I don't have it any worse than a lot of people, but I pity myself more.
- Harvey Pekar

Cleveland, Ohio. Harvey Pekar works as a file clerk at the local V.A. Hospital, a menial position whose chief attraction is its pension plan. It is, however, a perfect job for the obsessive-compulsive Harvey, and the hospital offers an environment that's notably tolerant of its employees' various personality tics. Harvey's interactions with his longtime co-workers offer some relief from the monotony, and their discussions encompass everything from rock & roll and the decline of American culture to new flavors of jellybeans and life itself. At home, Harvey spends his time reading, listening to records, and writing articles about jazz and literature. His apartment is dominated by thousands of books and LPs, and he regularly scours Cleveland's thrift stores and garage sales for more, savoring the rare joy of a great 25-cent find. It is at one of these junk sales that Harvey meets Robert Crumb, a greeting-card artist and fellow music enthusiast.

Harvey is rarely surprised by life's idiotic torments and intermittent disasters, to which he responds with hilarious, uninhibited spleen. But the thought of leaving this world having left no mark troubles him. Meanwhile, his old record-shopping buddy Crumb has found international recognition for his underground comics. Energized by the idea that comic books can be a valid art form for adults, Harvey decides to write his own brand of comic. An admirer of naturalist writers like Theodore Dreiser, Harvey makes it a truthful, unsentimental record of his working-class life, a warts-and-all self-portrait. Encouraged by Crumb, who illustrates some stories, Harvey publishes American Splendor #1 in 1976.

American Splendor brings Harvey acclaim, but as the '70s turn into the '80s, he still he finds his life lacking - and lonely. Suddenly, however, American Splendor delivers to Harvey a bona fide soul mate: Joyce Brabner, a partner in a Delaware comic-book store who writes him to request an additional copy of his comic after her hippie partner sells the last issue. Before long, the two meet; Joyce's sardonic persona is a perfect match for Harvey's own, and with little ado, they are married. Together, they experience the bizarre byproducts of Harvey's cult fame, including his series of increasingly unruly appearances on "Late Night with David Letterman" and a stage adaptation of American Splendor. They also face down a more sobering experience: Harvey's bout with cancer (which, of course, he chronicles in his comic book). Neither adversity nor a taste of the limelight seems to alter the fundamentals of Harvey's existence, and he continues to toil at the V.A. hospital while writing his cathartic comics. One day, a cartoonist collaborator arrives for a work session accompanied by a bright, unflappable child named Danielle Batone. Thus begins perhaps the most surprising story of American Splendor yet - one that finds Harvey, Joyce and Danielle coming together to form the unlikeliest of nuclear families.

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American Splendor DVD

All copyright of all images belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended. This fanlisting is in no way supported by or affiliated with Harvey Pekar or the directors of the movie, Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini. I am just a fan.