Harvey Pekar has a 12-panel comic strip, drawn by Gary Dumm and entitled 'Comics Are My Thing,' on page 9 of the Arts & Leisure section Sunday's New York Times.  In this short autobiographical sketch, Pekar plugs the American Splendor movie that opens August 15 (see 'American Splendor Movie Debuts August 15'), and then announces that his award-winning comics 'are losing money year after year.'  In his typical straightforward fashion, Pekar admits that he got 'good money for the movie, but it's probably a one-shot deal...I was looking for comics to help support me in my old age, I am a retired file clerk, but now I dunno...' 

 

Pekar then provides a capsule summary of his life in comics, which ranges from reading superhero comics and Harvey Kurtzman's Mad to collaborating with Robert Crumb on the innovative autobiographical comic series American Splendor.  Pekar's key insight, which has had a profound effect on contemporary autobiographical comics, is that an ordinary life -- well reported -- can be the source of an immensely interesting, if not necessarily lucrative, comic book.