American Splendor

(Shari Springer Berman / Robert Pulcini; 2003)

This is the true story of Harvey Pekar, a cynical file clerk at a local VA hospital. His interactions with his co-workers offer some relief from the monotony;their discussions encompass everything from music to the decline of American culture to new flavors of jellybeans and life itself. At home, Harvey fills his days with reading, writing and listening to jazz. His apartment is filled with thousands of books and LPs, and he regularly scours Cleveland's thrift stores and garage sales for more, savoring the rare joy of a 25-cent find. It is at one of these junk sales that Harvey meets Robert Crumb, a greeting card artist and music enthusiast, who years later, finds international success for his underground comics.

Crumb's success inspires Harvey to write his own brand of comic book: American Splendor, a truthful, unsentimental record of his working-class life. First published in 1976, the comic earns Harvey cult fame throughout the 1980s and eventually leads him to the sardonic Joyce Barber, a partner in a Delaware comic book store who end ups being Harvey's true soul mate. The film takes us through their bizarre experiences of Harvey's cult celebrity stature....