American Splendor: Another Day - Volume 1
by Harvey Pekar, Eddie Campbell Haspiel, Ty Templeton
List Price:
Our Price: $5.67
You Save: $9.32 (62%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.13 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Eddie Campbell Haspiel, Harvey Pekar, Ty TempletonBrand: DC / Vertigo
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-04-07
ISBN: 1401212352
Number of pages: 136
Publisher: Vertigo
Book Reviews of American Splendor: Another Day - Volume 1
Book Review: Pekar the stoic
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the many appeals of Harvey Pekar's work is that he's all too aware of his many neuroses, and regularly pokes fun at his own obsessive- compulsiveness. The humor and gentleness with which he does it gives the rest of us permission, I think, to acknowledge our own faults. His triumphs over his anxieties, as well as his ability to spot the fascinating, hilarious, and noble in the ordinary things of life, are inducements not to take our own everyday lives for granted. On one level, then, Pekar's work is therapeutic.
But as he's gotten older, it strikes me that his work is also becoming wiser, and Another Day is (thus far) the single best reflection of this wisdom. Even though the collection begins with a story about his father's Alzheimer ("What Happened to Your Parents?") that seems to end on a rather forlorn, nihilistic note ("I dunno," Harvey says. "Maybe it's just not in the cards for some people to have happy lives--although we're here for such a short time, maybe it doesn't even matter that much."), another way of interpreting the story's ending is that it's a reminder for us not to take our personal histories so seriously. We're important, but we're also not the center of the universe; our life is terribly short. Letting go of self-importance is one way to out our anxieties in perspective and cultivate wisdom.
And many of the collection's subsequent stories illustrate just that point. Pekar's small victories--fixing a toilet ("Today I Am a Man"), finding his foster daughter's glasses ("The Day's Highlights"), cultivating mindfulness ("You Can't Rush Everything"), laughing at his own lapses into hubris ("Icarus" and "Grocery Shopping")--are reminders to slow down, to be patient, to put things in perspective. There's an almost stoical feel to some of the stories. And even when Pekar falls on his face ("Snow Chaos"), he does so in such a humorously self-aware way that the reader knows he'll bounce back soon.
As usual, the art is superb--with one exception. Although I'm a great admirer of Dean Haspiel's talent, I'm not sure the cover drawn by him works. It takes a second or third look to recognize the drawing as Pekar sitting up in bed. Initially, given the coloring and the sharply angled lines, the drawing looks more like a sci-fi nightmare: a steely-eyed silver robot standing in the midst of killer robot carnage.
Summary of American Splendor: Another Day - Volume 1
First appearing in 1976, AMERICAN SPLENDOR rose from the streets of Cleveland to change the way comics readers and creators viewed the potential of their medium. The series won an American Book Award and became an Oscar-nominated film.Following the success of his critically praised, top-selling graphic novel THE QUITTER, Harvey Pekar returns with an all-new volume of AMERICAN SPLENDOR, celebrating 30 years of the series that first showed how, as Harvey says, "ordinary life can be pretty complex stuff."
In this collection, Harvey is joined by an all-star roster of artists including his collaborator on THE QUITTER, Dean Haspiel. Three decades after his self-published debut, Harvey Pekar proves that while his life has changed, his ability to find the exceptional in the everyday has only grown sharper with time.
Graphic Novels Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Graphic Novels Books
Fairy Tail 5 (Fairy Tail (Kodansha Comics))by Hiro Mashima
Del Rey; Published: 2009-01-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.89
Price in other shops:
Flight Volume Five (Flight Graphic Novels)Villard; Published: 2008-07-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.99
Price in other shops:
Dark Wraith of Shannaraby Terry Brooks
Del Rey; Del Rey; Published: 2008-03-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.90
Price in other shops:
The Song of Danielby Philip Lee Williams
Ballantine Books; Published: 1991-12-13; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
I Saw You...: Comics Inspired by Real-Life Missed ConnectionsThree Rivers Press; Published: 2009-02-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.24
Price in other shops:
The Man in the Brown Suitby Agatha Christie
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd; Published: 2007-12-03; Hardcover; Book
The Alchemist (Collins Readers)by Paulo Coelho
Collins; Published: 2006-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $18.63
Buddha, Volume 4: The Forest of Uruvela (Buddha)by Osamu Tezuka
Vertical; Published: 2006; Paperback; Book
X-Men 2by Chris Claremont
Del Rey; Published: 2003-03-04; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.95
Price in other shops:
Happy Trailsby Berke Breathed
Little Brown & Co (P); Published: 1990-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.16
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
The Beats: A Graphic Historyby Harvey Pekar, Paul Buhle
Hill and Wang; Published: 2010-04-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.77
Price in other shops:
Ego & Hubris: The Michael Malice Storyby Harvey Pekar
Ballantine Books; Published: 2006-04-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.99
Price in other shops:
Bob and Harv's Comicsby Harvey Pekar
Running Press; Published: 1996-11-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.81
Price in other shops:
The Quitterby Harvey Pekar, Dean Haspiel
Vertigo; Published: 2006-09-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.78
Price in other shops:
American Splendor Our Movie Yearby Harvey Pekar
Ballantine Books; Published: 2004-12-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.76
Price in other shops:
American Splendor: Another Dollarby Harvey Pekar, Zachary Baldus
Vertigo; Published: 2009-01-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops:
Our Cancer Yearby Harvey Pekar, Joyce Brabner
Running Press; Published: 1994-10-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.80
Price in other shops:
Best of American Splendorby Harvey Pekar
Ballantine Books; Published: 2005-01-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.32
Price in other shops:
American Splendor and More American Splendor: The Life and Times of Harvey Pekarby Harvey Pekar
Ballantine Books; Published: 2003-07-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.18
Price in other shops:
The New American Splendor Anthology: From Off the Streets of Clevelandby Harvey Pekar
Running Press; Published: 1993-01-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.08
Price in other shops: