
The best part about this little Harvey Pekar shrine is on the other side of it is a chalkboard, set up into panels. You can draw your own comic right there, from sci-fi to horror to romance. Or pull a Harvey and document a very small adventure from your own life.
Our lives are made of very small adventures. Maybe the only noteworthy thing you do all day is try a new flavor of soda, or hang out with the same friend you always hang with, or watch an episode of a TV show. If that’s your day, that’s your whole life for that day.
Your life isn’t wasted because you didn’t escape from the police after robbing a bank by bungie-jumping away from an explosion. Just being you is enough, is noteworthy.
Thanks for teaching me that, Harvey.
(Harvey, an inveterate digger through milk crates for old records, would love that there’s now a used bookstore in the library called Harvey and Friends. I love that he’s still fondly remembered here. Grabbed a $1 used book myself.)
SPIDER-MAN OF THE WEEK
Clevelnad week! Some of Spider-Man 3 was filmed in Cleveland, which doubled for Midtown Manhattan.
PRINCESS LEIA OF THE WEEK
For some reason, a Princess Leia Clevelland Brwosn t-shirt.
SUPER MARIO OF THE WEE
A Mario-styled Guardians shirt.
MICKEY MOUSE OF THE WEEK
A pin of Mickey as a Cleveland Cav.
ME OF THE WEEK
I forgot I used to do this! But I’ve quoted a few time sin the Time Magazine Super Mario speical edition.
UPCOMING APPEARANCES
MARCH 21-23: FAN EXPO CLEVELAND — Cleveland, OH (I’m here right now, come say hi!)
APRIL 4-6: AWESOME CON — Washington DC
MAY 16-18: FAN EXPO PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia, PA
OCTOBER 17-19: BALTIMORE COMIC-CON — Baltimore, MD