I was never one for comic books growing up. I mean I read them like all boys do, but I didn't obsess over them or collect them or anything like that. My oldest son got hooked on them and still collects them even though he is in college. Our mutual joke is picking out his co-workers in the record store and saying "He looks like the comic book guy, doesn't he?"
Anyway, what brings this to mind is that I am watching American Splendor which is the pseudo-documentary about Harvey Pekar, the cult comic book writer. Maybe it is the quality of this film, but I find his life very intriguing and he seems noble in the way he faced cancer and his mundane life as a government file clerk.
I also got caught up in Crumb, which is a documentary about Harry Crumb, the highly praised underground comic book artist. But I find Crumb to be a sad, almost pathetic, figure, even though he became rich from his work and is living in a villa in France.
