The Digital Pekar

Harvey Pekar is that rare comics writer who even non-comic geeks know, thanks to the excellent biopic American Splendor (co-starring our main man Judah Friedlander as Toby “Genuine Nerd ” Radloff). The curmudgeonly Clevelander has been writing wry, autobiographical underground comics for over 30 years, accompanied by the iconic scribblings of  Robert Crumb, Alison Bechdel and others . Now Smith Mag is bringing Pekar to a whole new web audience with their all-original, all-free Pekar Project. The first installment–a trademark recreation of a quasi-philosophical phone conversation regarding the decline of high art–is online now, with more to follow every two weeks. The proudly-reticent Pekar delving into web comics feels a bit like Dylan going electric:  shocking but surprisingly successful. I’m definitely excited to see how far they take this thing.