Harvey Pekar Quotes

Ordinary life is pretty complex stuff.

I'm sure someone out there has a workable solution. But what do I know? I make comic books and write about jazz. I do know the difference between right and wrong, though.

I met Robert Crumb in 1962; he lived in Cleveland for a while. I took a look at his stuff. Crumb was doing stuff beyond what other writers and artists were doing. It was a step beyond Mad.

I really don't have a lot in common with the people who attend the Comic Con. It's like assuming that all people who write prose are the same.

I'd been familiar with comics, and I'd collected 'em when I was a kid, but after I got into junior high school, there wasn't much I was interested in

Comics are words and pictures. You can do anything with words and pictures.

Since about 1980 Kenny Werner has been one of jazz’s unsung heroes

I think that the so-called average person often exhibits a great deal of heroism in getting through an ordinary day . . .

Am I a guy who writes about himself in a comic book, or am I just a character in that book? If I die, will that character keep going, or will he just fade away?

Life is about women, gigs, an' bein' creative.

I realize that I'm pretty flawed, but you know - I haven't killed anybody yet.

It seemed to me you could do anything in comics. So I started doing my thing, which is mainly influenced by novelists, stand-up comedians, that sort of thing

American Splendor is just an ongoing journal. It's an ongoing autobiography. I started it when I was in my early 30s, and I just keep going.

I'm doing research for a large comic book on the Beat Generation guys - Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac and those guys

I try and write the way things happen. I don't try and fulfill people's wishes

I decided I was going to tell these stories. I went around and met Crumb. He was the cartoonist. I started realizing comics weren't just kid stuff.

I thought I had a great opportunity when I started doing my comic book in 1972. I thought there was so much territory to work in.

I just continue to be kind of disappointed that people don't realize that and try and diversify the kind of work they are doing in comics.

I've probably had my day in the sun. I think I've influenced a lot of comic book writers

You do not pursue potential conflict unless you hold power over your foe.

Misery loves company. There's a lot to that.

I don't think I made any really big mistakes; it's just that I chose something difficult to do. Looking back, I suppose I should be grateful that I got as far as I got.

Im pretty aggressive, and maybe obnoxious, about trying to get work.

Even a pretty traditional comic book writer can make valuable contributions to the Internet.

People will believe absurd things - in the 19th century and now.

I wanted to write literature that pushed people into their lives rather than helping people escape from them.

It's the stuff that happens right in front of your face when there's no routine and everything is unexpected. That's what I want to write about.

It didnt take long to establish myself, as far as people thinking my work was good. They liked it from the start.

I don't write about certain arguments I have with my wife. I'd get my head torn off if wrote about certain things.

I think you can do anything with comics that you could do in just about any art form.

It makes you feel good to know that there's other people afflicted like you.

It's extremely seldom that anybody wants me to change what I've written about them. Generally I portray them in a good light, if they're friends

I'm a guy that likes to sit in one place

I think you can find all the elements that you can find in great literature in mundane experiences.

I think comics have far more potential than a lot of people realize.

I think the people who would be the least interested in my work would be people who read lots of comic books.

People who are readers of fiction aren't particularly interested in comic books.

Every ethnic group thinks they are the chosen ones.

Everybody's like everybody else, and everybody's different from everybody else.

When you're dead, it robs life of many of it's pleasures

What kind of a day was it? A day like all others, that alters and illuminates our times. And you were there.

Nationalism and ethnic pride, in the long run, delay human development, and the misery they cause must be recognized. If enough people saw that, maybe we wouldn't have so many wars.