American Splendor Wallpapers

Obituary: Comicbook writer was the focus of 2003 film -- Comic-book writer Harvey Pekar, whose "American Splendor" was made into a 2003 film starring Paul Giamatti, has been found dead in his Ohio home.

MTV News caught up with the late comics icon last September.By Eric Ditzian, with reporting by Rick Marshall Harvey Pekar Photo: Evan Agostini/ Getty Images "American Splendor" author Harvey Pekar died early Monday (July 12) at the age of 70, leaving behind a voluminous exploration of his grumpy musings and everyman life experiences, his anxieties and his foibles, his pals and his demons. Pekar's comics, illustrated by the likes of legend R. Crumb, were like a mid-'70s version of a blog, an almost living journal in which the author committed every triumph and every indignity to the page. He toiled as an underground comic for years, popping up every so often on "Late Night With David Letterman" for memorably disastrous appearances. Then in 2003, Paul Giamatti played Pekar in the Sundance-winning, Oscar-nominated biopic "American Splendor," and Pekar's work went from cult object to well-known commodity. Last September, MTV News had the opportunity to chat with Pekar as he launched "The Pekar Project," a new webcomic series. As we look back and celebrate the life and work of a true artist, here is Harvey Pekar in his own words: On His Writing Process: "It's real easy for me to write a lot of stories. I just go and I live through something and I go home and write about it. It's that quick." On Artistic Innovation: "I'd like to see the comics' style expanded. I'd like to see artists synthesize traditional comics arts style with fine-arts styles or whatever. I like to see innovation. I don't like it when an art form becomes stagnant." On Writing His Own Webcomics: "It's not that I got anything against technology. It's that technology has something against me. I have nothing against [publishing] stuff on the computer, even though I can't use one. ... I've just been writing stuff as it comes to me. I haven't thought as, 'Let me write some kind of a major opus.' I want to see what happens. I'll stand behind what I did." On Comics Writers Turning to the Internet: "I think it was meant to be. When the Internet came about, that was the logical place for everyone to turn. If you look at blogs, a lot of them are memoirs or opinion pieces — stuff that's been done in the past. Blogs are fairly short, and they're used on the Internet. I don't think the content of a lot of the blogs is very different. I think the medium is different, and you're able to reach huge audiences with a minimal amount of spending." On His Love of Jazz: "Jazz is in a very, very precarious situation right now. A respectable-sized audience hasn't really been able to follow developments in jazz since the free jazz movement in the '60s. Some of them can't even get with John Coltrane. Audiences are diminishing more and more rapidly. Some of the top young musicians with something new to say can't get record companies to put out their stuff. Jazz won't die exactly. Jazz musicians are all going to be playing old music if they want to make a living at it, like what Wynton Marsalis is doing." Share your memories of Harvey Pekar's work in the comments below.

Comic book cult hero was the subject of 2003 Oscar-nominated biopic.By Eric Ditzian Harvey Pekar Photo: Frederick M. Brown/ Getty Images Famed comic book author Harvey Pekar has died at the age of 70, The Associated Press reports. He was found dead in his Cleveland Heights, Ohio, home early Monday (July 12). Pekar had been suffering from prostate cancer, asthma, high blood pressure and depression, according to Cleveland Heights Police Capt. Michael Cannon. He had gone to bed about 4:30 p.m. on Sunday and was discovered between a bed and dresser. His wife, Joyce Brabner, called officers at around 1 a.m. The irascible comic writer, long a beloved cult figure, reached a whole new audience in 2003, when Paul Giamatti played him in the Oscar-nominated biopic, "American Splendor." Pekar also appeared as himself in the film, which was both a postmodern exploration of Pekar's life and a dramatization of his autobiographical comics, also called "American Splendor." "The filmmakers took a major risk by incorporating the real Harvey and Joyce and their oddball Cleveland friends into the film, and by introducing occasional elements of cartoon illustration into the story," Kurt Loder wrote of the film. "This could have been a mess, but it works brilliantly, poetically, unforgettably. In a summer of lumbering, soulless Hollywood blockbusters, 'American Splendor' shines out like a diamond on a dunghill." Not an artist himself, Pekar recruited iconic illustrator R. Crumb in 1976 to create the art for "American Splendor," which followed Pekar's struggles with work, finances and general boredom. A long list of other artists would eventually illustrate the series, which Pekar continued to write until 2008. In the 1980s, Pekar became an occasional guest on "Late Night With David Letterman," where he openly battled with the host and heavily criticized General Electric, which owns NBC. The author was eventually banned from the show, until being invited back the next decade. Mr. Pekar was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer in 1990, and he documented the experience in the graphic novel, "Our Cancer Year." "I'm always shook up and nervous and I've got the hospital record to prove it," Pekar told the Cleveland Plain Dealer in 2003. "I wake up every morning in a cold sweat, regardless of how well things went the day before. And put that I said that in a somewhat but not completely tongue-in-cheek way." Share your memories of Harvey Pekar's work in the comments below.

Reuters - Paul Giamatti has always been attracted to difficult characters in offbeat projects such as the lovelorn wine drinker in "Sideways" and crusty comic book writer Harvey Pekar in "American Splendor."

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Paul Giamatti has always been attracted to difficult characters in offbeat projects such as the lovelorn wine drinker in "Sideways" and crusty comic book writer Harvey Pekar in "American Splendor."