≡ Read Free Harvey Pekar Cleveland Harvey Pekar Joseph Remnant 9781603090919 Books

Harvey Pekar Cleveland Harvey Pekar Joseph Remnant 9781603090919 Books

Download As PDF : Harvey Pekar Cleveland Harvey Pekar Joseph Remnant 9781603090919 Books

Harvey Pekar Cleveland Harvey Pekar Joseph Remnant 9781603090919 Books

The flow of posthumous Harvey Pekar material is bittersweet. It is nice to be able to await a new book he took part in authoring, though we all know that it will end sooner than later. However, due to his somewhat sudden passing, one can notice that parts were partially filled in after the fact. Despite this, upon seeing that "Cleveland" was in stores, I was immediately drawn to the attractive packaging. Top Shelf always gives their graphic novels the royal treatment from binding down to the choice of paper they use. It is clear that they treat each book as an individual release to be appreciated for content rather than a mass produced paperback. As a result, "Cleveland" is a work of craftsmanship and beautiful to hold in your hands.

When you delve into the content, the tone is akin to American Splendor. This is a once-great city that has fallen on hard times as seen through the eyes of a man who existed entirely within its core. From his birth until his passing, Harvey Pekar watched Cleveland morph and change many times over, never straying from his love of home. Even through passages the appear sullen or bitter, it is clear that he felt Cleveland to be unnecessarily overlooked by outsiders. It is this combination of personal storytelling and urban history that really takes the reader inside the parts of Cleveland that often go ignored. Though short, this tribute to both the man and his city are worth your time.


Tags : Harvey Pekar's Cleveland [Harvey Pekar, Joseph Remnant] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. A lifelong Cleveland resident, Harvey Pekar (1939-2010) pioneered autobiographical comics, mining the mundane for magic since 1976 in his ongoing American Splendor series. Harvey Pekar''s Cleveland is sadly one of his last,Harvey Pekar, Joseph Remnant,Harvey Pekar's Cleveland,Top Shelf Productions,1603090916,FBA-|284239,Nonfiction - General,Cleveland (Ohio);History;Comic books, strips, etc.,Cleveland (Ohio);History;Graphic novels.,Graphic novels.,BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY Literary Figures,COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS General,COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS Nonfiction General,Cleveland (Ohio),Comic books, strips, etc,Comics & Graphic Novels,Comics & Graphic Novels Literary,Fine Arts,GRAPHIC NOVELS,GRAPHIC WORKS NONFICTION,General Adult,Graphic Novel - Nonfiction,History,Literary,Non-Fiction,Ohio,Pekar, Harvey

Harvey Pekar Cleveland Harvey Pekar Joseph Remnant 9781603090919 Books Reviews

Harvey Pekar and Cleveland forever intertwined. What better subject to explore for one of his final completed pieces. This work is a perfect bookend to hold together his entire canon of published works.
Those new to Harvey will receive an orientation to his work through the exploration of Cleveland's evolution from its modest origin as the Western Reserves to present day. Experiencing it all through the prism of Harvey's mind and soul. The second half of the book will provide the new reader with a broad brush stroke of the milestones of his rich creative life. Hopefully, the reading experience will act as a catalyst to dig deeper and seek out the entire "American Splendor " series.

Those who have followed Harvey's career will find this work equally compelling. The book fills in added dimensions to Harvey's attitude and demonstrates on certain levels how the author's philososophy was shaped and developed. Particularly interesting was the influence Harvey's ancestors, parents and grandfather and his cultural and religious background had in shaping his creative energy.
The illustrations by the talented L.A. artist Joseph Remnant that appear throughout the book are exceptional and more then complement Harvey's narrative. The introduction by the legendary Alan Moore is heartfelt and proves very moving given Harvey's passing in 2010.

Hopefully, this book will inspire readers to reach out beyond the " American Splendor" series and investigate some of the more serious work that Harvey published between 2006- 2010. Examples include "The Quitter "(Dean Haspeil, Illustrator), "Macedonia"(Ed Piskor,Illustrator) and "The Beats"(Ed Priskor, Illustrator). New and old fans alike will find these works very rewarding.

As an aside,July 2012,is the tentative date for the release of Harvey's newest publication, " Not the Israel My Parents Promised ", illustrated by the very talented J.T. Waldman. This book is anticipated to be a major milestone in the continuing legacy of one of America's premier comic writers.
This may be the last published work we see of Pekar's, and it seems a fitting capstone a tribute to the town he loved. The book starts with an overview of Cleveland history, and then moves into more American Splendor-style stories about Harvey's personal experience of the city he lived in. We get to re-visit a lot of favorite characters from American Splendor, at a sort of meta-level, as Harvey reminisces about the trajectory of his life. I can't help but think at some points in the book that this work missed out on a final editing run by Harvey. There are a few panels where the chronological order gets a little jostled and a few where the transitions feel a bit stilted. Hard to explain, but I'm sure that Joseph Remnant had to do a lot of the artwork without any oversight from Harvey, and the narrative structure is slightly (only slightly) less polished than we'd expect from Harvey Pekar as a result.

However, Joseph Remnant's artwork is excellent. It's reminiscent enough of Crumb's style to hearken back to Pekar's early work, but Remnant has his own refreshing style as well. He's great with faces and is meticulous in his architectural reproductions, which is a necessity for this historical work. It makes me sad to think we're likely not going to see any more new Pekar material after this (unless any unfinished projects see publication.) I went through this one slowly to relish it. Definitely a must-read for Pekar fans, and Cleveland fans. A great finish to a wonderful body of work. We'll miss you Harvey.
The flow of posthumous Harvey Pekar material is bittersweet. It is nice to be able to await a new book he took part in authoring, though we all know that it will end sooner than later. However, due to his somewhat sudden passing, one can notice that parts were partially filled in after the fact. Despite this, upon seeing that "Cleveland" was in stores, I was immediately drawn to the attractive packaging. Top Shelf always gives their graphic novels the royal treatment from binding down to the choice of paper they use. It is clear that they treat each book as an individual release to be appreciated for content rather than a mass produced paperback. As a result, "Cleveland" is a work of craftsmanship and beautiful to hold in your hands.

When you delve into the content, the tone is akin to American Splendor. This is a once-great city that has fallen on hard times as seen through the eyes of a man who existed entirely within its core. From his birth until his passing, Harvey Pekar watched Cleveland morph and change many times over, never straying from his love of home. Even through passages the appear sullen or bitter, it is clear that he felt Cleveland to be unnecessarily overlooked by outsiders. It is this combination of personal storytelling and urban history that really takes the reader inside the parts of Cleveland that often go ignored. Though short, this tribute to both the man and his city are worth your time.