Michael Deeley has been reading comics since he was 12 years old. His first book was an issue of Silver Surfer by Jim Starlin, leading him to see all comics as ideological conflicts with big-ass fight scenes. At the very least, he expects a comic to be entertaining in some fashion, which is why he thinks Secret Wars II is better than Dark Knight Strikes Back. He has never work in the comics field, but he does have a belligerent attitude and a lot of free time.
During his brief intervals in the real world, Michael looks for a paying job that should, (theoretically) lead to a better life involving more comics, privacy, and women.
He currently lives between Pittsburgh, PA, and the Pittsburgh International Airport, in a suburb so new, it only has one McDonalds.
“I’d trade growth for some happiness.” -Paul Giamatti as Harvey Pekar ‘American Splendor’
This week, I saw the movie ‘American Splendor’, based on the comic book of the same name. I also rented another recent comics-based movie: ‘Bulletproof Monk’. I wanted to compare the two movies in terms of style and quality. Specifically, I wanted to watch two comics-based movies without reading the comics.
I’ve never read an issue of “American Splendor”, though I have read a couple of short stories by Pekar. I’ve heard about it and Pekar’s graphic novel ‘Our Cancer Year’. I was too young for his appearances on “Late Night with David Letterman”, so I’ve never even see the man. So coming into “American Splendor” the movie, I was virtually a clean slate. I was aware of Pekar and his work, but had never really experienced any of it. In that respect, I think I was like most people who saw it.
“American Splendor” is a mix of dramatization and documentary. Much of the film has short interviews with Pekar and his friends appearing between scenes performed by the actors. You see Paul Giamatti play Pekar in the 1970s when he gets so fed up with the world, he has to do something. He vents his frustrations by writing comics that are illustrated by his friend, Robert Crumb. You then cut to the real Pekar talking a bit about how he took the things and people he saw everyday and put them into his comic. Pekar also narrates the film, creating the sense that this isn’t just a story based on the man’s life, but the man himself dictating his autobiography.
One of the most prevalent themes in the movie is the blurred line between reality and fiction. Pekar turned his everyday life into a comic book. That comic brought Harvey a lot of fame and attention leading people to see him not as a person but as a character. Two scenes best illustrate the mixing of reality and fantasy. After Giamatti and Judah Friedlander have finished a scene playing Pekar and his friend, Toby, they walk off the set and sit behind the real Pekar and Toby. The actors watch Pekar and Toby talk about jellybeans in the same way the actors just did in the scene. Giamatti starts laughing at these two people because they are exactly like their characters! Later, when Pekar is invited onto “Late Night”, we see Giamatti leave the green room to go on stage. The camera then pans over to the green room’s TV set where we see the original show with the real Pekar and Letterman. After the interview, Giamatti comes back into the room. It creates the weird sensation that Giamatti physically transformed himself and back.
As Pekar’s popularity grows, he begins to realize that corporations are holding him and his friends up for ridicule; that people are laughing at him, not with him. This revelation fuels his anti-corporate rant on his final “Late Night” appearance. (We don’t see the actual show. It’s re-enacted by the actors.) In that moments, Pekar reclaims his identity as a real person with thoughts and feelings, and proves that he is not a just a character to make people laugh.
Ironically, Pekar’s most personal struggle is performed entirely by the actors without comment or appearances by the real Pekar. When Harvey Pekar is diagnosed with cancer, his wife Joyce convinces him to chronicle his illness in a comic book. This comic becomes the award-winning graphic novel ‘Our Cancer Year’. While Giamatti does a great job conveying the weakness, sickness, and despair Pekar must have felt, Pekar himself is absent. It’s like Pekar is afraid to relive that time in his life, like it’s too painful for him to even talk about. Unfortunately, Pekar’s sudden departure from his own story makes the “cancer part” of the movie, the film’s last 40 minutes, seem fake, and thus negates the tragedy. Besides, we know he survives.
I can’t say how well “American Splendor” adapted the comic, but I can say it makes comic books look good. In addition to reminding people about underground comics and R. Crumb and his movie (“Crumb” by Terry Zwigoff, great film!), it also shows how the writing of a comic is separate from the drawing of a comic. When Pekar starts his first comic, he draws stick figures talking! Stick figures! I can tell you from personal experience very few non-readers are aware of comics being written. Most folks think one artist does everything. But most importantly, “American Splendor” shows that comic books can be about anything! Pekar writes about his life. His wife Joyce begins her own comic about the struggles of refugee children. “American Splendor” helps break one two of the oldest stereotypes about comics: that they’re all superheroes and they’re all for kids.
Overall, “American Splendor” portrays Harvey Pekar as a neurotic, angry man, yet not unlike most of us. Harvey Pekar was an ordinary guy who had something to say. He said it and people listened. I found the film to be very moving and personal. I almost cried. After watching it, I bought a sketch pad and pencils. I’m going to practice my doodling and write a comic book myself. I’ve been reading comics for 13 years, but not until “American Splendor” did I feel that I could make one myself. That’s how good a movie it is!
“American Splendor” gets . Here’s hoping the comic is half as good.
I’ve never read ‘Bulletproof Monk’. But I’ve heard mediocre reviews. The movie was, in short, terrible! It was ridiculous, illogical, stupid, and boring. The martial arts fight scenes were supposed to impress you with the fighters’ superhuman abilities. But they looked so fake they bore you! Men are flying through the air and you’re bored! How bad do you have to be to screw up a fight scene with Chow Yun-Fat? The best action scene had the two female characters doing standard kicks and punches. It felt more believable, was more intense, and was easier to follow. Now, I’m not saying I want all fight scenes to be realistic. “Crouching Tiger” and “The Matrix” had great fights because it took normal moves and pushed them to the next level. They had a style and grace that mark the best fights in movie history. ‘Monk’ was just guys doing weird stuff. I’d describe the plot, if it had one.
“Bulletproof Monk” is a bad, bad movie. Do not see under any circumstances. and my middle finger for this POS.
“American Splendor” was a great movie because it focused on people. It was a character driven story that made you feel what the characters were feeling. “Bulletproof Monk” was a loosely connected series of poorly done action scenes that serve only to distract you. The great movies move you; the bad movies leave you with nothing. I’ve found the same applies to comic books. That’s a lesson every story teller should learn.
Since ‘Riajin’ went to a monthly format, and the mini-series I’ve followed have ended, I only bought one new book this week. Actually, it’s not new, it just shipped late and I didn’t find it until this week.
Negation #21 -
The sorcerer Matua relives key moments in his life as he fights a Lawbringer to the death. This will go down as one of the best deaths in comics. You really feel a loss when Matua dies. And he dies smiling. How many characters know peace in death?
New X-Men #146 -
I didn’t buy this. Hell, I didn’t even read every page, but the revelation that Xorn is Magneto easily makes this the highpoint of Grant Morrison’s run on the title. I didn’t care when we learned Phoenix was still in Jean’s head. I never understood why Scott was cheating with Emma. (Scott comes across as a pussy here, by the way. As soon as he hears Xavier he starts apologizing for leaving the team. Anyone remember the robot Grovel from the “Dangermouse” cartoon?) But finding out that magneto has been living in the X-Mansion and working with the same people who want mutants dead blows me away. How did Magneto survive? Why is he working with Weapon Plus? Is he trying to create an all-out mutant/human war, confident that mutants will win? I am definitely reading the next issue.
But I’m still not buying it.
Finally, everything else I read:
Secret Wars TPB; Excalibur: The Sword is Drawn; Crisis on Infinite Earths TPB; Police Comics #1, Millennium Edition; and all those foreign comics I wrote about last week.
Next week, I’ll look at what Dark Horse Comics is putting out these days, including their new line of Rocket Comics.
Finally, two retractions about last week’s article. Prague is not in Hungary, it is in the Czech Republic. Second, I called Milo Manara a Spanish artist. He is really from Italy. Sorry about that, and thanks to Konrad Grzegorzewicz for pointing that out.
