Category Archives: literature

art, culture, literature

>American Splendor

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>Originally posted March 24, 2007.


Comics, that’s kids stuff, right?
Well, that’s what I thought as well for quite some time.
As a kid I was kind of obsessed with Spider-Man for some years, but by the time he’d went black I was out there riding my skateboard and listening to records instead. I guess I wasn’t into comics that much after all. I still find Spider-Man among the coolest of superheroes, though. He’s metal, you know, the way he shoots his net making the sign of Satan:


However, I didn’t quite realize that there were “adult” comics (except for the crappy “erotic” shit) until I got hold of some anime movies (which I bought from the drummer in Sator, by the way! This was in 1990…). Those movies made me rediscover comics in a way. But since the style still was that wild and crazy shit it didn’t make any lasting impressions. It was fun for the moment and then forgotten about.

In 2003 I saw American Splendor. Yeah, I’m one of those late losers who discovered Harvey Pekar through that movie. I really loved the film, so I bought Our Cancer Year, one of his and his wife’s comic books that they based the movie upon. And it fucking touched my soul, I tell you!


American Splendor is all about life, death and the things that matters – things and thoughts that at first may seem pointless, but after some consideration may turn into mindbending visions. It did for me.
I spent a lot of time thinking after reading Our Cancer Year, the same kind of thinking that may occur after reading a really thick, good book or seeing a mindfucking movie. I just love the way that a few strokes and a few lines can get your thoughts going.

Ordinary life is pretty complex stuff. That’s probably the best and most accurate summarization ever, even though it’s become quite a tiresome cliché since the movie hit the charts.

Harvey’s life is drawn by a lot of different artists (Our Cancer Year excluded, which is fully drawn by Frank Stack), and that in itself makes this comic really interesting. Here’s just a few examples of how some artists perceive our man:








And of course I identify with Harvey. He’s just an honest and literate guy with a sense for politics and music. Him being a Jew and just being so goddamn tired of the exploitation of the Holocaust is a revelation. This strip is from 1994:


And the cover of The New American Splendor Anthology has the coolest quote:

When I was younger I thought about women constantly… I was always running around looking for a good time… Now I’ve matured, my priorities have changed. I’m aware of what’s really important: CRUSHING MY ENEMIES.

The fact that I discovered American Splendor so late bugs me. I’ve missed so much. Harvey’s been doing his comics since 1976! Bah…

Harvey Pekar – homepage and blog
American Splendor – The movie
A list of some of his comics

Other adult comics that’s touched my soul lately:



literature

>McCarthy’s The Road

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>Originally posted December 07, 2006.

Every now and then you come across a genuine masterpiece. It could be everything from a goddamn silly ice cream (hail Piggelin!) to some amazing album/movie/ painting/whatever. This time, for me, it was a book. It’s a true rarity to find such a masterpiece as The Road by Cormac McCarthy.


Armageddon. The final doom. Post-apocalypse. The sky bleeds ashes, wastelands prevail, all fish and birds are long gone dead and the sun, when it occasionaly shows, is bleak. The world is coming to an end, finally.

In the midst of chaos, confusion and despair we find an unnamed father and his son making their way through this barren earth. They follow the road that leads to the sea. People they meet are only after their flesh. Cannibals in the most vicious sense. The father and son have only themselves to rely on. That and their great love for each other.

Because in spite of all darkness and death, this is a story about love and it’s truly heartbreaking. The amazing composition, the multilayered set-up, the extraordinary prose, is what makes this novel the best book in 2006.

I travel by train for almost two hours every day. That makes for a lot of reading, and I’m thankful for that, because I read The Road in just a couple of days and it completely devoured me. So much pain, so much darkness, yet so much love. Perfect.

As one reader wrote:

“Don’t read this book on an overseas flight. You’ll find yourself, as I did, standing in the back of the cabin weeping.”

When reading The Road I think of demons. I think of Shogun Assassin and I think of classic russian movies like Stalker combined with modern, intellectual remakes of seriously dumb stuff like Bronx Warriors and Mad Max.

And when reading I always have this gut feeling, this dark brooding feeling, that somebody’s gonna make a movie out of this and I’m gonna have great expecations and it’s gonna suck so bad because there’s no way in hell that a movie can make this book justice. No way.

The Road deals with universal themes such as death, human nature and the condition of the world we’re in. It’s classic stuff, and if you know your Bible and shiver with delight when confronted with Old Testament quotes you will enjoy this for sure. This is doomsday reading and the clocks stopped at 1:17… A reference to John 1:17 in the Book of Revelations, they say.

This is the first book I’ve read by Cormac McCarthy. I’m dying to get my hands on his other ones, call in sick, disconnect the phone, shut off the computer and just plunge into darkness once more.

Recommended soundtrack when reading:
Godspeed You Black Emperor