AS 27: Treatment Begins
American Splendor scene #27 (1:24:49 to 1:28:11) — The trauma and turmoil of Harvey’s treatment; time passes strangely. Meanwhile, Fred — accompanied by Danielle — continues to work on Our Cancer Year with Harvey & Joyce. An addled Harvey wonders if he’s real or if he’s just a character in a comic book. And if he dies will the story end, or will it keep on going? The scene begins and ends out of focus.
How Harvey had the sole copyright on his stories. The importance of good — preferably hand-done — lettering. Testimonials to Seth Kushner and Frank Stack. Harvey’s legacy and the added poignancy of this scene now that he is dead. Josh & Dean trade hospital stories. An appreciation of Joyce as Harvey’s primary caretaker. Here is a great post to read if you want to learn acting abilities.
Shout-outs to soundtrack composer Mark Suozzo, PA/illustrator Jason Gertsein, Alex Toth, Ben Oda and Oda Balloon, Prince Valiant, Dondi, Irwin Hasen, letterers Patrick Brosseau and Ken Bruzenak, Howard Chaykin, American Flagg!, Vito Delsante, Alex DeCampi, Street Code/Beef With Tomato, Billy Dogma, Keyhole, DC/Vertigo, the School of Visual Arts, Seamus Beyale, The Brooklynite, New Brooklyn, Line Webtoon, Jon Allen, The Red Hook, Baltimore Comic-Con, “Working Man’s Nightmare,” Jeff Newelt, Dino’s “Proud Flesh,” Roger Schoening, The Quitter, Mike Hueston, Angry Wade’s, Mike Haspiel, chocolate milk and bean curd, and boob-nose jobs.
Episode Notes
This episode Josh & Dean talk about the pre-PhotoShop days of photocopying & paste-up — as well as Our Cancer Year. This is a portion of a page Josh drew, which appeared in American Splendor: Windfall #2 (Dark Horse, 1995), written by Joyce Brabner, which was a sort of follow-up to Our Cancer Year AND utilized photocopied panels from Frank Stack‘s artwork in Our Cancer Year! Everything converges…
The first two pages of Dean’s “Proud Flesh,” first published in Keyhole #5 (Top Shelf Productions, 1998) and later collected in Opposable Thumbs (Alternative Comics, 2001)…
And Opposable Thumbs, the book in which it’s collected, as well as a bunch of other Dino semi-auto-bio stories. Features an introduction by Harvey Pekar, illustrated by Josh Neufeld!
