![]() This realistic strain is perhaps best exemplified today by Harvey Pekar’s magnum opus, American Splendor.īest known now for the film version from 2003, American Splendor began in 1976 as a self-published yearly comic detailing Pekar’s life as a file clerk at a hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. Examples can be found in the works of Will Eisner, Milton Caniff and Frank King. But while the comic book has primarily dwelt in the world of fantasy, there has always been a strong regard for realism as well, detailing the everyday adventures of ordinary individuals. ![]() Much has changed in the last 20 or so years, with the rise of the graphic novel, but many of these – including such seminal works as Frank Miller’s T he Dark Knight, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen, and Ed Kramer and Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman – still deal with superheroes, albeit in complex and ethically-shaded ways. ![]() Fudd in the forest: in short, the assumption was that comic books were kids’ stuff, and not to be taken seriously by world-weary adults. ![]() ![]() When considering the ontological status of the comic book, it was once natural to think of superheroes battling all-powerful villains Archie and Jughead battling wits with Principal Weatherbee or Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig battling Elmer J. You can do anything with words and pictures.” Harvey Pekar SUBSCRIBE NOW Food for Thought Pekaresque Adventures Tim Madigan on aesthetics and identity in American Splendor. ![]()
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