More sad news for everyone who loves great alternative comics today as American Splendor writer / creator, Harvey Pekar died in the early morning hours. I haven't had my internet turned on the past several hours because I actually had a lot of behind the scenes work to do and didn't want to get distracted by the internet. So I didn't hear about his death until about an hour ago, when my friend Rick called me and asked if I'd heard. I actually am shocked, because Kate and I just saw Harvey Pekar (and Alison Bechdel) at the Clark County Library not even three months ago and he seemed as well as a person who is 70 and had fought cancer could be. I haven't heard what the cause of death was, but damn, that was fast - sure he was 70, but 70 isn't really that old. Harvey seemed to be about the best spirits that I'd ever seen him in and he seemed charged about a couple of books he was getting ready to write that I'm selfishly sad that I now won't be able to read).
Harvey Pekar's death will leave a huge void in the alternative comics scene and he's going to be missed by the many cartoonists he's inspired and those of us that loved his down to earth, intelligent writing. Harvey Pekar's leaves as his legacy the reality that comic books could tell true stories about real people (such as himself, his biggest go to subject) that were every bit as fascinating as fictional characters (and for my money even more so).
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