PEKAR PROJECT in the News

USA TODAY’s PopCandy “I’ve been hearing about a Harvey Pekar webcomic for awhile, so I’m thrilled to see it has become a reality….I’m eager to see what else Harvey has in store — after all these years, he’s still full of stories to tell.

USA TODAY’s PopCandy II “More than 90 artists have drawn fantastic “Harvey Heads” in honor of the creative curmudgeon’s birthday….Jeff Smith, Alison Bechdel, Jeffrey Brown, Renee French, Dean Haspiel, Josh Neufeld, Jim Mahfood, Jim Rugg … Holy cow. This page includes pretty much everyone I love in comics.”

New York Times cover story, Sunday Arts/Design “Hosted by SMITH Magazine, an online publication, the Pekar Project published more or less weekly installments written by Mr. Pekar and drawn by a rotating team that also included Mr. Remnant and the artists Sean Pryor and Rick Parker.

New York Times “Pekar Portraits” interactive tribute gallery including 6 from Pekar Project “Harvey Pekar, who died at 70 on July 12, was known for chronicling Cleveland’s commonplace lives, including his own, in his autobiographical comics, American Splendor, and in graphic novels.”

Cleveland Plain Dealer “…when our favorite curmudgeon celebrated his 70th birthday Oct. 8, the comics world offered up a fitting toast: A gallery of freshly drawn “Harvey Heads,” produced by some of the biggest names in the business.”

The New Yorker “SMITH Magazine presents more than a hundred portraits of Harvey Pekar in commemoration of his seventieth birthday.”

Publishers Weekly First interview interview with Harvey about The Pekar Project “After moving from the comics page to the big screen, acclaimed autobiographical comics creator Harvey Pekar has now made his way to the Internet with a new webcomic series called, The Pekar Project, to be published on SMITH, an online magazine featuring personal storytelling.”

The Daily Cross Hatch Brian Heater joined The Pekar Project team in Cleveland for Harvey’s 70th Birthday Party/Gallery Show. Here’s his comprehensive recap including many videos. “It’s a triumphant night for Pekar, and a welcome reminder that, even in the face of publishing uncertainty, the writer is beloved, especially here in the epicenter of Cleveland’s artistic community.”

MTV Splashpage - MTV interviews Harvey Pekar and digs the variety of art on The Pekar Project “the artists represent a variety of styles and backgrounds—something that Pekar has always encouraged with collaborators.”

VICE “Pekar’s new comics are some of his greatest work yet, particularly in terms of how great they look. I love reading them online because they’re huge and the colors are great…. I was a big fan of the Crumb/Pekar collaborations, and I think this is some of my favorite Pekar stuff in a long time.

Gawker “Comic-book writer Harvey Pekar is now Twittering, in the most Pekaresque way possible.”

WIRED “SMITH Magazine is complementing the web comics with blog entries, interviews and more online content from Pekar, who probably couldn’t find the power button on a Macbook if one of his artists drew its location. That technological tension makes The Pekar Project a fun experiment, as well as another feather in the accidental superstar’s comics cap.”

NPR’s A Blog Supreme “To help launch the webcomic series’ promise of extras, Pekar is flexing his muscles as a jazz critic Harvey Pekar’s Top Ten Jazz Innovators.”

Library Journal “What took Pekar so long to go web? Certainly his “proto-blogger” approach to comics is a natural fit for SMITH, an online magazine specializing in personal storytelling. While no published collection is planned at the moment, it’s likely that the series will see print eventually.”

PC Magazine PODCAST interview: “Brian Heater travelled to Cleveland the other weekend to interview comics legend Harvey Pekar about his new online initiative, The Pekar Project, and discuss what it’s like being a 70-year-old former file clerk living in a digital world.”

INTERVIEW Magazine — Michael Malice, subject of Harvey’s “Ego & Hubris” graphic novel chats with the “Mayor of the Mundane” in his hometown Cleveland.

Drawn! “This is great. What better way for comic artists to celebrate Harvey Pekar’s birthday? Pekar, whose autobio-comics self is famously drawn by different artists throughout his career, is rendered lovingly by over 90 different cartoonists as part of The Pekar Project.”

Cleveland Scene “The Pekar Project is a multifaceted adventure in the real-life stories of Harvey.”

Forbidden Planet NYC “I have to say that my Pekar addiction can be fulfilled on a regular basis is just a fantastic way to start off the week.”

Mediabistro’s GalleyCat “With this simple Tweet: “Don’t go thinkin’ I started usin’ computers or anything. I’m just givin’ my twitters over the phone,” the curmudgeonly poet behind the comic book series American Splendor has carried his stories into the 21st Century.”

Laughing Squid “SMITH Magazine recently launched The Pekar Project, a new weekly series of web comics featuring legendary underground comics writer Harvey Pekar, creator of the autobiographical series American Splendor.”

Cleveland Scene “It’s a multifaceted adventure in the real-life stories of Harvey.”

Booklist - “A fine read”

Comic Book Resources - a hearty interview with Harvey. “I’m really not into celebrating, but I’ve got to admit, what Jeff did, getting all those people to send in drawings of me, was surprising and flattering. It had to be one of my more memorable birthdays. I’m not big on celebrating anything like that. I’m a stay at home guy. I don’t go out much or party much.”

Occasional Superheroine Valerie D’Orazio, editor of MTV Geek, says “It really takes Pekar’s work to the next level, both retaining what made his early work so special but combining it with wildly inventive artistic interpretations….I see the launch of this series as a significant event in comics & art in general.”

Your It List “The proudly-reticent Pekar delving into web comics feels a bit like Dylan going electric: shocking but surprisingly successful.”

Renouned rapper / artist Akira The Don is fond of The Pekar Project “I have been reading it, and its beautiful.”

The Jewish Forward “To celebrate Harvey Pekar’s 70th birthday, their “Pekar Project” was to ask a number of artists to draw his head at 70 as a surprise present. Originally there were 70, natch, but so many artists presented their interpretations that there’s nearly 100 and the “heads still keep rollin” they say.”

GraphicNYC and SMITH teamed-up to create a“Pekar Week” of special features including a fumetti (photocomic) interview with Harvey.

Jeff Smith’s BONEVILLE Along with 100+ other artists, Jeff Smith, creator of BONE, drew a “Harvey Head” for Harvey’s 70th Birthday “Happy Birthday, Harvey. And thanks; you are a unique and fascinating artist, and comics is a better place because of you.”

Rick Veitch Visionary dream-comics creator artist Veitch presents his Harvey Head “The SMITH Magazine folks have organized a mind-bending birthday tribute to Harvey Pekar, getting over 90 artists to contribute original head shots of that famous mug. Here’s mine (with a tip of the hat to fellow collage fiend, Jack Kirby).”

More coverage of The Pekar Project:

Alison Bechdel
AuthorScoop
Candlelight Stories
Comic Book Resources - Robot6
Comic Book Resources - Harvey Heads
Comics Alliance
The Comics Journal
The Comics Journal II
The Comics Reporter
Daily Swarm
Dangerous Minds
The Daily Cross Hatch
The Daily Cross Hatch II
Flavorpill’s Flavorwire
Forbidden Planet International I
Forbidden Planet International II
HTMLGIANT
The I Spot
Interview Magazine
Jeffrey Brown
Josh McKutchen
Manifest Equality
MediaBistro’s GalleyCat
MetaFilter
Molly Crabapple
MTV Splashpage
Rick Parker
Seth Kushner
The Rumpus
Technoccult
Warren Ellis’s WhiteChapel

Thanks to the following sites & blogs for putting the word out about Pekar Project:
Alex Dueben
Andrew Dimmit
Artsucks - Cojo’s Blog
Blog de Comics
Box Brown
The Boar
Brent Engstrom
Cakehead Loves Evil
Comics Bureau
Comics DC
Comics DC II
Daily Cartoonist
The Danny Microwave Project
DisInformation
EntreComics
Eric Orchard
GearGab
Hustler of Culture
I Draw Digital
James Jajac
Kevin Kobasic
Konformist Blog
Lady Gunn
Laura Park
Leslie Gauthier
Martina Martina
MahTwoCents
Mau Fontinele
McCarthy Comics
Nag On The Lake
Nate Doyle
NerdCore
Outside Looking In
Owl on Holiday
Paul Hornschemeier
Peter Feld
Readin Blog
Required Taste
Rick Klaw
Seattle-Geekly
Souldish
Sprayblog
StudioJFISH
Surrealistic Sharks
Ty Templeton

Harvey Pekar Obituaries & Tributes

Comics Reporter — Tom Spurgeon’s comprehensive obituary.
Comics Reporter II –”Collective Memory” Links to commentary and reaction around the Internet to the passing of Harvey Pekar (1939-2010).
The Daily Cross Hatch — Comics creators & industry professionls pay tribute in words and pictures
Entertainment Weekly — Dean Haspiel’s comic strip tribute to Harvey
Cleveland Plain Dealer — wonderful tribute video
Global Comment — extensive, moving tribute by Matthew Sheret
MTV — Rick Marshall shares additional quotes from his Pekar Interview
The New Yorker — Tribute including Ben Templesmith’s “Harvey Head.”
Scholars & Rogues - Many artists created tribute illustrations and comic strips
Tablet — Vanessa Davis created a moving tribute comic
Time Magazine — “The Five Best Videos of Harvey Pekar” with two taken by Brian Heater from the Pekar Project 70th Birthday weekend in Cleveland.
Ty Templeton created a terrific tribute comic about when he met Harvey
Washington Post — Tributes by Neil Gaiman, Dean Haspiel, Scott McCloud, Ted Rall, Frank Stack, Josh Neufeld and more.