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American Splendor
Our Cancer Year
It was they 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.
252 pages, Paperback
First published October 12, 1994
8 people are currently reading
1058 people want to read
About the author
Harvey Pekar
118 books256 followersHarvey Pekar was an American writer and comics creator whose groundbreaking autobiographical series American Splendor helped redefine the possibilities of graphic storytelling. Frequently called the poet laureate of Cleveland, he developed a body of work that approached everyday life with candor, humor, frustration, and philosophical reflection. Pekar’s voice became central to the evolution of comics into a medium capable of serious literary expression, and his influence extended to criticism, journalism, and popular culture through his essays, radio work, and memorable television appearances.
Pekar grew up in Cleveland, where his parents operated a small grocery store, and his early experiences shaped much of the sensibility that later defined his writing. His deep love of jazz led him into criticism, and through that world he befriended artist Robert Crumb. Their shared interest in music eventually led him to try writing comics. Pekar wrote his first scripts in the early seventies, sketching out stories with simple figures before passing them to Crumb and other underground artists who encouraged him to continue. With the first issue of American Splendor in 1976, Pekar began chronicling the small battles, anxieties, and fleeting moments that made up his daily life in Cleveland. His day job as a file clerk, his marriages, conversations with coworkers, frustrations with bureaucracy, and the struggle to make ends meet all became material for a series that often blurred the line between observation and confession. Over the years, he worked with a wide range of artists who interpreted his scripts in styles that mirrored the emotional tone of each story.
The success of American Splendor brought Pekar national attention. Collections such as The Life and Times of Harvey Pekar received strong critical praise, and his unpredictable, often confrontational appearances on late-night television became a defining part of his public persona. The 2003 film adaptation of American Splendor, in which Paul Giamatti portrayed him, earned major festival awards and introduced Pekar’s work to a wider audience. He continued to write graphic memoirs, biographies, collaborations, and cultural commentary, expanding his range while maintaining the blunt honesty that characterized his voice. Pekar’s work remains central to the development of literary comics, influencing generations of writers and artists who followed his example.
Pekar grew up in Cleveland, where his parents operated a small grocery store, and his early experiences shaped much of the sensibility that later defined his writing. His deep love of jazz led him into criticism, and through that world he befriended artist Robert Crumb. Their shared interest in music eventually led him to try writing comics. Pekar wrote his first scripts in the early seventies, sketching out stories with simple figures before passing them to Crumb and other underground artists who encouraged him to continue. With the first issue of American Splendor in 1976, Pekar began chronicling the small battles, anxieties, and fleeting moments that made up his daily life in Cleveland. His day job as a file clerk, his marriages, conversations with coworkers, frustrations with bureaucracy, and the struggle to make ends meet all became material for a series that often blurred the line between observation and confession. Over the years, he worked with a wide range of artists who interpreted his scripts in styles that mirrored the emotional tone of each story.
The success of American Splendor brought Pekar national attention. Collections such as The Life and Times of Harvey Pekar received strong critical praise, and his unpredictable, often confrontational appearances on late-night television became a defining part of his public persona. The 2003 film adaptation of American Splendor, in which Paul Giamatti portrayed him, earned major festival awards and introduced Pekar’s work to a wider audience. He continued to write graphic memoirs, biographies, collaborations, and cultural commentary, expanding his range while maintaining the blunt honesty that characterized his voice. Pekar’s work remains central to the development of literary comics, influencing generations of writers and artists who followed his example.
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February 9, 2017
Even when he didn’t have non-Hodgkins lymphoma Harvey Pekar wasn’t Mr Positive and he had practically no use for raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens. A grumpy, cantankerous stick-in-the-mud hypochondriac who then gets cancer – well, why not. So this graphic novel is not going to be Jonathan Livingston Pekar. It’s going to be really awful.
Cancer plays a cruel game on Harvey – he ignores a lump in his groin for three years, finally gets it checked out, it’s malignant lymphoma, they remove it, he’s now clear! Great! But they have to now give him three to six months of heavy chemo followed by radiotherapy to make sure it doesn’t come back, and it’s this chemo that causes all Harvey’s frequent near death experiences, outbursts of horrifying shingles and constant refrains of lemme die, lemme die now, I can’t take it. So, the doctors cure Harvey but then they give him medicine which makes him really ill. Western science, hey.
This book is co-written by Harvey and his wife Joyce Brabner and it’s a pekaresque mingling of her stuff (student peace activism) and his stuff (cancer) and their stuff (moving house), all of which adds to the drama-trauma because none of it goes smoothly. In fact you would not so much want to be friends with Joyce and Harvey, they are just so awkward and difficult about everything, either that or life conspires to make everything messy and frustrating for them. Maybe six of one and half dozen of the other.
The art in this book is likewise awkward and difficult, in fact it’s as rough as a badger’s arse, although I am informed that Frank Stack is an award-winning professor of art at the University of Missouri. You could have fooled me. It seems that Frank was embedded in Harvey & Joyce’s life at one point, like journalists get embedded with military units in war.
He moved in with us for a while, discreetly clicking his camera, watching and sketching… Sometimes a bit of business had to be re-enacted or staged…. “Ummm, I need Harvey to collapse again, but this time, fall down on your left side, ok?”
That reminds me of a kid’s birthday party I was at once – the dad was filming the cake being brought in and the kid blowing out the candles, and the kid didn’t do the blowing right, so the dad asked the mum to take it back out, relight the candles and do a take two.
July 26, 2010
I want to say that this is a wonderful, inspired memoir, a helpful work of art for anyone who is living with a cancer-diagnosed spouse. But no, Harvey Pekar ain't your typical spouse, Frank Stack is a strangely half-assed illustrator, and this book is just a descent into madness. Oh sure the last THREE PAGES are filled with hope and a waterfall, but on the whole this will fill you with fear and dread.
Right off the bat, I should point out that this is Joyce Brabner's work, not Harvey Pekar's. I did get the sense that a couple pages here and there were composed or revised by him, but on the whole it's the besieged wife's vision. And here's where I noticed: she starts out by demanding that they move out of his apartment (which he'd been inhabiting for nineteen years), to buy a house. This effort succeeds, not without some strife and struggle from Harvey, but they do move into a new house. Putting myself in his shoes, I'd be damn near traumatized by a move like that, weeping with every room cleared and bit of floor swept clean. You don't see this at all here, just a relatively smooth move, entangled by a nutcase religious helper to cock things up. (Plus a major digression with Joyce and her activist friends in the Middle East, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.)
Well anyway, soon enough Harvey gets the cancer, and it all goes to hell. The man can't cope with it, he's got the shingles busting out all over his body, shouting out in pain, collapsing all over the hospital waiting wroom -- and YES you have to wonder if it's all unnecessary drama and neediness that Joyce is dishing to us. (AGAIN: this cancer got diagnosed soon after his move to this new house, and I wondered whether his constant fake-paralysis and moaning and existential fear was compounded by this circumstance -- Joyce never bothers to think openly about this, but then neither does Harvey).
To me, Harvey often comes across as an epic wimp when he's lucid, and I did sympathize with Joyce having to deal with his exploding boils and fake-paralysis and other afflictions. But I ALSO sympathized with Harvey not being to work, not contributing to the world anymore. There is one moment where he might get committed to a hospital, then offers to help file forms etc. (he is a VA clerk by trade). We are supposed to believe he's gone COMPLETELY INSANE by making this request. But to me, it totally makes sense: you work for a living, and you have certain talents, why not offer them to your "caregivers" rather than sitting around idly with an IV in your arm?
And yeah, that's another thing -- this is set in 1992, but Harvey is getting dosed with TONS of drugs, cancer drugs, painkillers, antibiotics, hallucinogenics, etc. It's like the pharmaceutical companies are standing round him and pissing drugs into his face, and I have to admit I find this very distressing. Drugs = profits. Figuring out a way to help this poor guy without dosing him constantly? That never comes up at all.
Anyway all of this insanity and pharmaceuticals and evasion is twisted this way and that by Frank Stack's amateurish artwork -- I know he's an old school dude with some groovy epochal works under his belt, but jeez in this context he's like Shelly "the Machine" Levene sribblin' under pressure! Every other panel is clumsy, half-drawn, bizarrely composed. I guess it augments the whole carcino-existentialist tone of the work, but it also made me weep for poor Harvey, who vetted his illustrators much more thoroughly.
Right off the bat, I should point out that this is Joyce Brabner's work, not Harvey Pekar's. I did get the sense that a couple pages here and there were composed or revised by him, but on the whole it's the besieged wife's vision. And here's where I noticed: she starts out by demanding that they move out of his apartment (which he'd been inhabiting for nineteen years), to buy a house. This effort succeeds, not without some strife and struggle from Harvey, but they do move into a new house. Putting myself in his shoes, I'd be damn near traumatized by a move like that, weeping with every room cleared and bit of floor swept clean. You don't see this at all here, just a relatively smooth move, entangled by a nutcase religious helper to cock things up. (Plus a major digression with Joyce and her activist friends in the Middle East, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.)
Well anyway, soon enough Harvey gets the cancer, and it all goes to hell. The man can't cope with it, he's got the shingles busting out all over his body, shouting out in pain, collapsing all over the hospital waiting wroom -- and YES you have to wonder if it's all unnecessary drama and neediness that Joyce is dishing to us. (AGAIN: this cancer got diagnosed soon after his move to this new house, and I wondered whether his constant fake-paralysis and moaning and existential fear was compounded by this circumstance -- Joyce never bothers to think openly about this, but then neither does Harvey).
To me, Harvey often comes across as an epic wimp when he's lucid, and I did sympathize with Joyce having to deal with his exploding boils and fake-paralysis and other afflictions. But I ALSO sympathized with Harvey not being to work, not contributing to the world anymore. There is one moment where he might get committed to a hospital, then offers to help file forms etc. (he is a VA clerk by trade). We are supposed to believe he's gone COMPLETELY INSANE by making this request. But to me, it totally makes sense: you work for a living, and you have certain talents, why not offer them to your "caregivers" rather than sitting around idly with an IV in your arm?
And yeah, that's another thing -- this is set in 1992, but Harvey is getting dosed with TONS of drugs, cancer drugs, painkillers, antibiotics, hallucinogenics, etc. It's like the pharmaceutical companies are standing round him and pissing drugs into his face, and I have to admit I find this very distressing. Drugs = profits. Figuring out a way to help this poor guy without dosing him constantly? That never comes up at all.
Anyway all of this insanity and pharmaceuticals and evasion is twisted this way and that by Frank Stack's amateurish artwork -- I know he's an old school dude with some groovy epochal works under his belt, but jeez in this context he's like Shelly "the Machine" Levene sribblin' under pressure! Every other panel is clumsy, half-drawn, bizarrely composed. I guess it augments the whole carcino-existentialist tone of the work, but it also made me weep for poor Harvey, who vetted his illustrators much more thoroughly.
April 11, 2019
DISCLAIMER: The only way that I can write about this book is through the lens of my own fight with cancer. In point of fact, that’s what drew me to the graphic novel in the first place. I have never been one to shy away from difficult subjects. Reading about cancer and how other people have handled the physical and emotional stresses of the disease are cathartic to me. My hope here is to compare and contrast my experiences with those that were documented in “Our Cancer Year.” Some people might not want or appreciate that level of personal recollection, and I get that. People come here for book reviews, they don’t necessarily expect to get a confessional to go with it. There you have it. Caveat emptor.
Harvey Pekar was, of course, a real person. A file clerk living in Cleveland, he documented his life through the pages of an underground comic book titled “American Splendor.” You can get all of the details of his life easily enough. His Wikipedia article is actually pretty accurate, so I’m just going to link you to that if you need to know more about him. Harvey died in 2010.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_...
Harvey (yes, we are on a first-name basis now) was living with his third wife, Joyce Brabner, when “Our Cancer Year” was released. Joyce is still with us. Joyce has been a peace activist and writer for most of her career. She also has a decently detailed Wiki page, so if you need to know more, here you go…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyce_B...
In 1990, Joyce and Harvey were in a whirlwind of activity. Joyce was busy travelling with a group of youth activists from war-torn countries, and at the same time she and Harvey were preparing to move out of their cramped apartment and become homeowners for the first time. Harvey also has a swelling in his groin that he has tried very hard to ignore.
I was diagnosed with my cancer in November of 2016. I didn’t ignore my symptoms per se, it’s more a case of not knowing what we were really up against. Most of my indicators for disease pointed to ulcerative colitis, and in fact that’s what I was initially diagnosed with. It wasn’t until we did a proper colonoscopy that we caught the tumor, which by then had spread to my liver. And, yeah, I did dawdle quite a bit about going to the doctor in the first place. If I had gotten my scope at 50 years of age like I was SUPPOSED to, this would be a much different story. Thus the lesson. Get checked when you are scheduled to. Don’t put it off. Do it.
The first three chapters of “Our Cancer Year” deal mostly with Joyce’s story as an activist. Though both she and Harvey are billed as co-authors, it quickly becomes apparent that this is really Joyce’s tale to tell. And that’s ok. Listen, I’m sure that my wife could write a memoir of the past year and a half that would be more emotional and uncompromising than anything I could write. That difference in perspective is important. So we view that introduction to the book through Joyce’s experiences of activism and travel to dangerous parts of the world, all while Harvey stays home and frets and worries. It’s a good way to introduce Harvey and his mixed bag of neuroses and compulsive habits to the story.
Harvey’s health issues begin to take shape in Chapter Four. The lump in Harvey’s groin has grown and become impossible to ignore. Exploratory surgery is scheduled, which drives Harvey up the wall with worry. There is also an odd subtext in this chapter about dealing with their former friend and handyman, Slim. Slim kind of seems like a dick.
My health finally reached a point where I couldn’t continue the long hours and the long commute back and forth to work every day. My mother passed away in December of 2015, leaving us a portion of her stock funds in her will. That enabled us to pay off our house and cars and credit cards, the plan being that I would see the doctor, get whatever was behind my health problems dealt with, and then find a job close to home with less stress and travel involved. That plan didn’t exactly pan out like we thought that it would. In hindsight, I do think that stress was a big driver for my disease process. My old boss was a big swinging dick.
The big cancer diagnosis bomb drops on Harvey and Joyce in Chapter Five. Fortunately, Harvey’s cancer is a type of lymphoma that can be treated and has a high rate of survival. Better yet, the cancer was encapsulated, so Harvey’s surgeon removes the mass during the exploratory surgery. But Harvey will still have to undergo chemotherapy and radiation treatments to make sure that the disease has been fully eliminated.
No such luck with me. My gastroenterologist called me with the bad news the week after I had my colonoscopy. I had a very malignant rectal tumor that had spread to my liver and was beginning to encroach upon my lymph nodes. Then we had to do a serious dance to find insurance coverage so that I could get treatment. From the time that I was diagnosed to the time that we actually began treatments was close to two full months. I was in a lot of pain for that time period…..I’ll leave it at that.
Harvey and Joyce meet their oncologist and begin chemo in Chapter Six. It’s a pretty realistic interpretation of what happens when one is faced with deciding on how best to attack a cancer treatment schedule. Fortunately, Harvey and Joyce meet with a good doctor who explains the process and options clearly.
I cannot stress enough the value of developing a strong relationship with your primary care physicians if you are ever faced with something like this. I have been lucky enough to find great rapport locally with a care team that I trust and can clearly communicate with. When I was initially diagnosed I was given between four and six months to live without treatment. With treatment my life expectancy could jump as high as five years and then some. We obviously chose to treat…….
Harvey chooses a harsh 12-week program of chemotherapy that is really, REALLY hard on the body. Chapter Seven documents him losing his hair and going through terrible periods of weakness and nausea. You also begin to get a sense of what a primary caregiver like Joyce has to go through when dealing with a stubborn and neurotic patient and partner like Harvey. To be fair, Joyce has her own unique set of neurotic and obsessive behaviors to work around, but don’t we all? It’s a reasonably accurate depiction of what harsh chemicals can do to a human body, though. Chemotherapy can be brutal, and for Harvey it’s a bad, bad trip. Harvey also has to deal with a horrible breakout of shingles as his immune system begins to collapse from his treatment.
My initial treatment was a 12-session chemo program designed to attack the primary tumors. My advantage was that I got to rest for a week between treatments, so my side-effects were mitigated somewhat by the fact that I could take it easy and regain some measure of strength during the off-weeks. My worst side-effect was neuropathy, a numbness in my hands and feet that made me a bit more clumsy when walking or holding things. That has pretty much healed itself now, except for some residual numbness on the front pads of my feet. Chemo works, man…..it really does…..but that shit ain’t no walk in the park.
Chapter Eight is more chemo drama as the stubborn Harvey is told to take a leave of absence from his job and stay home and rest while he completes chemo. He and Joyce must deal with a grumpy chemo nurse and the daily demands of the whole process of dealing with the new “norms” of life. Harvey and Joyce are both stressed and exhausted by this time, and the wear and tear on them as depicted is pretty true to life. It doesn’t help that Harvey is frequently depressed and often plays the victim game with Joyce…..leaving her to pick up the emotional and physical pieces of Harvey as he tries to make sense of the things that are happening to him.
Ummmmmm, yeah. A lot of this rings real, real true. I had my periods, especially early on, where I was a drama llama and just wanted to retreat into myself and fade away. It’s dumb and selfish in hindsight, but it’s very difficult to control one’s emotions when faced with a life-threatening disease. I put my wife and some of the other people who are close to me through hell at this stage of the game. That got better after we got a few weeks into treatment, but I get what Joyce and Harvey are trying to communicate here.
In Chapter Nine Harvey goes into the hospital and deals with a new medication that leaves him disoriented and unable to cope with reality. He gets a bad hospital doctor who seems indifferent to his case. Joyce reaches a breaking point. It’s a tough chapter to read.
By this point in treatment I was actually very stable. My side-effects were few and other than being tired a lot, we mostly just meandered through. We had a LOT of support and help available to us, though. I cannot stress how important that is.
By Chapter Ten Joyce and Harvey get some much-needed help from a psychiatrist and a home-health aide who comes in to take care of Harvey’s daily needs while Joyce rests and recovers from her own bouts with depression and physical exertion and illness. Radiation begins once the chemo portion of the treatment is over.
I had a 35-session round of radiation a few weeks after my chemo was done. This included ANOTHER session of daily chemo designed to “soften” the tumor and make the radiation more effective. I was again lucky in that I had few side effects to the radiation other than the skin burns right around the primary radiation sites. It was described to me that it would feel like a bad sunburn. Yeah, if you got a sunburn from actually STANDING ON THE SUN. Not gonna lie, that shit hurt.
Chapter Eleven is a wrap as Harvey and Joyce welcome some of Joyce’s young activists into their home and the after-care healing process begins in earnest. We say goodbye as Harvey and one of the youngsters visit a waterfall near Harvey and Joyce’s home. It’s a serene setting after all of the wrenching drama that has come before.
“Our Cancer Year” is part and parcel of the “American Splendor” canon, although it is obviously set apart from it as well. You either dig this sort of “real-life” comic-book thing or you don’t. I’ve never encountered much middle-ground where Pekar and “American Splendor” are concerned. Personally, I always admired the neurotic obsession that led Harvey to chronicle his life to such excruciating detail. We all have stories to tell, and the fact that Harvey got to tell his is still a victory for the Everyman in my book. Frank Stack’s artwork seems to polarize people a bit where this book is concerned. His artwork is disruptive and somewhat sloppy, but it also fits the narrative. Cancer is disruptive and sloppy, an unwelcome visitor that can change our perceptions of what is “normal” in a heartbeat. I simply saw the art for what it was, one man’s outsider depiction of the transformative effects of a life-changing disease….with all of the confusion and rushed details left intact.
I’m done for now with my major treatments. I had five surgeries on my liver to deliver radioactive pellets to my tumor sites. I’ll have a PET scan soon to determine how effective that was, and we will map out a maintenance regimen of treatment from that point. I will have to live with cancer for the rest of my life, as liver cancer is not yet completely curable. The hope is that we have knocked it back far enough that I can gain a number of relatively healthy years to come before the disease once again progresses. New treatments in development provide hope that we may still beat it completely at some point, but quite honestly I am happy to have been given this extra life...this extra time to keep going. I hope you have been rewarded if you had the patience to read this far. Harvey and Joyce’s story resonated with me. I hope our shared stories will resonate with you.
Harvey Pekar was, of course, a real person. A file clerk living in Cleveland, he documented his life through the pages of an underground comic book titled “American Splendor.” You can get all of the details of his life easily enough. His Wikipedia article is actually pretty accurate, so I’m just going to link you to that if you need to know more about him. Harvey died in 2010.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_...
Harvey (yes, we are on a first-name basis now) was living with his third wife, Joyce Brabner, when “Our Cancer Year” was released. Joyce is still with us. Joyce has been a peace activist and writer for most of her career. She also has a decently detailed Wiki page, so if you need to know more, here you go…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyce_B...
In 1990, Joyce and Harvey were in a whirlwind of activity. Joyce was busy travelling with a group of youth activists from war-torn countries, and at the same time she and Harvey were preparing to move out of their cramped apartment and become homeowners for the first time. Harvey also has a swelling in his groin that he has tried very hard to ignore.
I was diagnosed with my cancer in November of 2016. I didn’t ignore my symptoms per se, it’s more a case of not knowing what we were really up against. Most of my indicators for disease pointed to ulcerative colitis, and in fact that’s what I was initially diagnosed with. It wasn’t until we did a proper colonoscopy that we caught the tumor, which by then had spread to my liver. And, yeah, I did dawdle quite a bit about going to the doctor in the first place. If I had gotten my scope at 50 years of age like I was SUPPOSED to, this would be a much different story. Thus the lesson. Get checked when you are scheduled to. Don’t put it off. Do it.
The first three chapters of “Our Cancer Year” deal mostly with Joyce’s story as an activist. Though both she and Harvey are billed as co-authors, it quickly becomes apparent that this is really Joyce’s tale to tell. And that’s ok. Listen, I’m sure that my wife could write a memoir of the past year and a half that would be more emotional and uncompromising than anything I could write. That difference in perspective is important. So we view that introduction to the book through Joyce’s experiences of activism and travel to dangerous parts of the world, all while Harvey stays home and frets and worries. It’s a good way to introduce Harvey and his mixed bag of neuroses and compulsive habits to the story.
Harvey’s health issues begin to take shape in Chapter Four. The lump in Harvey’s groin has grown and become impossible to ignore. Exploratory surgery is scheduled, which drives Harvey up the wall with worry. There is also an odd subtext in this chapter about dealing with their former friend and handyman, Slim. Slim kind of seems like a dick.
My health finally reached a point where I couldn’t continue the long hours and the long commute back and forth to work every day. My mother passed away in December of 2015, leaving us a portion of her stock funds in her will. That enabled us to pay off our house and cars and credit cards, the plan being that I would see the doctor, get whatever was behind my health problems dealt with, and then find a job close to home with less stress and travel involved. That plan didn’t exactly pan out like we thought that it would. In hindsight, I do think that stress was a big driver for my disease process. My old boss was a big swinging dick.
The big cancer diagnosis bomb drops on Harvey and Joyce in Chapter Five. Fortunately, Harvey’s cancer is a type of lymphoma that can be treated and has a high rate of survival. Better yet, the cancer was encapsulated, so Harvey’s surgeon removes the mass during the exploratory surgery. But Harvey will still have to undergo chemotherapy and radiation treatments to make sure that the disease has been fully eliminated.
No such luck with me. My gastroenterologist called me with the bad news the week after I had my colonoscopy. I had a very malignant rectal tumor that had spread to my liver and was beginning to encroach upon my lymph nodes. Then we had to do a serious dance to find insurance coverage so that I could get treatment. From the time that I was diagnosed to the time that we actually began treatments was close to two full months. I was in a lot of pain for that time period…..I’ll leave it at that.
Harvey and Joyce meet their oncologist and begin chemo in Chapter Six. It’s a pretty realistic interpretation of what happens when one is faced with deciding on how best to attack a cancer treatment schedule. Fortunately, Harvey and Joyce meet with a good doctor who explains the process and options clearly.
I cannot stress enough the value of developing a strong relationship with your primary care physicians if you are ever faced with something like this. I have been lucky enough to find great rapport locally with a care team that I trust and can clearly communicate with. When I was initially diagnosed I was given between four and six months to live without treatment. With treatment my life expectancy could jump as high as five years and then some. We obviously chose to treat…….
Harvey chooses a harsh 12-week program of chemotherapy that is really, REALLY hard on the body. Chapter Seven documents him losing his hair and going through terrible periods of weakness and nausea. You also begin to get a sense of what a primary caregiver like Joyce has to go through when dealing with a stubborn and neurotic patient and partner like Harvey. To be fair, Joyce has her own unique set of neurotic and obsessive behaviors to work around, but don’t we all? It’s a reasonably accurate depiction of what harsh chemicals can do to a human body, though. Chemotherapy can be brutal, and for Harvey it’s a bad, bad trip. Harvey also has to deal with a horrible breakout of shingles as his immune system begins to collapse from his treatment.
My initial treatment was a 12-session chemo program designed to attack the primary tumors. My advantage was that I got to rest for a week between treatments, so my side-effects were mitigated somewhat by the fact that I could take it easy and regain some measure of strength during the off-weeks. My worst side-effect was neuropathy, a numbness in my hands and feet that made me a bit more clumsy when walking or holding things. That has pretty much healed itself now, except for some residual numbness on the front pads of my feet. Chemo works, man…..it really does…..but that shit ain’t no walk in the park.
Chapter Eight is more chemo drama as the stubborn Harvey is told to take a leave of absence from his job and stay home and rest while he completes chemo. He and Joyce must deal with a grumpy chemo nurse and the daily demands of the whole process of dealing with the new “norms” of life. Harvey and Joyce are both stressed and exhausted by this time, and the wear and tear on them as depicted is pretty true to life. It doesn’t help that Harvey is frequently depressed and often plays the victim game with Joyce…..leaving her to pick up the emotional and physical pieces of Harvey as he tries to make sense of the things that are happening to him.
Ummmmmm, yeah. A lot of this rings real, real true. I had my periods, especially early on, where I was a drama llama and just wanted to retreat into myself and fade away. It’s dumb and selfish in hindsight, but it’s very difficult to control one’s emotions when faced with a life-threatening disease. I put my wife and some of the other people who are close to me through hell at this stage of the game. That got better after we got a few weeks into treatment, but I get what Joyce and Harvey are trying to communicate here.
In Chapter Nine Harvey goes into the hospital and deals with a new medication that leaves him disoriented and unable to cope with reality. He gets a bad hospital doctor who seems indifferent to his case. Joyce reaches a breaking point. It’s a tough chapter to read.
By this point in treatment I was actually very stable. My side-effects were few and other than being tired a lot, we mostly just meandered through. We had a LOT of support and help available to us, though. I cannot stress how important that is.
By Chapter Ten Joyce and Harvey get some much-needed help from a psychiatrist and a home-health aide who comes in to take care of Harvey’s daily needs while Joyce rests and recovers from her own bouts with depression and physical exertion and illness. Radiation begins once the chemo portion of the treatment is over.
I had a 35-session round of radiation a few weeks after my chemo was done. This included ANOTHER session of daily chemo designed to “soften” the tumor and make the radiation more effective. I was again lucky in that I had few side effects to the radiation other than the skin burns right around the primary radiation sites. It was described to me that it would feel like a bad sunburn. Yeah, if you got a sunburn from actually STANDING ON THE SUN. Not gonna lie, that shit hurt.
Chapter Eleven is a wrap as Harvey and Joyce welcome some of Joyce’s young activists into their home and the after-care healing process begins in earnest. We say goodbye as Harvey and one of the youngsters visit a waterfall near Harvey and Joyce’s home. It’s a serene setting after all of the wrenching drama that has come before.
“Our Cancer Year” is part and parcel of the “American Splendor” canon, although it is obviously set apart from it as well. You either dig this sort of “real-life” comic-book thing or you don’t. I’ve never encountered much middle-ground where Pekar and “American Splendor” are concerned. Personally, I always admired the neurotic obsession that led Harvey to chronicle his life to such excruciating detail. We all have stories to tell, and the fact that Harvey got to tell his is still a victory for the Everyman in my book. Frank Stack’s artwork seems to polarize people a bit where this book is concerned. His artwork is disruptive and somewhat sloppy, but it also fits the narrative. Cancer is disruptive and sloppy, an unwelcome visitor that can change our perceptions of what is “normal” in a heartbeat. I simply saw the art for what it was, one man’s outsider depiction of the transformative effects of a life-changing disease….with all of the confusion and rushed details left intact.
I’m done for now with my major treatments. I had five surgeries on my liver to deliver radioactive pellets to my tumor sites. I’ll have a PET scan soon to determine how effective that was, and we will map out a maintenance regimen of treatment from that point. I will have to live with cancer for the rest of my life, as liver cancer is not yet completely curable. The hope is that we have knocked it back far enough that I can gain a number of relatively healthy years to come before the disease once again progresses. New treatments in development provide hope that we may still beat it completely at some point, but quite honestly I am happy to have been given this extra life...this extra time to keep going. I hope you have been rewarded if you had the patience to read this far. Harvey and Joyce’s story resonated with me. I hope our shared stories will resonate with you.
January 21, 2013
BOTH OUR CANCER YEARS
I have been neck-high into the medical establishment since my leukemia diagnosis in November 2009. Consequently, while I do not consider myself an expert of the establishment by any stretch of the imagination, I do believe that I am far too acutely aware of it. But, I guess that is to be expected from someone as critically dependent upon it as I am.
In addition to my practical experiences with hospitals and doctors and examinations and extremely long needles, I have also spent much time reading about the establishment, especially that aspect of it which relates to the treatments of leukemia and chronic graft versus host disease (cGVHD) of the lungs.
Most of my medical-related reading has been as research conducted on the internet.
Thank god for the internet. I am one of those annoying types who like to be knowledgeable enough about something to make me, if not dangerous (which it just may), then certainly annoying.
I’ve come to find out over the past three years that doctors are a lot of fun to annoy.
While there are probably more books about cancer out there stalking, I mean, stocking the shelves than there are cancerous cells, I don’t recall ever reading any of them.
I don’t know why. Maybe because they all seemed too sanitary or too personal or too impersonal or too whiney or too who knows what.
I didn’t so I just left them all alone; that it, until I learned that the legendary Harvey Pekar had his own version of a cancer story to tell.
Pekar, who died recently, is famous for his graphic novel series AMERICAN SPLENDOR, in which he chronicles his life as a VA Hospital file clerk in Cleveland, Ohio. It doesn’t sound like much to work with — Cleveland, file clerk, VA Hospital — but somehow it has endured through the years and was even turned into a flick starring the always spot-on Paul Giamatti as Pekar.
In 1990, Pekar was diagnosed with and treated for Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. Four years after surviving through that experience, he collaborated with his wife Joyce Brabner to publish a new graphic novel called OUR CANCER YEAR.
OUR CANCER YEAR is a gritty, honest and, sometimes, horrific portrayal of what life was like for him and his wife while battling the disease.
But it is about more than just his experience with cancer. Pekar’s wife is also a comic book writer who focuses her work on peace projects. Through her efforts, we are provided side story glimpses about Operation Desert Shield and her work with teenage peace activists. And, because they had recently purchased a home at the time of his diagnosis, we also have the added stress that comes with buying a home on top of everything else that is happening to them.
I found the book interesting because Pekar really was able to bring out the hope and heartache and stress and pain that one, and one’s loved ones, must endure throughout the entire cancer experience, from first finding out about the disease, to all the damage that the chemotherapy treatment does to the body, to the overwhelming toll it takes on those closest to the cancer patient trying to care for him. It was also interesting to me to compare how he managed to cope with the disease versus how I tried to manage.
Let’s just say he is a glass half empty kind of guy. While I typically am too, I never felt as down about the disease as he apparently did.
While Pekar and I had many similar experiences battling our respective cancers, we also had many differences. One of the most significant differences was a painful experience that he had to go through that I never did (at least not yet–knock on wood). Pekar contracted Herpes Zoster, also known as Shingles. For some reason, Shingles are a big threat to chemotherapy patients. Thankfully, my doctors were very aggressive about it and put me on an antiviral drug called Valtrex as a preventative measure, and which I will probably take for the rest of my life. Pekar also suffered much worse hallucinations and anxiety than I did as an effect from all the drugs cancer patients typically have to take.
While most of what you need to know about the medical establishment in general and cancer in particular can be found on the internet, some things can’t. In my perspective, if you really want to get telling insight into the hardships that come with having cancer you either need to experience it yourself first-hand, which I emphatically do not recommend, or you need to experience it in a less graphic but completely realistic and touching way, like reading Pekar’s graphic novel OUR CANCER YEAR.
This review first appeared at bojiki.com
I have been neck-high into the medical establishment since my leukemia diagnosis in November 2009. Consequently, while I do not consider myself an expert of the establishment by any stretch of the imagination, I do believe that I am far too acutely aware of it. But, I guess that is to be expected from someone as critically dependent upon it as I am.
In addition to my practical experiences with hospitals and doctors and examinations and extremely long needles, I have also spent much time reading about the establishment, especially that aspect of it which relates to the treatments of leukemia and chronic graft versus host disease (cGVHD) of the lungs.
Most of my medical-related reading has been as research conducted on the internet.
Thank god for the internet. I am one of those annoying types who like to be knowledgeable enough about something to make me, if not dangerous (which it just may), then certainly annoying.
I’ve come to find out over the past three years that doctors are a lot of fun to annoy.
While there are probably more books about cancer out there stalking, I mean, stocking the shelves than there are cancerous cells, I don’t recall ever reading any of them.
I don’t know why. Maybe because they all seemed too sanitary or too personal or too impersonal or too whiney or too who knows what.
I didn’t so I just left them all alone; that it, until I learned that the legendary Harvey Pekar had his own version of a cancer story to tell.
Pekar, who died recently, is famous for his graphic novel series AMERICAN SPLENDOR, in which he chronicles his life as a VA Hospital file clerk in Cleveland, Ohio. It doesn’t sound like much to work with — Cleveland, file clerk, VA Hospital — but somehow it has endured through the years and was even turned into a flick starring the always spot-on Paul Giamatti as Pekar.
In 1990, Pekar was diagnosed with and treated for Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. Four years after surviving through that experience, he collaborated with his wife Joyce Brabner to publish a new graphic novel called OUR CANCER YEAR.
OUR CANCER YEAR is a gritty, honest and, sometimes, horrific portrayal of what life was like for him and his wife while battling the disease.
But it is about more than just his experience with cancer. Pekar’s wife is also a comic book writer who focuses her work on peace projects. Through her efforts, we are provided side story glimpses about Operation Desert Shield and her work with teenage peace activists. And, because they had recently purchased a home at the time of his diagnosis, we also have the added stress that comes with buying a home on top of everything else that is happening to them.
I found the book interesting because Pekar really was able to bring out the hope and heartache and stress and pain that one, and one’s loved ones, must endure throughout the entire cancer experience, from first finding out about the disease, to all the damage that the chemotherapy treatment does to the body, to the overwhelming toll it takes on those closest to the cancer patient trying to care for him. It was also interesting to me to compare how he managed to cope with the disease versus how I tried to manage.
Let’s just say he is a glass half empty kind of guy. While I typically am too, I never felt as down about the disease as he apparently did.
While Pekar and I had many similar experiences battling our respective cancers, we also had many differences. One of the most significant differences was a painful experience that he had to go through that I never did (at least not yet–knock on wood). Pekar contracted Herpes Zoster, also known as Shingles. For some reason, Shingles are a big threat to chemotherapy patients. Thankfully, my doctors were very aggressive about it and put me on an antiviral drug called Valtrex as a preventative measure, and which I will probably take for the rest of my life. Pekar also suffered much worse hallucinations and anxiety than I did as an effect from all the drugs cancer patients typically have to take.
While most of what you need to know about the medical establishment in general and cancer in particular can be found on the internet, some things can’t. In my perspective, if you really want to get telling insight into the hardships that come with having cancer you either need to experience it yourself first-hand, which I emphatically do not recommend, or you need to experience it in a less graphic but completely realistic and touching way, like reading Pekar’s graphic novel OUR CANCER YEAR.
This review first appeared at bojiki.com
September 14, 2022
Argh. I, like everyone else, loved the American Splendor movie. I've also enjoyed some of the comic series too. But this was pretty painful to sit through. There were too many diversions from the main story that seemed pointless.
The book states that it chronicles the "Kafkaesque absurdities of an ordinary life". This book takes itself too seriously. It thinks its more important than it is; and it derives its importance from being a boring, literal diary of his daily life. It doesn't attempt to provide any sort of meta commentary. I can experience my own life, and those of the people close to me, I don't need to experience Pekar's life too; especially considering he hasn't had an extraordinary life.
The book states that it chronicles the "Kafkaesque absurdities of an ordinary life". This book takes itself too seriously. It thinks its more important than it is; and it derives its importance from being a boring, literal diary of his daily life. It doesn't attempt to provide any sort of meta commentary. I can experience my own life, and those of the people close to me, I don't need to experience Pekar's life too; especially considering he hasn't had an extraordinary life.
February 18, 2021
Paul Giamatt was first class in the American Splendor movie, and I much enjoyed this really impressive work by the late and great Harvey Pekar.
December 16, 2020
Could have been worth three stars but it disappointed me so much I can't give it more than two. I've read a few American Splendor collections and this felt like an amateurish attempt to mimic those books. The worst part is the art. It's poorly composed, unattractive, sketchy, and capriciously inconsistent in every way: line weights and styles, shading techniques, page layouts, amount of detail. And there are a few spots, very few, where the artist busts out the Ben Day dots and lines I guess because he was sick of hatching by hand? Who knows?? The inconsistency extends to the lettering... letter sizes, line spacing, balloon shapes.
And no, it wasn't intentional, or not obviously so. When they have a narrative purpose style variations can be awesome! In this book it just looks like it's from a lack of care or shortness of time.
The writing was also a disappointment. I like Pekar's voice in his comics, often curmudgeonly, but also witty and sharply observant. This book doesn't have much of his voice, though, and it's not as engaging. Too often the narration gets lazy, it "tells" instead of "shows".
The art and writing together conspire to create a lot of confusing scene transitions and moments where it's unclear which character is talking.
Despite all the problems there are some good moments and the cancer arc is affecting. The house arc is ok, then it's abandoned. The arc with Joyce's international teenage friends needs editing, shaping, sharpening.
And no, it wasn't intentional, or not obviously so. When they have a narrative purpose style variations can be awesome! In this book it just looks like it's from a lack of care or shortness of time.
The writing was also a disappointment. I like Pekar's voice in his comics, often curmudgeonly, but also witty and sharply observant. This book doesn't have much of his voice, though, and it's not as engaging. Too often the narration gets lazy, it "tells" instead of "shows".
The art and writing together conspire to create a lot of confusing scene transitions and moments where it's unclear which character is talking.
Despite all the problems there are some good moments and the cancer arc is affecting. The house arc is ok, then it's abandoned. The arc with Joyce's international teenage friends needs editing, shaping, sharpening.
June 11, 2019
To start, i am a huge fan of American Splendor and have read much of Pekar's work. I enjoy most of it and this was no exception, but it is definitely uneven. This was written by both Harvey and his wife Joyce, and unfortunately it is obvious who wrote which parts. Joyce is just not as good of a writer as Harvey and the sections written be her felt almost like a chore to get through. Joyce writes about her trips to Israel and communications with war refugees but there is really no point or climax to those stories, and they take away from the focus of the book, which is Harvey Pekar.
Another major issue i had with the book was the art style. Now i am not gifted in the ways of the pencil myself but i found the artist to be just bad in this book. Unlike other American Splendor comics whjch are drawn by multiple artists, this entire book is drawn by Frank Stack. I know very little about this artist, but the art in this book seemed very amateurish and rushed. I would of preferred Gary Dumm or really anyone else. Some pages it is hard to make out what is actually happening in the pictures.
This book is not bad, but i would only recommend it to die hard American Splendor fans. If you are new to Harvey Pekar, read the American Splendor anthologies first, and if you have read those, read Our Movie Year before this
Another major issue i had with the book was the art style. Now i am not gifted in the ways of the pencil myself but i found the artist to be just bad in this book. Unlike other American Splendor comics whjch are drawn by multiple artists, this entire book is drawn by Frank Stack. I know very little about this artist, but the art in this book seemed very amateurish and rushed. I would of preferred Gary Dumm or really anyone else. Some pages it is hard to make out what is actually happening in the pictures.
This book is not bad, but i would only recommend it to die hard American Splendor fans. If you are new to Harvey Pekar, read the American Splendor anthologies first, and if you have read those, read Our Movie Year before this
July 13, 2018
The 11 or so chapters of Our Cancer Year are best read with space in between, as lived. Frank Stack is such a great collaborating artist for Harvey and Joyce.
It must be said, the creators survived this cancer year. I love this book.
Highest recommendation.
It must be said, the creators survived this cancer year. I love this book.
Highest recommendation.
November 6, 2018
Our Cancer Year starts with a marital squabble between Harvey and Joyce whether to buy a house or not. Joyce wants to own a house, but Harvey thinks it’s too expensive and he does not like change. Eventually, he agrees, because as a man he feels he has to take care of his wife. He decides to do a big part of the move himself. While carrying boxes of books and records he falls ill and is rushed to the hospital. In the hospital, they discover he has cancer. They operate him to remove the cancer, which goes well. The real challenge starts after the operation when they decide to give Harvey chemotherapy to make sure the cancer does not come back. The chemotherapy consists of twelve weekly instalments. During the treatment, Harvey is adamant to keep working for as long as possible during the treatment because he is the kind of guy that only feels at ease when he has a stable job and provides for his wife. Not that Joyce needs him to provide for her though: she is a writer of journalistic comic books and is very independent. The book she is working on prior to Harvey’s illness is one about teenagers who have survived the horrors of war. These children are from all over the world and Joyce travels the world to see them and to bring the teenagers in contact with each other. Our Cancer Year is both about Harvey’s illness and Joyce contact with the teenagers.
(...)
This book asks me an interesting question regarding autobiographical books: how do you decide what to show out of your own life? Especially in this case, in which they intended to write a book about their experience prior to going through all the treatments. For Harvey, it must have been a natural decision to chronicle his cancer year because all of his previous work was autobiographical. It does, however, bring people in a strange situation where they see everything that happens to them as a potential story. This makes me wonder how that allows them to deal with important things in their life. If you look at everything with the eyes of a potential audience, to which extent can you still call your life your own? Real life events make good stories, but it also feels a bit voyeuristic to get so many intimate details of someone’s life. It is as if we as readers enjoy things we should not even know about. In this case, it was Harvey’s own decision to share though because he wrote the book himself. He even went so far as to let the illustrator Frank Stack live with them to better portray their ‘Cancer year’. Still, one can wonder whether he would have been able to go through cancer in private if he had wanted to.
(...)
The strength of Harvey Pekar and his books is that he talks about ordinary life and ordinary people and makes it interesting. He also never had the ambition to tell a different kind of story, because he thought there is enough importance and interest in a normal life. His stories become even more interesting because he writes with wit, cynicism and a good deal of dark humour. The best part of this book though is the focus on love. Not in the grand sweeping-off-your-feet kind of way, but about the long-term love of people who know each other and still care for each other. Harvey and Joyce do not hide their faults but they use them to tell a great story. Harvey has managed to turn his grumpy and down-on-his-luck attitude into art for all of us to enjoy. This book is an anthem for normalcy and a cry to appreciate ordinary life full of all the fascinating people you meet and the joy of long-term relationships and friendships.
This is only part of the review. Read the full review at Bookworms United
(...)
This book asks me an interesting question regarding autobiographical books: how do you decide what to show out of your own life? Especially in this case, in which they intended to write a book about their experience prior to going through all the treatments. For Harvey, it must have been a natural decision to chronicle his cancer year because all of his previous work was autobiographical. It does, however, bring people in a strange situation where they see everything that happens to them as a potential story. This makes me wonder how that allows them to deal with important things in their life. If you look at everything with the eyes of a potential audience, to which extent can you still call your life your own? Real life events make good stories, but it also feels a bit voyeuristic to get so many intimate details of someone’s life. It is as if we as readers enjoy things we should not even know about. In this case, it was Harvey’s own decision to share though because he wrote the book himself. He even went so far as to let the illustrator Frank Stack live with them to better portray their ‘Cancer year’. Still, one can wonder whether he would have been able to go through cancer in private if he had wanted to.
(...)
The strength of Harvey Pekar and his books is that he talks about ordinary life and ordinary people and makes it interesting. He also never had the ambition to tell a different kind of story, because he thought there is enough importance and interest in a normal life. His stories become even more interesting because he writes with wit, cynicism and a good deal of dark humour. The best part of this book though is the focus on love. Not in the grand sweeping-off-your-feet kind of way, but about the long-term love of people who know each other and still care for each other. Harvey and Joyce do not hide their faults but they use them to tell a great story. Harvey has managed to turn his grumpy and down-on-his-luck attitude into art for all of us to enjoy. This book is an anthem for normalcy and a cry to appreciate ordinary life full of all the fascinating people you meet and the joy of long-term relationships and friendships.
This is only part of the review. Read the full review at Bookworms United
September 29, 2021
Our Cancer Year is an autobiographical graphic novel about Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner. The book is about the year that Harvey got cancer. It shows the difficult and heartfelt moments of the year. I liked non-fiction graphic novels because they convey emotion in me easier. The art is okay.
May 11, 2020
Probably Pekar's greatest work, though it's just as much a work of Brabner and Stack.
January 23, 2022
Powerful stuff.
January 12, 2025
Touching and personable.
Read
January 28, 2019Another classic Harvey Pekar, although with the heavy input of his wife, Joyce Brabner -- you get both of their perspectives, which is something you don't see much of. Anyone who's ever had to deal with a life-threatening illness or had a member of their immediate family deal with a life-threatening illness knows these rhythms. The little white lies everyone tells to each other, the constant negotiations with doctors, the reminders that you're feeling "reassured" (even when you're not), the absolute annoyance of input from well-meaning third parties. And it's all set against the backdrop of the Gulf War, which somehow contributes to the impact, but you're not sure why. One of Pekar's best.
January 20, 2012
Our Cancer Year is written by the American everyman comic artist, Harvey Pekar, and Joyce Brabner, his wife. He’s the author of American Splendor, an ascerbic, tell-it-like-it-is series of comics that chronicle the life of the lower middle class.
Our Cancer Year picks up right from the American Splendor series, and in fact, feels like it could be an entry in the series, except that Brabner plays a major authorial and narrative role in the comic. The same Pekar bluntness is there, but with a healthy dose of outside perspective that Splendor lacks, presumably brought by Brabner. Still, it’s similar enough that if you know whether you like American Splendor, you’ll know whether you’ll like this book as well.
This book is a dark, but accurate-feeling chronicle of what it’s like to go through cancer treatment. Pekar is not easy to get along with, and as the subject of the cancer, much of the book is concerned with his turbulent relationship with his doctors, nurses, coworkers, and even his wife. Pekar does not want to let cancer rule his life, and he alternates between denial and despair, a situation that clearly wears on the other people in him. But Pekar is fascinating because he is flawed. The reader is sometimes frustrated with Pekar, because Pekar is not always likeable, but there is also an affinity between the reader and Pekar. It’s a mysterious combination, but a powerful one.
The book isn’t easy to read, but it is worth it.
Our Cancer Year picks up right from the American Splendor series, and in fact, feels like it could be an entry in the series, except that Brabner plays a major authorial and narrative role in the comic. The same Pekar bluntness is there, but with a healthy dose of outside perspective that Splendor lacks, presumably brought by Brabner. Still, it’s similar enough that if you know whether you like American Splendor, you’ll know whether you’ll like this book as well.
This book is a dark, but accurate-feeling chronicle of what it’s like to go through cancer treatment. Pekar is not easy to get along with, and as the subject of the cancer, much of the book is concerned with his turbulent relationship with his doctors, nurses, coworkers, and even his wife. Pekar does not want to let cancer rule his life, and he alternates between denial and despair, a situation that clearly wears on the other people in him. But Pekar is fascinating because he is flawed. The reader is sometimes frustrated with Pekar, because Pekar is not always likeable, but there is also an affinity between the reader and Pekar. It’s a mysterious combination, but a powerful one.
The book isn’t easy to read, but it is worth it.
October 29, 2008
I am not a member of the "It's a graphic novel not a comic book" club. That being said, this is a graphic novel worth reading. Harvey and Joyce chronicle their ordeals in and out of cancer catastrophes and real life events in such a way that render the text and the images as two distinct tales. There isn't anything that makes cancer easier in the grand scope of things. The authors don't mask the ugly or the beautiful. They show life as it is, and their honesty it what is so remarkable.
December 12, 2010
Very realistic, story in graphic form of Harvey Pekar's battle with cancer and other events in the life of he and his wife, Joyce Brabner. Brings you back to the era of the early 1990's, with a back drop of the 1st Iraq war. The art work is well done, giving the reader a sense of emotions and trauma. It also brings back memories of life in Cleveland since it includes many interesting landmarks such as Tommy's restaurant and Chagrin Falls.
November 16, 2023
4/14/09: This is a a comic about cancer! A sad book with an abrupt ending.
6/2/23: I don't know why I only gave this book three stars last time. It has it all: medical drama, politics, war, religion, feminism... and outdated references to "computer mail."
6/2/23: I don't know why I only gave this book three stars last time. It has it all: medical drama, politics, war, religion, feminism... and outdated references to "computer mail."
May 31, 2017
Probably Pekars masterpiece. Totally moving - anyone whose seen a family member or friend suffer or survive cancer or any other terminal illness will relate. Frank Stacks art is so messy and expressionistic and makes its personal stamp to the American Splendor world.
September 28, 2023
Our Cancer Year is another in a long line of Harvey Pekar's autobiographical line of comics. While it is not branded as an American Splendor comic it is very similar in feel and tone. This time he co-writes with his wife Joyce Brabner. It's more of a shared vision than your standard Harvey Pekar story starring Our Man.
Harvey is something of a worry wart who also tends to put things off. He notices a lump on his left groin but ignores it. It starts growing and after his wife continually nags him to get it checked out, he does. Harvey is diagnosed with lymphoma. While they are able to remove it all he still has to go through chemotherapy and radiation treatment. It is during this time that things get really rough for him. Harvey has always been very self-reliant, and to put himself at the mercy of others is a humbling experience. I can't imagine anyone taking something like that well. He gets really down and almost throws in the towel a number of times. Joyce tries to keep him going but the situation becomes almost as rough on her as it is for Harvey, albeit it in a different way.
This story took place in 1990-91, with the events leading up to and including Operation Desert Storm being a secondary story as well as Harvey dealing with Joyce and her overseas volunteer work. Another facet of the story is the introduction and implementation of computers into daily life. Joyce uses a very primitive Internet to communicate with her friends overseas. Harvey wants nothing to do with it until he realizes he has to use it to communicate with her while she's away on her volunteer work.
Harvey is stubborn and keeps trying to work even though he is still on the mend. When he finally does return to work he finds that his job has been filled and that he now has to learn how to use computers. I was in my late teens when the events in this book occurred. I remember the invasion of Kuwait and the beginning of Operation Desert Storm. I also remember the primitive high school computers with the two tone green screen and 5 inch floppy disk drives. Computers were pretty useless and uninteresting back then. Harvey Pekar and I both discovered in the coming years that the world was about to change forever.
Our Cancer Year is a testament to stubbornness and overcoming impossible odds. Pekar continues to inspire many of us, even when he isn't trying to.
Harvey is something of a worry wart who also tends to put things off. He notices a lump on his left groin but ignores it. It starts growing and after his wife continually nags him to get it checked out, he does. Harvey is diagnosed with lymphoma. While they are able to remove it all he still has to go through chemotherapy and radiation treatment. It is during this time that things get really rough for him. Harvey has always been very self-reliant, and to put himself at the mercy of others is a humbling experience. I can't imagine anyone taking something like that well. He gets really down and almost throws in the towel a number of times. Joyce tries to keep him going but the situation becomes almost as rough on her as it is for Harvey, albeit it in a different way.
This story took place in 1990-91, with the events leading up to and including Operation Desert Storm being a secondary story as well as Harvey dealing with Joyce and her overseas volunteer work. Another facet of the story is the introduction and implementation of computers into daily life. Joyce uses a very primitive Internet to communicate with her friends overseas. Harvey wants nothing to do with it until he realizes he has to use it to communicate with her while she's away on her volunteer work.
Harvey is stubborn and keeps trying to work even though he is still on the mend. When he finally does return to work he finds that his job has been filled and that he now has to learn how to use computers. I was in my late teens when the events in this book occurred. I remember the invasion of Kuwait and the beginning of Operation Desert Storm. I also remember the primitive high school computers with the two tone green screen and 5 inch floppy disk drives. Computers were pretty useless and uninteresting back then. Harvey Pekar and I both discovered in the coming years that the world was about to change forever.
Our Cancer Year is a testament to stubbornness and overcoming impossible odds. Pekar continues to inspire many of us, even when he isn't trying to.
March 6, 2021
Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brebner's Our Cancer Year is a powerful personal tragedy entwined with an international tragedy, with a happy ending. The personal tragedy? Cancer, which this graphic novel presents in raw detail.
I started reading this because, having read the original American Splendor series, I wanted to also understand the full-lengh writings of Harvey Pekar. I don't normally read about personal horrors for fun, but Our Cancer Year turned out to be much more and truly moving.
Most of Pekar's writings are cleverly written, and this one is different only in that it's very clever. Start with the title - "our" is there for a reason, because surviving cancer is always the work of many, and because the moment when each of the main actors realizes this can help greatly or make the ordeal much harder. The text is very good, and the main advice is clear and placed where it's needed most, yet leaves the story shine.
But I was very impressed with how this book is also cleverly constructed. Without the other stories, those that do not cover the cancer story but wrap around it until they touch it, I would have probably not finished the book. The gore, the pain, the horror that cancer inflicts of Harvey and Joyce, would have been unbearable. Instead, there are the other stories. There is another tragedy, between two peoples living in the Middle East, which gives a sense of perspective. And there are numerous stories of the common kind, mostly of helping out and being help out, which insert needed hope into the others. The main story -- cancer -- would not have worked without the rest.
Last, the graphics are very good. The style is a bit coarse, but the panels are dynamic and interesting.
I started reading this because, having read the original American Splendor series, I wanted to also understand the full-lengh writings of Harvey Pekar. I don't normally read about personal horrors for fun, but Our Cancer Year turned out to be much more and truly moving.
Most of Pekar's writings are cleverly written, and this one is different only in that it's very clever. Start with the title - "our" is there for a reason, because surviving cancer is always the work of many, and because the moment when each of the main actors realizes this can help greatly or make the ordeal much harder. The text is very good, and the main advice is clear and placed where it's needed most, yet leaves the story shine.
But I was very impressed with how this book is also cleverly constructed. Without the other stories, those that do not cover the cancer story but wrap around it until they touch it, I would have probably not finished the book. The gore, the pain, the horror that cancer inflicts of Harvey and Joyce, would have been unbearable. Instead, there are the other stories. There is another tragedy, between two peoples living in the Middle East, which gives a sense of perspective. And there are numerous stories of the common kind, mostly of helping out and being help out, which insert needed hope into the others. The main story -- cancer -- would not have worked without the rest.
Last, the graphics are very good. The style is a bit coarse, but the panels are dynamic and interesting.
February 28, 2019
The second of 3 very different books about illness I read while recently laid up with an injury, this one gave me a chance to revisit one of my very favorite authors & personalities. A chronic, compulsive curmudgeon, Pekar is also somehow to me the most level-headed & rational protagonist, with an awareness of his own shortcomings, a deep knowledge of literature & music, a distaste for artifice & ornament & an appealingly direct delivery. His autobiographical comic book series chronicled the mundane & entertaining details of his everyday life under the tongue-in-cheek title American Splendor, & this radically lengthy project ups the ante by taking us thru the year he dealt with significantly larger issues: buying a house & battling cancer with the help of his wife (& collaborator here) Joyce Brabner. Her presence is welcome as a counterpoint to Harvey, as his champion when his treatment has him suffering terribly or when decisive action is called for, & as the protagonist in her own subplot involving her work with a youth group from war-torn countries around the world. The art, by Splendor veteran Frank Stack, is a bit sloppy at first glance, but reveals its genius with further immersion. Faces snap into focus when an emotion needs to be accentuated, unimportant details fade away, & the composition & storytelling is first rate. It all adds up to an epic & rewarding journey, & the ending, tho perhaps contrived, contains an enormous amount of authentic humanity & love in a "silent" stretch of wordless images.
May 24, 2024
I'm surprised how much hate for this book there is in the other comments. I thought it was really good.
It's true that it's pretty harrowing and, if you're a neurotic like me, I'd strongly recommend not reading it right before bed. Still, I can't remember reading a long, first-hand account of cancer before (and I've been lucky enough never to see it up close), and watching it happen to someone I already feel like I know somewhat (due to having read the American Splendor series), allowed me to emotionally engage more easily. I found that part of it really interesting.
It's true that this feels like more of a work by Joyce than Harvey but I still found it pretty well written and laid out, and although the Middle East part wasn't as much my thing, it didn't feel like time wasted, especially in the context of the ending.
As for the artwork, it's strange that people seem to think the style chosen is due to the artist not trying harder. I felt that it was completely appropriate to the grim story it was telling, and it reminded me of the artwork on From Hell (which was suitable for the same reason).
Overall, this is a tough read because of how depressing it can be but I found it well worth reading. However, it's by no means an intro to American Splendor so, if you've just seen the film and want to try out the series, I'd recommend American Splendor #17. If you like that, maybe go back to #1 and work your way through.
It's true that it's pretty harrowing and, if you're a neurotic like me, I'd strongly recommend not reading it right before bed. Still, I can't remember reading a long, first-hand account of cancer before (and I've been lucky enough never to see it up close), and watching it happen to someone I already feel like I know somewhat (due to having read the American Splendor series), allowed me to emotionally engage more easily. I found that part of it really interesting.
It's true that this feels like more of a work by Joyce than Harvey but I still found it pretty well written and laid out, and although the Middle East part wasn't as much my thing, it didn't feel like time wasted, especially in the context of the ending.
As for the artwork, it's strange that people seem to think the style chosen is due to the artist not trying harder. I felt that it was completely appropriate to the grim story it was telling, and it reminded me of the artwork on From Hell (which was suitable for the same reason).
Overall, this is a tough read because of how depressing it can be but I found it well worth reading. However, it's by no means an intro to American Splendor so, if you've just seen the film and want to try out the series, I'd recommend American Splendor #17. If you like that, maybe go back to #1 and work your way through.
October 6, 2017
Assumes a considerable amount of context for Pekar and Brabner's lives, and for the complex narratives of Desert Storm. (I wasn't born yet, help me!) Frustrating compartmentalizations of narrative: first Desert Storm and Brabner's SJW, then cancer, then Desert Storm, then SJW... Memoirs are not always art or poetry, I know, yet a few motifs would've helped me string together these storylines better. The baking soda reference seen when describing both Iraqi bombings and cancer treatment clarified themes of illness and decimation immensely. Besides, the visual art in this memoir is beautiful, if not beautifully grotesque. "More images, more symbols!" cried the millennial.
The best moments of this memoir are the depictions of agony--the agony of passion and the agony of despair. Agint's curves stand in stark contrast against all the hatched shading. Reminiscent of Rodin's sketches. Too few of these scenes, I'd say. This memoir is obsessed with the madness of the quotidian, not the sublime reveries and throes of diagnosis and recovery.
The best moments of this memoir are the depictions of agony--the agony of passion and the agony of despair. Agint's curves stand in stark contrast against all the hatched shading. Reminiscent of Rodin's sketches. Too few of these scenes, I'd say. This memoir is obsessed with the madness of the quotidian, not the sublime reveries and throes of diagnosis and recovery.
October 4, 2025
a legend in his own right, going through quite an emotionally heavy ordeal. to watch him transform under circumstances that strip away the very elements that make Harvey Pekar Harvey Pekar is as bracing as it is difficult.
joyce’s role too, and the authenticity she allowed to surface in the fissures of marriage (given such a fundamental crack in its plates), felt refreshing. a kind of openness that suggests trust and partnership. a broader dimension to love beyond what’s otherwise a polish over affection.
i didn’t love joyce’s subplot with her international adventures in the Middle East (though it certainly feels timely). while I understand how the setup ultimately guides the story toward an appropriate ending (Harvey finding community among others who also struggle) it sometimes felt as if joyce’s escapade drifted into Harvey’s narrative rather than standing on its own. then again, the book is called OUR Cancer Year and is authored by both of them, so it’s interesting to see how she frames her parallel ordeal as another kind of year-long struggle in counterpoint to Harvey’s
joyce’s role too, and the authenticity she allowed to surface in the fissures of marriage (given such a fundamental crack in its plates), felt refreshing. a kind of openness that suggests trust and partnership. a broader dimension to love beyond what’s otherwise a polish over affection.
i didn’t love joyce’s subplot with her international adventures in the Middle East (though it certainly feels timely). while I understand how the setup ultimately guides the story toward an appropriate ending (Harvey finding community among others who also struggle) it sometimes felt as if joyce’s escapade drifted into Harvey’s narrative rather than standing on its own. then again, the book is called OUR Cancer Year and is authored by both of them, so it’s interesting to see how she frames her parallel ordeal as another kind of year-long struggle in counterpoint to Harvey’s
April 29, 2019
I was hopeful that I was very going to like this one, since my main complaint about Harvey Pekar's other anthologies I've read is that they seem sort of aimless and meandering. Here, I thought, Harvey will have a real story to build around that will generate narrative momentum.
Well, it sort of works like that, but there are plenty of digressions that don't add up to the sort of more disciplined storytelling I was hoping for. The trying to buy a new house plot and Joyce's reoccurring interactions with activist kids from around the world really detract from the overall narrative. I guess "Our Cancer Year and Also the Year We Emailed Palestinian Kids" doesn't have the same succinct quality as a title.
As always, some very good passages in the book and some very moving moments, but just not the tour de force I was hoping to find.
Well, it sort of works like that, but there are plenty of digressions that don't add up to the sort of more disciplined storytelling I was hoping for. The trying to buy a new house plot and Joyce's reoccurring interactions with activist kids from around the world really detract from the overall narrative. I guess "Our Cancer Year and Also the Year We Emailed Palestinian Kids" doesn't have the same succinct quality as a title.
As always, some very good passages in the book and some very moving moments, but just not the tour de force I was hoping to find.
October 25, 2017
I love Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner so much. For many years, I had wanted to read this book. I'm so glad I found it last week in a nice bookstore. I admire so much how honest, open, imperfect, and, above all these things, human Pekar and Brabner are in this book. I think it is beautiful how Pekar paradoxically feared almost everything at the same time he didn't fear showing how vunerable he was (and how even more vulnerable he became with the cancer treatment). I cried and laughed with this book. However, if you don't know how deal with the pain and the flaws of someone else, maybe this book is not for you.
April 26, 2020
My only problem with this book is the Joyce side. I thought it was very frustrating how selfish she came off in this book. I get that its hard to help someone you love deal with cancer but that fact that she kept spending his money on stupid crap and when she hit him and blamed stuff on him and then she decides shes gonna bring 6 kids to the house while hes home from work? If it was just one or two things she did I'd be more understanding but sheesh. She just seems like a selfish jerk and I had very little interest in her side of the story because of it.
I prefer books written by just Harvey. They're much better.
I prefer books written by just Harvey. They're much better.
July 2, 2017
I loved this, and I don't profess to know anything about comics or graphic novels. But Harvey Pekar's voice, along with that of his wife, Joyce Brabner, is so human, for good reasons and bad, and so sincere, that you can't help but love them.
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