Canister X Mailbag – Harvey Pekar’s “Not the Israel My Parents Promised Me” and
“On the Fly” Unboxing – 01112024
I’ve been a fan of Harvey Pekar ever since I watched AMERICAN SPLENDOR all those years ago. It’s my comfort movie for a lot of reasons, one of which is simply the ability to relate to Harvey and his battle through life. He wrote comics about the everyday stuff. And they were good. I have quite a few graphic novels of his outside of AMERICAN SPLENDOR and Harvey always delivers.
You need to check him out, especially if you’re big into comics. It’s mandatory reading.
NOT THE ISRAEL MY PARENTS PROMISED ME by Harvey Pekar and JT Waldman on Amazon.
ON THE FLY by Harvey Pekar and Summer McClinton on Amazon.
Canister X Mailbag – Harvey Pekar’s “Not the Israel My Parents Promised Me” and “On the Fly” Unboxing – 01112024
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I love comics. Below are my top ten graphic novels and/or graphic novel series in no particular order.
1) Alec by Eddie Campbell
2) From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell
3) Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
4) The Crow by James O’Barr
5) Sin City by Frank Miller
6) Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson
7) American Splendor by Harvey Pekar et al.
8) King-Cat by John Porcellino
9) Cerebus by Dave Sim and Gerhard
10) Sunnyville Stories by Max West
Comics and graphic novels are super important me, and they molded my storytelling and writing-style very early on in my career. There’s so much you can do with comics that you can’t do in any other medium.
Nowadays, the comic book industry in general is in a state of flux, with eComics and webcomics pushing the standard periodical comic book to the wayside. Graphic novels are a big thing now, with comic companies like DC and Marvel tailoring their story arcs to be collected later. To a point, they’re kind of shooting themselves in the foot in that if the reader knows the periodicals will be collected later for a cheaper price anyway, why buy the more expensive single issues and wait 30 days between each installment? At the same time, graphic novels are a fast-growing market last I checked so if they weren’t profitable, the comic companies wouldn’t do them and only provide one option.
In Europe, it’s mostly graphic novels in terms of publication, and I personally think this is where the overall comics industry is headed.
For me, as much as I enjoy the single issues–especially in the world of minicomics–creating book-length comics adds a level of prestige to the literature that their single-issue version can’t offer even though, technically, each single issue is, nowadays, a chapter in a book-length work. At the same time, these “collected editions of story arcs,” aren’t really graphic novels per se, but collections, and there’s a difference. That’s another discussion altogether so perhaps we’ll do it another time.
I usually have a graphic novel on the go reading-wise and add more to my collection when funds permit. Lately, I’ve been getting more and more into alternative comics as they carry more life, soul and authenticity than the current mainstream comics.
Anyway, here’s my collection. A couple of them are my wife’s, and some are not in these pics because they are by our bedside or elsewhere in the room (remember I said I usually have one on the go? So does the Mrs.).
I thought about taking them all out and arranging them for you, or clearing up the mess around them, but since I’ve always advocated writing should be about honesty, so should what I put on this blog so unlike my showcase pics of my own published books and comics, these are true bookshelf pics as per what Fridays on this blog is for.
It’s been a crazy time lately in terms of my career. I’ve walked away, I’ve come back. I’ve made changes to the type of stuff I’ll write and publish, made new goals, have new plans, reaffirmed old ones–so much going on.
Ducks in a row, as they say.
So that’s what’s going on right now: getting those ducks aligned. I have a meeting tomorrow night that’ll change how I do things from here on out. Will make my life incredibly easier and will enable me to operate in a way I haven’t in years. Looking forward to it.
Sometimes I wonder if I’ve been too transparent with my career, a little too personal. Sometimes I think I’ve done all right in sharing who I am, the good and the bad all in an effort to be real. Other times I wonder if I should “just be the professional” and close off the personal. A balance is key and I’m still trying to find it.
I want to get into blogging again as I thoroughly enjoy it. I also like the schedule idea and was on the phone with my wife today talking about her blog. Got me all jazzed up about this one in the process. I know things look different here than what they were. The reason is I wanted to strip away most of what went on before in terms of style yet keep the layout as a reminder of who I was. What you see here isn’t permanent. Just a “holding place” for the time being.
I was serious when I talked about “simply working.” Finally getting to a place where I can do just that. One day I’ll tell you more about what went on and why things suddenly changed for me. It’ll all make sense when I do.
In professional news, as said, I’m getting my ducks in a row. I’m also back to being a guest at the Central Canada Lit Fest on March 29 and 30. I’ll be speaking on the following panels: Self-publishing Basics; Self-publishing Advanced; Music, Coffee and Other Things Writers Can’t Live Without; Including Art in Your Novels. Then on April 13th I’ll be at the Winnipeg Comic & Toy Expo. Be great to see you at these events.
In personal news, been reading a couple graphic novels, playing DC Universe On-line, and making homemade pizza.
Hope everyone’s doing all right. Reminder, you can hook up with me on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest by following the links on the right.
