Comic book writer Harvey Pekar dies at 70

Jewish comic book writer Harvey Pekar, who chronicled his life in the autobiographical “American Splendor” series, has died.

Pekar died July 12 in his Cleveland-area home. He was 70. Pekar had prostate cancer, asthma and high blood pressure and suffered clinical depression, according to reports.

The “American Splendor” series, which began in 1976 and had its most recent issue in 2008, was made into a movie of the same name in 2003.

Pekar’s writing about his everyday life, which a Cleveland Plain Dealer tribute called “the working-class, everyman heroics of simply making it through another day, with soul  — if not dignity — intact,” was widely admired.

Pekar, the son of Jewish immigrants from Poland, served in the U.S. Navy. He worked as a file clerk at the Veteran’s Administration Hosp-ital in Cleveland until his retirement in 2001.

A Cleveland native, Pekar collaborated on “American Splendor” with the acclaimed comic book artist R. Crumb. The two met in 1962 when Crumb was working for American Greetings in Cleveland. — jta