Harvey Pekar, 1939-2010

"Comics are just words and pictures. You can do anything with words and pictures.”

Jim Hanley's Universe is saddened at the loss of one of our medium's most important and influential voices, Harvey Pekar. Harvey helped make what we do possible, and we can never express our gratitude enough for his body of work.

Many here at JHU have had the privilege to work with Harvey over our 25 year history, and the last two days have been filled with stories and memories of this man, his extraordinary work, and his irreplaceable role in comic history.

It is no exaggeration that there would be no Jim Hanley's Universe without Harvey Pekar, without American Splendor. Our thoughts go out to Harvey's family, his fans, and the city of Cleveland.

It will never be too late to experience Harvey's work, be it his revolutionary autobiographical material or his later historical work, to the American Splendor movie, for my money one of the greatest films ever made and without a doubt the best comic book movie yet made.

If you have never read his work, or would like to re-experience it, there is no better time than the present.

Jeff