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The rise of the comic-book anti-hero |
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Written by asap
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Friday, 02 June 2006 |
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 There's a new litmus test for comic book main characters: If he's got on tights and wields a super power, chances are that he's not so cool.
If he's got a civil service job in Cleveland, a long-lost father, major depression and cancer? Well, now we're talking.
 Yep, it helps if he's a guy just like Harvey Pekar.
Pekar is best known for his autobiographical comic series "American Splendor" which was turned into an Academy Award-nominated movie of the same name starring anti-hero actor Paul Giamatti in 2003. The film was just the push needed to put Pekar in the, um, anti-spotlight.
 Last year, DC Comics' Vertigo imprint released Pekar's spectacular and heartfelt graphic novel, "The Quitter," based on Pekar's disappointing blue-collar childhood experiences in Cleveland, Ohio. Pekar's latest release is "Ego & Hubris: The Michael Malice Story." Following along in the Pekar style, it's a true story about a random, regular guy. "I met (Malice) in New York, and he seemed like a very unusual and interesting kind of person. I tried to write down what kind person he was in his own words," says Pekar.
What does it say about modern times that the 21st century comic book hero is actually an everyman anti-hero?
"Well, I think what happened is, there was one anti-hero who became really famous, and now everyone's gotta have an anti-hero," says Colleen Condor, a comic book artist best known for "Banana Sunday."
Pekar's latest work isn't the first comic book to have a star sans a cape, though: just think of Charlie Brown. Or "Maus," Art Spiegelman's graphic novel about the Holocaust, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1992. But Pekar may be the one to truly mobilize the movement.
"Fifteen years ago a similar thing happened with 'Maus,' but little came of it because there was almost nothing to point to after 'Maus,'" says Eric Reynolds, an editor at Fantagraphics Comics.
The current anti-hero seeds started blooming in 2001 when "Ghost World," a series by Daniel Clowes about two teens juggling disappointments after their high school graduation, was made into a critically acclaimed movie. That same year, Chris Ware released what many consider to be the greatest graphic novel to date: "Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth," which followed a lonely man and his unspectacular reunion with his long-lost father.
But "American Splendor," that little film about a bald, twice-divorced man with a raspy voice and hunch seemed to be the tipping point.
In 2005, there were over $245 million in graphic novel sales -- a nearly 20 percent increase from the year before. With so many panels to go around -- but a finite number of exciting super powers to choose from -- perhaps it was just a matter of time before regular guys grabbed the spotlight. Of course, DC Comics' recent announcement that it is bringing back Batwoman -- as a lesbian -- shows how much the comics establishment is being influenced by the anti-hero effect.
"'American Splendor,' 'Jimmy Corrigan' and 'Ghost World' have certainly helped open the floodgates...but really, it's as much the fact that for the first time, there is a critical mass of good work out there that is allowing the floodgates to stay open," says Reynolds, the Fantagraphics editor.
Those floodgates? They're not closing any time soon. The New York Times Magazine recently serialized a new Chris Ware strip. Artist Dean Haspiel is collaborating with Jonathan Ames on a semi-autobiographical graphic novel, "The Alcoholic." This month, Houghton Mifflin will release the much-anticipated "Fun Home," a graphic memoir by Alison Bechdel, the woman behind the comic strip "Dykes to Watch Out For." Pekar himself is currently at work on three projects: a comic history of the Students for a Democratic Society, a graphic novel on the Beat Generation, and another "about a woman I know who went to Macedonia." Sexy, sexy stuff.
"I just think that there is very interesting stuff in the mundane," he says. And it seems that comics and their supporters are finally catching on to the ability to tell great stories without the incredible. Pekar's seal of mundane-approval is now reaching beyond his own work: he recently finished editing "Best American Comics 2006," the inaugural volume in a planned annual series. "It was a real nice experience. I was glad to maybe hopefully get some recognition for some alternative comic book artists who don't get enough of it and really deserve it," he says.
So what does our low-key hero say about his role in transforming pop culture?
"If that's true, I feel good, I feel good about that. I feel pretty pleased."
Spoken like a true anti-hero.
asap contributor Karla Starr is a writer in Portland, Ore. | Only registered users can write comments.
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