Comic book writer Harvey Pekar, whose autobiographical comic series American Splendor was made into a 2003 Oscar nominated film starring Paul Giamatti and Hope Davis, has been found dead in his Ohio home. He was 70.

Cleveland Heights, OH police Capt. Michael Cannon said officers were called to Pekar’s home by his wife Joyce Brabner about 1 A.M. Monday. Cannon said Pekar had been suffering from prostate cancer, asthma, high blood pressure and depression. Coroner’s spokesman Powell Caesar said an autopsy will be performed to determine final cause of death, although foul play was not suspected.

Pekar’s American Splendor comics, which he began publishing in 1976, chronicle his observations on work, love, money and life’s daily grind. The comic was done with stories from dozens of artists over the years in a wide variety of styles and was first illustrated by renonwed underground artist R. Crumb.

However, with each successive style, the voice remained the same: that of a witty, wry, observant man who’s study of human nature and the minutia of life through his own shortcomings never ceased to entertain and enlighten.

In addition to his writing, he was known for his appearances on Late Night With David Letterman. Check out his last appearance on the show after the break.

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Before getting a chance to sit down and talk with Dean Haspiel (American Splendor, The Quitter, Billy Dogma) at the Alternative Press Expo, I met him at the Isotope Comics Lounge on the eve of APE weekend for a pre-APE Isotope in-store bash. Currently, Haspiel is but one artist that is part of a larger collective of storytellers at ACT-I-VATE.

Recently, October saw the recent release of The ACT-I-VATE Primer by IDW Publishing, featuring new and original stories. While at the Isotope, I discovered Haspiel is as gracious and as nice as I could have imagined just sitting and talking with him as he signed and sketched a head shot of Harvey Pekar in my copy of The Quitter.

That night talking generally about the unique positivity that courses through the comic industry, Haspiel signs my Pekar sketch advising me to “never quit.” It’s good advice.

Needless to say, I was excited to sit down and talk with Haspiel again on Sunday as APE was coming to a close.

Joey Pangilinan: How did you come to start working with Harvey?

Dean Haspiel: Here’s a long answer to a simple question. I grew up reading superhero comics. My dream was to become a penciler and draw for Marvel. I didn’t know there were other comics that could be non-superhero or not published by DC and Marvel. I started to expand my horizons and got hungrier for the medium.

In the early ‘80s, I discovered American Splendor, at a place called Soho Zat in lower Manhattan, which had a lot of alternative and underground comics, and I discovered a whole bunch of different types of works.

So, there I am reading the Fantastic Four, and suddenly I come across semi-autobiographical comics and stuff like Yummy Fur by Chester Brown, and it just blew my mind. I started out being a fan, like most people are, of Harvey Pekar, or whoever else they admire.

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