History ComicBook / AmericanSplendor

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/American_Splendor_9504.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Harvey Pekar in 1986 with a copy of his comic.]]

* SpiritualSuccessor: To the works of JackKerouac. In fact, in the forward to the first ''American Splendor'' collection, Robert Crumb mentions that Harvey is the type of person who wouldn't be out of place in a Kerouac novel.

* RealPersonCameo: All the time. Especially in "Grubstreet, U.S.A." (where he meets [[MyDinnerWithAndre Wallace Shawn]]), and ''definitely'' in "Our Movie Year," which was about the making of the ''American Splendor'' movie. And Creator/RobertCrumb is depicted in various comics too, of course.

* ArabIsraeliConflict: ''Not The Israel My Parents Promised Me'' is about Harvey's opinions on the subject.

-->--'''Harvey Pekar'''

See also RobertCrumb, a friend and fellow jazz aficionado of Harvey's, who drew several ''American Splendor'' stories (and yes, was even featured in a few as a character).

* RealPersonCameo: All the time. Especially in "Grubstreet, U.S.A." (where he meets [[MyDinnerWithAndre Wallace Shawn]]), and ''definitely'' in "Our Movie Year," which was about the making of the ''American Splendor'' movie. And RobertCrumb is depicted in various comics too, of course.

* SliceOfLife: Why, [[CaptainObvious yes...]]

* FirstLawOfTragicomedies: Okay, so Harvey's a gloomy guy anyway, but the movie is a lot lighter and funnier at the beginning when it juxtaposes the live action actors with comic illustrations, and the actors with the real life Harvey, Joyce, and Toby. Then the movie takes a turn for the dramatic right around the scene where a passerby recognizes Movie!Harvey as the funny guy from [[LateNight the Letterman show]].

* NWordPrivileges: Harvey told of having been accused of anti-Semitism for stories like "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Standing Behind Old Jewish Ladies in Supermarkets]]", despite being Jewish himself. In the same story, a black fan of Harvey's asks him about the way he portrays other black people; Harvey explains that he always asks if he can use their stories in his work, since most of the people he writes about work with him at his day job and doesn't want to alienate them.

* StickFigure: Harvey's artwork, which he then gives along with the dialog to the artists who will pen the actual comic.

* StickFigures: Harvey's artwork, which he then gives along with the dialog to the artists who will pen the actual comic.

* MoneyDearBoy: Harvey's appearances on ''LateNight With DavidLetterman'' were always based on Letterman paying him to come into UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, even if Harvey ended up being scheduled off. He even turned down a chance to be on ''Oprah'' because they wouldn't pay him to do it. However, there is a [[JustifiedTrope justification]]: Unlike their other guests, Harvey is not rich, and had a day job that he would need to take days off from to do the shows.

* NamesTheSame: "The Harvey Pekar Name Story," which was also adapted for the movie: Harvey tells about seeing two other Harvey Pekars in the Cleveland phone book, which baffles him, since the name "Harvey Pekar" should be kind of rare.

* SplitScreenPhoneCall: Used for a phone conversation in the movie between Harvey and Joyce.

* SplitScreen: Used for a telephone conversation in the movie.

A film, ''American Splendor'', was released in 2003 starring PaulGiamatti as Pekar. The film both dramatizes Pekar's life story, and vignettes from his comic books. The real life Pekar, his wife Joyce and Pekar's friend Toby Radloff appear as themselves in several on-the-set documentary segments throughout the movie.

That's precisely what ''American Splendor'' was: the illustrated, sequential tales of ordinary, shlubby {{Cleveland}} file clerk Harvey Pekar, as told by ordinary, shlubby {{Cleveland}} file clerk Harvey Pekar himself (along with a variety of artists), documenting his generally mundane life from 1976 to his [[AuthorExistenceFailure death]] in 2010.

That's precisely what ''American Splendor'' was: the illustrated, sequential tales of ordinary, shlubby {{Cleveland}} file clerk Harvey Pekar, as told by ordinary, shlubby {{Cleveland}} file clerk Harvey Pekar himself, documenting his generally mundane life from 1976 to his [[AuthorExistenceFailure death]] in 2010.

A film, ''American Splendor'', was released in 2003 starring PaulGiamatti as Pekar. The film both dramatizes Pekar's life story, and viginettes from his comic books. The real life Pekar, his wife Joyce and Pekar's friend Toby Radloff appear as themselves in several on-the-set documentary segments throughout the movie.

* MoneyDearBoy: Harvey's appearances on ''LateNight With DavidLetterman'' were always based on Letterman paying him to come into NewYorkCity, even if Harvey ended up being scheduled off. He even turned down a chance to be on ''Oprah'' because they wouldn't pay him to do it. However, there is a [[JustifiedTrope justification]]: Unlike their other guests, Harvey is not rich, and had a day job that he would need to take days off from to do the shows.

* ArabIsraeliConflict: ''Not The Israel My Parents Promised Me'' is about Harvey's opinions on the subject
* AuthorAppeal / GeniusBonus: Harvey enjoyed jazz albums and was an avid collector (and in fact he wrote many jazz album reviews for several publications), so there were a LOT of references to jazz musicians and songs in the comic book.

* ContemplateOurNavels: Practically raised to an art form- stories feature Harvey doing this then letting it go, doing to cope with some event, doing it even though his life is too mundane to warrant it, doing it because his life is so mundane that there's not much else to do, and a dozen other variations.

* TheMovie: Starring Paul Giamatti as Harvey, with Harvey Pekar and people from his life being interviewed and showing up in archival clips.
* UndergroundComics: Initially a self-published and distributed comic book. Later distributed by DarkHorseComics, and later still Creator/VertigoComics, an imprint of Creator/DCComics.

* UndergroundComics: Initially a self-published and distributed comic book. Later distributed by DarkHorseComics, and later still VertigoComics, an imprint of DCComics.