Meeting Mr. Pekar

Readers, you may well know that I have spent a lot of time discussing my boring nature. But if I hadn't been boring, I probably never would have met Harvey Pekar.

Read on...

Comics, I’ve discovered, are amazing things. Not only can they be extraordinary works of art, but they are also historical references, a sign of the times, and most of all, great entertainment.

I have studied comics since I was ten, first being interested in super hero comic books like Spider Man, X-Men, Batman, Superman, etc., then moving on to actual newspaper comic strips like "Get Fuzzy", "Pearls Before Swine" and "Dilbert".

But more recently, I have been studying Cleveland’s own Harvey Pekar, and his American Splendor comic book series. Pekar based Splendor on his own life working at a VA hospital. American Splendor is a very entertaining comic that often mixes comedy with drama, with an end result that everyone can relate to: real life.

I had just seen the American Splendor movie from 2003, which is based on Pekar’s comic books. It was a great film, so not only was I a huge fan of his comics, but now I was an equally huge fan of the movie.

On Friday, March 20, I was wandering around the Cleveland Heights Library, waiting for my sister to come out of a class. I had just borrowed some movies from the library, and was eager to go home and start watching them.

My mom and I were looking at some books for sale, when I heard a voice that was strangely familiar. I looked around and saw a man in a plaid shirt and blue jeans. He was talking to a librarian, who walked up the stairs with him.

“Mom,” I said. “That guy sounds like Harvey Pekar.”

He walked upstairs with the librarian as Mom asked “Really?” She looked up the stairs.

“Is it him?” I asked.

“Yeah, I think it’s him.”

“Really?” I looked up the stairs too. I saw him. I couldn’t believe it. “It’s him, Mom,” I said. “Man, this is insane.”

From then on I was in a sort of a dream world. I couldn’t believe I’d actually seen Harvey Pekar. I didn’t know what to do. I had just seen Harvey Pekar, but never in a million years would I have thought to talk to him until Mom suggested it.

“What?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she said. “Just go introduce yourself. Say ‘Mr. Pekar, my name is Sam Kepp’...you know, just tell him how he has inspired you.”

I sat there stunned. Can I do that? I wondered. Could I actually go up to Harvey Pekar and introduce myself. Is that possible? How would he react?

I must have sat there for 15 minutes, wondering what to do. So many thoughts were floating in my head. My sister came out of the class, my Mom was talking with some people, and I decided to do it. I told my Mom I was headed upstairs, and she gave me a thumbs up.

On the way up the stairs, my legs were shaking, I had this crazy weird feeling in my stomach. Man, I have never been so nervous. Halfway up, my foot fell out of my shoe. That scared me so much that I nearly had a heart attack. I put my foot back in my shoe and continued walking. I made it to the top. Some librarians were looking at me, smiling.

Being nervous must have affected my brain, because librarians had never looked so sinister than at that moment.

I looked around, wondering where he would be by now. He could be anywhere. I kept walking, and there he was, out in the open, standing at a copying machine, talking with another librarian.

Slowly I made my way toward him. God, I was shaking all over. I was like a leaf in a storm.

“Excuse me,” I said.

They both looked at me. I think the librarian expected me to be asking her something, but that was not the case.

“Mr. Pekar?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said.

“Um, my name is Sam Kepp,” I said. He stuck his hand out and I shook it. “I’m an aspiring cartoonist, and I just wanted to say how much your work has inspired me, and wanted to thank you for your comics.”

“Oh,” he said. “Thank you, I appreciate that.”

And then I left. He was busy, and I didn’t want to disturb him. I passed by the graphic novel section where, just a week earlier -- exactly a week earlier -- I had borrows two American Splendor books, never believing for a single second- that I would ever have the chance to meet Harvey Pekar.

I made my way downstairs and told Mom that I’d talked to him.

“You did?” she yelped.

“Yeah.”

“You talked to him?” she asked.

“Who?” my sister asked.

“Harvey Pekar,” I said.

“Seriously?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

I told Mom about my brief encounter, and we were both amazed. She had to do something else at the library, so we stuck around for a while. I was still nervous. I couldn’t believe what had just happened. Then paranoia set in.

“I was chewing gum,” I thought. “Oh, man, did he see that I was chewing gum? Man, I should have spit it out. Does he think I’m just a rude punk now? How is my hair? Did my hair look okay? Did I even brush it today? Oh, man!”

But still, I was happier than I had ever been. I will never forget that day I got to meet Harvey Pekar. Who knows, maybe I’ll meet him again someday. But, even if I don’t, at least I got to tell him how much his work means to me.