Harvey Pekar, famed comic book writer and Cleveland native, died early Monday morning at his home in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. He was 70.
Pekar was found dead by his wife from what appeared to be natural causes. The coroner’s office in Cleveland is awaiting the results from his blood samples taken during his autopsy, reported the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Pekar made his comics unique by incorporating content from his personal life into the story lines for “American Splendor.” The comic featured the footnote “From Off The Streets Of Cleveland.” The main character from “American Splendor” was loosely based on the writer who embellished certain specifics of his life to increase the excitement for his stories.
After walking away from his writing career in the 1990’s, Pekar then returned to it later on. He recently did an interview with MTV. In the interview the writer spoke about his craft and the ease with which he drafted volume after volume of his popular comic book.
“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,” said Pekar.
The comic book guru also spoke about the shift from print to digital media and how it affected his career. He seemed to believe that his work was viable in either market.
“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,” said Pekar.
Pekar battled with lymphatic cancer in the 1990’s leading to the brief pause in his usual writing output. He wrote a book of comic stories about his time battling cancer with his wife Joyce Brabner titled “Our Year With Cancer.”
Pekar was found dead by his wife from what appeared to be natural causes. The coroner’s office in Cleveland is awaiting the results from his blood samples taken during his autopsy, reported the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Pekar made his comics unique by incorporating content from his personal life into the story lines for “American Splendor.” The comic featured the footnote “From Off The Streets Of Cleveland.” The main character from “American Splendor” was loosely based on the writer who embellished certain specifics of his life to increase the excitement for his stories.
After walking away from his writing career in the 1990’s, Pekar then returned to it later on. He recently did an interview with MTV. In the interview the writer spoke about his craft and the ease with which he drafted volume after volume of his popular comic book.
“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,” said Pekar.
The comic book guru also spoke about the shift from print to digital media and how it affected his career. He seemed to believe that his work was viable in either market.
“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,” said Pekar.
Pekar battled with lymphatic cancer in the 1990’s leading to the brief pause in his usual writing output. He wrote a book of comic stories about his time battling cancer with his wife Joyce Brabner titled “Our Year With Cancer.”
