On this day in movie history - American Splendor (2003 movie & books):

American Splendor

directed and written by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini,

based on the comic book American Splendor by Harvey Pekar,

and the graphic novel Our Cancer Year by Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner,

released at the Sundance Film Festival in the United States on January 20, 2003.

Music by Mark Suozzo.

Paul Giamatti (left), Harvey Pekar (right), at the Sundance Film Festival screening for American Splendor (2003).

Cast: Paul Giamatti, Harvey Pekar, Shari Springer Berman, James Urbaniak, Hope Davis, Chris Ambrose, Joey Krajcar, Josh Hutcherson, Cameron Carter, Daniel Tay, Mary Faktor, Larry John Meyers/Myers, Vivienne Benesch, Barbara Brown, Earl Billings, Danny Hoch, Eli Ganias, Sylvia Kauders, Rebecca Borger, Nick Baxter, Allen Branstein, Dick Prochaska, Charles Eduardos, Judah Friedlander, Robert Pulcini, Toby Radloff, Bianca Santos, Maggie Moore, Mike Rad, Amy K. Harmon, Joyce Brabner, Donal Logue, Molly Shannon, Eytan Mirsky, Rob Grader, Terrence Sullivan, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Patrick Lafferty, Jesse Perez, Jeff Peters, Ola Creston, Robert J. Williams, James McCaffrey, Madylin Sweeten, Danielle Batone, Jason Stevens, Todd Cummings, Rae Sunshine Lee, Marcus Wynnycky.

Recommended reading:

The New American Splendor Anthology: From Off the Streets of Cleveland

By Harvey Pekar.

Published by Running Press Adult.

First published 1991.

First Edition

ISBN-10: 0941423646

ISBN-13: 9780941423649

Description:

American Splendor is the series that sparked a revolution in comics and brought graphic novels to the attention of post-adolescent readers everywhere. Here is the best of American Splendor and other comics by Harvey Pekar, including never-before-seen material.

American Splendor and More American Splendor: The Life and Times of Harvey Pekar

by Harvey Pekar.

Introduced by Robert Crumb.

Published by Ballantine Books.

This edition published 2003.

Originally published 1986.

ISBN-10: 0345468309

ISBN-13: 9780345468307

Description:

The inspiration for the award-winning movie from HBO Films and Fine Line Features.

AMERICAN SPLENDOR: The Life and Times of Harvey Pekar.

Two classic comic anthologies in one volume.

Stories by Harvey Pekar.

Introduction by R. Crumb.

Art by Kevin Brown, Gregory Budgett, Sean Carroll, Sue Cavey, R. Crumb, Gary Dumm, Val Mayerik, and Gerry Shamray.

The classic collection of the comics that inspired the movie American Splendor, winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival.

American Splendor is the world’s first literary comic book. Cleveland native Harvey Pekar is a true American original. A V.A. hospital file clerk and comic book writer, Harvey chronicles the ordinary and mundane in stories both funny and touching. His dead-on eye for the frustrations and minutiae of the workaday world mix in a delicate balance with his insight into personal relationships. Pekar has been compared to Dreiser, Dostoevsky, and Lenny Bruce. But he is truly more than all of them – he is himself.

“Mr. Pekar has . . . proven that comics can address the ambiguities of daily living, that like the finest fiction, they can hold a mirror up to life.” – The New York Times.

“[Pekar] has a vision that makes daily city life – a ride on the bus, a run-in with a boss, or simply buying bread – dramatic.” – Chicago Sun-Times.

“Simply stated, American Splendor is the most superb literary endeavor to come off the streets of Cleveland in decades.” – The Plain Dealer (Cleveland).

“Mr. Pekar lets all of life flood into his panels: the humdrum and the heroic, the gritty and the grand.” – The New York Times Book Review.

Our Cancer Year

By Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner.

Illustrated by Frank Stack.

Published by Running Press.

Published 1994.

ISBN-10: 1568580118

ISBN-13: 9781568580111

Description:

It was the year of Desert Storm that Harvey Pekar and his wife, Joyce Brabner, discovered Harvey had cancer. Pekar, a man who has made a profession of chronicling the Kafkaesque absurdities of an ordinary life – if any life is ordinary – suddenly found himself incapacitated. But he had a better-than-average chance to beat cancer and he took it – kicking, screaming and complaining all the way. The Pekar/Brabner coalition draws upon this and other trials to paint a portrait of a man beset with fears real and imagined – who survives.