The Next-Door Neighbor I Don’t Know

Harvey Pekar began his writing career as a jazz critic for The Jazz Review in 1959. He began writing comic book stories in 1972, encouraged by his friend Robert Crumb, who has illustrated a number of his pieces. The first collected edition of Pekar's comic AMERICAN SPLENDOR won the American Book Award in 1987, In 1994, the graphic novel OUR CANCER YEAR (on which he collaborated with his wife Joyce Brabner) won the Harvey Award. A movie version of AMERICAN SPLENDOR was released in 2003 and garnered awards at the Sundance and Cannes film festival. His debut DC/Vertigo graphic novel, The Quitter was illustrated by Next-Door Neigbor editor Dean Haspiel. Pekar is currently writing new American Splendor stories published by DC/Vertigo.

Rick Veitch, thirty-year comics veteran first came to prominence in the early 80s as part of the artistic trio working with Alan Moore on Swamp Thing. In the 00's Rick Veitch shows no sign of letting up. Vertigo recently released CAN'T GET NO, his groundbreaking literary graphic novel that Publishers Weekly declared one of the "Best Books Of 2006″. He collaborated with Tommy Lee Edwards on THE QUESTION for DC Comics and DAREDEVIL for Marvel Comics. His KING HELL PRESS published new editions of THE ONE, BRAT PACK, THE MAXIMORTAL, ABRAXAS AND THE EARTHMAN and SHINY BEASTS. And he's been producing science and nature comics for WNET in New York. Right now he's knee deep in his new series from Vertigo, a subversive and satirical look at the Iraq war set five years in the future, ARMY@LOVE. His third collection of fully painted Marvel/Epic era stories, HEARTBURST AND OTHER PLEASURES was released in May 2008. More at www.rickveitch.com.

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posted Monday, July 14th, 2008 leave a comment or trackback
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16 Responses

7.14.08—2:09 pm Ken A.
When masters of the form collaborate it can turn out either amazing or muddled. Fortunately, this is definitely in the former’s camp. Thanks to both Harvey and Roarin’ Rick for sharing their gifts with us, here and elsewhere.
7.14.08—4:01 pm Tim Hall
Another great HP story. I love the sweet/optimistic ending. And the art is just off the charts.
7.14.08—11:54 pm Tim Hamilton
That was top notch.
Optimistic ending yes, but sounding ominous too.
7.18.08—3:31 am Nalani P.
I liked this simple little comic. It really shows that even when you make a connection, it’s hard in our modern world to make the next leap to an ongoing friendship.
7.28.08—10:46 am josh
Two legends collide: awesome to see Veitch collaborating with Pekar. I also enjoy how the certain events crop up repeatedly in Pekar stories—like his broken arm—which place the stories in time and give the reader a sense of totality about his life
8.4.08—11:23 pm zatoichi
I really enjoyed the sense of the complex with seemingly ordinary lives. I have dealt with many people. In all my dealings I have never felt that anyone I have dealt with was truly simple.
11.20.08—2:27 pm Smith Magazine’s Next Door Neighbor. « no horn blowing except for anger
[...] neighbors. Some of the stories highlight talents such as Jonathan Ames and Nick Bertozzi, and Harvey Pekar and Rick Veitch. Though my personal favorites include Elizabeth Genco and Mike Jasorka’s college crush [...]
12.22.08—8:35 pm Trip with Rick | Smilikiti
[...] also drew a story for Harvey Pekar in Smith’s fabulous ongoing Next Door Neighbor series (disclosure, my wife has one coming up, as well), and is starting his second year of a [...]
1.25.10—12:23 am โหลดเพลงmp3ใหม่ฟรี
Beautiful colors and formatting to fit very well
2.8.10—6:09 pm Jorge Villarruel
“Two world collide, the anger and the pain of all those who remain”

This a great page, guys. Thanks for sharing.
3.7.10—1:23 am โหลดเพลงmp3ฟรี
This is art to the world
3.7.10—1:24 am โหลดเพลงmp3ฟรี
A different idea. All very good and very beautiful
6.14.10—12:40 pm Fibromyalgia Treatment
The neighbors seemed pleasant and not unreasonable he did help the man and yet the man did not pursue the relationship. That is a shame he chose to remain lonely.
3.27.11—3:48 pm Sarah Pressure
Such a facinating blog. I certainly enjoy many the number of areas that you cover and the excellence of the writing. This has become a honestly fun site for me to visit.
11.7.11—9:00 am เพลงใหม่ๆ
Thanks for the good.
11.14.11—11:05 pm HEEB Storytelling: Live Comics Edition – Recap | Heeb
[...] each drawn by a different artist (click their names to read their respective Pekar stories): Rick Veitch, Rick Parker, Joseph Remnant and Sean Pryor. Jeff Newelt AKA [...]