Fans who previously enjoyed American Splendor will not be disappointed as Unsung Hero delivers the same excellent and off-beat story telling that they have come to expect.
I recently spoke with Harvey Pekar via telephone from his home in Cleveland, Ohio.
M. Peg: My first question is how did you find Robert McNeil and hear his story?
Harvey Pekar: Well, Robert McNeil and I worked together at the VA hospital and he was a file clerk. I was sort of responsible for getting him his job, you know, because he had been working on the grounds as a temp worker and he was about to be let go, although everybody thought he was such a hard worker. I tried to get him a gig up in the record room where I was. I don't know exactly to what to attribute it to, but he did get a job there, and we got to be friends. We were actually sort of friends before then -- we used to talk a lot.
MP: So these are stories that he told you over time?
HP: Yeah, well, he started telling me stuff about his tour in Vietnam, and he was such a good storyteller, and so intelligent and modest, you know? And I thought I would like to do a series of books about him.
MP: One thing I did notice, in reading this compared to other issues of American Splendor is how little of your presence is felt. Is that because he was such a good storyteller?
HP: Yeah, I mean there was no need for me to be messing around, breaking in. I wanted it to unfold as smoothly as possible.
MP: You decided to do three issues on one person's story -- in the future do you see going back to the usual mix of autobiography, music, and literary biography?
HP: Yeah, yeah, I just wanted to do as many issues as it took to get Robert's story down, and it took three. But I am continuing to write stories that are autobiographical and --
MP: Are you still doing music reviews and cultural reviews?
HP: Yeah, yeah. I still do that.
MP: How do you decide what artist you want to get to do which stories? It must be hard because you work with some really creative people.
HP: Well, it all depends partly on who's available and partly on how they feel about the book. You know, how they reacted to the stories, and also, how well I think they could do on a particular story.
MP: So when you are writing it do you have an artist in mind, or is it . . .?
HP: Sometimes. Sometimes I do and sometimes it comes later, it depends. You know, I can't say that there is any hard and fast rule about that.
MP: What about this project?
HP: Well, I had been working with David Collier a little bit in the past, and yeah, David was the guy I wanted to work with because he had had a background in the Canadian Army and stuff. And he really knew what Robert was talking about, and how to illustrate it.
MP: In an interview a couple of years ago, you said when you first started to do comics, you just wanted to tell stories that you weren't seeing being done. Do you see those stories more now, especially with the influence of American Splendor?
HP: Well, I mean, I don't know. I think comics are kind in rough shape now. You know, yeah sure, I see where I have influenced a lot of people, I don't want to sound immodest but, I mean, they have acknowledged the influence. And I am glad that's happened. At the same time, I'm not happy about the difficult times that comics are experiencing currently, especially the alternative comics.
MP: What comics have you been reading?
HP: Lately I haven't been reading many comics at all. I mean, I don't get them sent to me, and so I don't get a chance to look at them.
MP: Do you see yourself continuing writing comics in the future?
HP: Yeah, well, I mean, absolutely. I wrote a story yesterday.
MP: Oh, was that the story for the Dark Horse Maverick Annual?
HP: Well, I am writing something for Diana Schutz and illustrated by Joe Sacco. What's the name of the annual?
MP: Happy Endings.
HP: Oh, yeah. I've done that. That's already completed and should be on its way to Diana.
MP: I wanted to finish up by asking about the American Splendor movie. I see now that the Internet Movie Database is calling it a TV movie.
HP: Well, it was financed by HBO, but the producers were a company called Good Machine. It's going to be on HBO. They put up the money for it. It's got a really good reaction and prior to [it airing on HBO] we will probably be at film festivals and they are trying to get it in theaters, too. I don't know how that is going to work out, but there is a lot of enthusiasm for the movie and for Good Machine. Are you familiar with the Good Machine? They're the company that did Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and In the Bedroom and they did some other Ang Lee movies. Are you familiar with that?
MP: Yeah, I think they're pretty well known.
HP: My wife's just told me, that they are doing The Hulk, with Ang Lee directing. But, in any event, this thing has got a lot of enthusiasm and they have got a very good track record. You know, in terms of making high quality films that people really dig.
MP: Are you expecting the movie to bring more exposure to the comics.
HP: Yeah. Well, I hope it brings me good luck because, you know, I mean I want to get something out of it (laughs).
American Splendor: Unsung Hero #1 is the first of a three-issue series. This 24-page black and white comic is written by Harvey Pekar and illustrated by David Collier. It will be available in comics shop August 7.