Harvey Lawrence Pekar was an American underground comic book writer, music critic, and media personality, best known for his autobiographical American Splendor comic series. In 2003, the series inspired a well-received film adaptation of the same name.
Harvey Pekar
Harvey Pekar at WonderCon 2005, San Francisco
Pekar's grave stone in Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland
Pekar and Joyce Brabner at Hallwalls, Buffalo, New York (1985)
Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, including explicit drug use, sexuality, and violence. They were most popular in the United States in the late 1960s and 1970s, and in the United Kingdom in the 1970s.
The cover artwork for the first issue of Zap Comix, featuring the character Mr. Natural.
OZ London, No.33, February 1971; art by Norman Lindsay