Joyce Brabner
Encyclopedia
Joyce Brabner is a writer of political comics and a sometime collaborator with her late husband Harvey Pekar
. Brabner is also a liberal social activist, most recently championing Coventry Village in Cleveland Heights, Ohio
, the neighborhood in which she resides, with a series of imaginative special events begun in 2007.
. Drifting away from comics as she grew older and discovered that "for the same amount of money I could get on the bus and go down to the library," she nevertheless remembered "a lot of what I'd read."
Living "in Delaware
working with people in prison, with kids in trouble," running a non-profit culture-based support program for inmates in the Delaware correctional system, Brabner was a founder and manager of "The Rondo Hatton
Center for the Deforming Arts," a small theater space in Wilmington, Delaware
. (Hatton played horror roles — The Creeper — in the early 1940s without makeup because he was severely disfigured by a glandular disease.)
During this time, Brabner became friendly with "two sometime artists who were very involved in comic fandom", which "seemed like a lot of fun." Feeling burned out from "working with courts, with sexual abusers of children and so on," Brabner began working with Tom Watkins, who "was doing a lot of costumes for the Phil Seuling
comic shows." Moonlighting "as a costumer while continuing to work in the prison programs [she] had organized on [her] own," while not spending much time at conventions or comic shops, she nevertheless eventually became co-owner of a comic book (and theatrical costumes) store herself.
Her store stocked Harvey Pekar
's American Splendor
, but when the store "ran out of an issue" (one of Brabner's partners selling the last copy of American Splendor #6 without her getting a chance to read it), Brabner sent Pekar a postcard
directly, asking for a copy, and the two "began to correspond." Developing a phone relationship, after a stay in the hospital by Brabner, Pekar spoke to her daily and sent her a collection of old records.
On their second date, they bought rings, and the third date they tied the knot. With the benefit of hindsight, she believes that it was Pekar's honesty that attracted her to him, crediting his work on "American Splendor [for giving her] a worm's-eye view of what his other marriages were like," allowing for a greater degree of understanding and openness between the two of them. It was Brabner's second marriage and Pekar's third.
As Pekar's third wife, she has appeared as a character in many of his American Splendor
stories, as well as helping package and publish the various iterations of the comic. Citing her "talent for publicity," Brabner recalls that American Splendor was losing money and decided (having "stopped working for the prison program") to engage in some "screwball publicity." Utilising her costume-making skills, she
The gimmick worked, and they "picked up nine distributors for the book!" The comic began to be profitable, and one of Brabner's dolls "ended up on 'The David Letterman Show
.'" She still makes them occasionally for charity auctions.
In addition to Pekar and American Splendor, Brabner has worked with many of independent comics' highest-profile writers and artists. She edited Eclipse
's Real War Stories, which brought Mike W. Barr
, Steve Bissette, Brian Bolland
, Paul Mavrides
, Dean Motter
, Denny O'Neil and John Totleben
(among others) together on behalf of the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors and Citizen Soldier.
, a "military and draft counseling organization" and sought out Pekar for advice on the costs involved in creating a comic. Seeking "a tool to reach teenagers with information about the military" in the face of the peacetime draft
and what she saw as an "aggressive recruiting campaign" (aided by the release of Top Gun
in 1986
). Brabner recalls that Merkle was looking for some "counterpropaganda
, a way of presenting some of the things the recruiters weren't telling the kids about the draft," including the stories of "veterans and people from El Salvador
."
Although Merkle had only budgeted for a black and white comic, Brabner felt strongly "that color was necessary if they were going to reach the kids," preferably with "popular artists and writers," but "realized with the integrity and honesty the undergrounds had." Brabner, Merkle and the CCCO managed to find a publisher willing to split the costs of printing, were given "some grant funding" and found some creators willing to defer their pay. After publication, the CCCO took on the responsibility of distributing the comic - Real War Stories - including getting copies "into some schools [where] they were used in classrooms".
and the Department of Justice
, after an Atlanta, Georgia
newspaper objected strongly at the "presence of Real War Stories" at a "high school 'career day'." Pressure from "different people from around the country" caused the school to tell the Atlanta Peace Alliance and the CCCO that "they couldn't [attend the career day], prompting the APA and CCCO to file a suit
against the school."
At the hearing, the Department of Defense "offered an expert witness" who labelled the contents of Real War Stories as being "all made up," despite Brabner's assertion that not only were they "all autobiographical stories," but that personally "participated in all the interviews [which]... were all carefully documented." During one courtroom exchange, Brabner recalls that they "had military Naval court records" supporting the truth of some of the autobiographical comics stories, and when the case was continued, the "CCCO got a letter from the Department of Defense essentially withdrawing the complaint."
Her work on Brought to Light
with Alan Moore
and Bill Sienkiewicz
brought critical praise from both the artistic and activist communities. Originally a joint publishing venture between Eclipse Comics
and Warner Books, the 1989
graphic novel
flip-book Brought to Light dealt in part with the Central Intelligence Agency
's involvement in the Iran-Contra affair
. The impetus behind Brought to Light was the involvement of the Christic Institute
("a public-interest legal firm, best known at that time for its work on the Karen Silkwood
case") in a case "involving the bombing of a press conference in Costa Rica
." Survivors of the bombing who had investigated "found," says Brabner "it involved much broader issues involving covert operation
s [and] possible swaps of drugs for arms."
Stymied in initial attempts to bring the matter to court, the initial investigators required an outside organization, bringing in the Christic Institute. "People at Christic had seen Real War Stories #1" and in trying to raise funds to investigate and document facts and allegations surrounding the "very complicated" story, turned to Brabner "and asked if I could communicate this very complex story in comic book form." Faced with "two ways the stories could be told," Brabner remembers she decided to utilize both.
Warner Books "was interested in the project from the beginning," thinking that they could be involved from the start in a book on the Iran-Contra affair, which could, says Brabner, have been "as big as Watergate." Caution overtook enthusiasm, however, when "it became clear that this story was a lot bigger than everybody thought it was." Although thoroughly scrutinised - and Brabner says that she "was told at the time by Warner's attorneys that our sources were solid and our book would fly" - she believes that Warner "realized this wasn't going to be the enormous trial, or victory, they thought it would be." Ultimately, Brought to Light was published solely by Eclipse.
Studios packaged," which was cited as an inspiration by one of the four students who began the February 1960 "non-violent sit-in demonstration" in Greensboro, North Carolina. Brabner refers to this event as particularly highlighting "the historical role of comics in social and political arenas," and (with American Splendor) "play[ing] a vital role in Joyce's decision to build upon her work in prisons and schools, to apply the medium to controversial investigative ventures." Together, and separately, Pekar and Brabner "have [both] tenaciously pursued a path dedicated to the truths of the human condition, contrary to the lurid escapist fantasies that fuel the main engines of the comic book industry."
Indeed, in the Stephen R. Bissette
/Stanley Wiater-edited Comic Book Rebels, the editors draw a distinction between Pekar's stories - which are "primarily by himself and about himself" - and Brabner, who "uses her own experiences to frame broader investigative narratives about America, and the impact our social, political, and military institutions have upon not only ourselves, but the world."
She has also written Activists! and the PETA
-supported Animal Rights Comics, as well as working on a book called Cambodia, USA. In 1994, Pekar and Brabner collaborated with artist Frank Stack
on the Harvey Award
-winning graphic novel, Our Cancer Year
. Our Cancer Year was, according to Brabner planned to be a "book about activism and cancer and being married and buying a house, about being sick at a time when we feel the whole world is sick." It takes the reader through Pekar's struggles with lymphoma
, as well as serving as a social commentary on events of that year, and was, says Brabner, written "together from our different points of view, in the different way we experienced Harvey's illness."
She and Harvey have since published work in Jason Rodriguez's "Postcards" series, as well as an anthology (with Pekar, Ed Piskor
and others) on the Beat Generation
, due in 2008.
In addition, Brabner is working on another nonfiction comic book with Ray Dobbins (The Colombian Arts Council Grant) to be illustrated by Mark Zingarelli and published by Farrar, Strauss and Giroux. With Pekar, she co-authored and appeared as herself in an opera performed by Real Time Opera in January, 2009. The event was broadcast on the Internet from Oberlin College on January 31, 2009. Also anticipated is the couple's first autobiographical comic book work together since Our Cancer Year-- Harvey and Joyce's Big Book of Marriage and "Harvey and Joyce Plumb the Depths of Depression."
in the film adaptation
of American Splendor
(2003
), and also appeared as herself in some scenes. Harvey Pekar died on July 12, 2010.
Harvey Pekar
Harvey Lawrence Pekar was an American underground comic book writer, music critic and media personality, best known for his autobiographical American Splendor comic series. In 2003, the series inspired a critically acclaimed film adaptation of the same name.Pekar described American Splendor as "an...
. Brabner is also a liberal social activist, most recently championing Coventry Village in Cleveland Heights, Ohio
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
Cleveland Heights is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States, a suburb of Cleveland. The city's population was 46,121 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Cleveland Heights is located at ....
, the neighborhood in which she resides, with a series of imaginative special events begun in 2007.
Biography
Brabner recalls "read[ing] comics when I was five or six years old - including "Mad Magazine", her first exposure to political satirePolitical satire
Political satire is a significant part of satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics; it has also been used with subversive intent where political speech and dissent are forbidden by a regime, as a method of advancing political arguments where such arguments are expressly...
. Drifting away from comics as she grew older and discovered that "for the same amount of money I could get on the bus and go down to the library," she nevertheless remembered "a lot of what I'd read."
Living "in Delaware
Delaware
Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...
working with people in prison, with kids in trouble," running a non-profit culture-based support program for inmates in the Delaware correctional system, Brabner was a founder and manager of "The Rondo Hatton
Rondo Hatton
Rondo Hatton was an American actor who had a brief, but prolific career playing thuggish bit parts in many Hollywood B-movies. He was known for his brutish facial features which were the result of acromegaly, a disorder of the pituitary gland.-Biography:Hatton was born Rondo K...
Center for the Deforming Arts," a small theater space in Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...
. (Hatton played horror roles — The Creeper — in the early 1940s without makeup because he was severely disfigured by a glandular disease.)
During this time, Brabner became friendly with "two sometime artists who were very involved in comic fandom", which "seemed like a lot of fun." Feeling burned out from "working with courts, with sexual abusers of children and so on," Brabner began working with Tom Watkins, who "was doing a lot of costumes for the Phil Seuling
Phil Seuling
Philip Nicholas Seuling was a comic book fan convention organizer and comics distributor primarily active in the 1970s. Seuling was the organizer of the annual New York Comic Art Convention, originally held in New York City every July 4 weekend throughout the 1970s...
comic shows." Moonlighting "as a costumer while continuing to work in the prison programs [she] had organized on [her] own," while not spending much time at conventions or comic shops, she nevertheless eventually became co-owner of a comic book (and theatrical costumes) store herself.
Her store stocked Harvey Pekar
Harvey Pekar
Harvey Lawrence Pekar was an American underground comic book writer, music critic and media personality, best known for his autobiographical American Splendor comic series. In 2003, the series inspired a critically acclaimed film adaptation of the same name.Pekar described American Splendor as "an...
's American Splendor
American Splendor
American Splendor is a series of autobiographical comic books written by the late Harvey Pekar and drawn by a variety of artists. The first issue was published in 1976 and the most recent in September 2008, with publication occurring at irregular intervals...
, but when the store "ran out of an issue" (one of Brabner's partners selling the last copy of American Splendor #6 without her getting a chance to read it), Brabner sent Pekar a postcard
Postcard
A postcard or post card is a rectangular piece of thick paper or thin cardboard intended for writing and mailing without an envelope....
directly, asking for a copy, and the two "began to correspond." Developing a phone relationship, after a stay in the hospital by Brabner, Pekar spoke to her daily and sent her a collection of old records.
Harvey Pekar
Brabner recalls that she was:On their second date, they bought rings, and the third date they tied the knot. With the benefit of hindsight, she believes that it was Pekar's honesty that attracted her to him, crediting his work on "American Splendor [for giving her] a worm's-eye view of what his other marriages were like," allowing for a greater degree of understanding and openness between the two of them. It was Brabner's second marriage and Pekar's third.
As Pekar's third wife, she has appeared as a character in many of his American Splendor
American Splendor
American Splendor is a series of autobiographical comic books written by the late Harvey Pekar and drawn by a variety of artists. The first issue was published in 1976 and the most recent in September 2008, with publication occurring at irregular intervals...
stories, as well as helping package and publish the various iterations of the comic. Citing her "talent for publicity," Brabner recalls that American Splendor was losing money and decided (having "stopped working for the prison program") to engage in some "screwball publicity." Utilising her costume-making skills, she
The gimmick worked, and they "picked up nine distributors for the book!" The comic began to be profitable, and one of Brabner's dolls "ended up on 'The David Letterman Show
The David Letterman Show
The David Letterman Show was a live morning NBC talk show hosted by David Letterman from June 23 to October 24, 1980. The show originally ran for 90 minutes, then 60 minutes from August 4 onward.-Background:...
.'" She still makes them occasionally for charity auctions.
In addition to Pekar and American Splendor, Brabner has worked with many of independent comics' highest-profile writers and artists. She edited Eclipse
Eclipse Comics
Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market...
's Real War Stories, which brought Mike W. Barr
Mike W. Barr
Mike W. Barr is an American writer of comic books, and mystery, and science fiction novels.-Biography:Barr's debut as a comics professional came in DC Comics' Detective Comics #444 , for which he wrote an 8-page back-up mystery feature starring the Elongated Man...
, Steve Bissette, Brian Bolland
Brian Bolland
Brian Bolland is a British comics artist, known for his meticulous, detailed linework and eye-catching compositions. Best known in the UK as one of the definitive Judge Dredd artists for British comics anthology 2000 AD, he spearheaded the 'British Invasion' of the American comics industry, and in...
, Paul Mavrides
Paul Mavrides
Paul Mavrides is an American artist, best known for his critique-laden comics, cartoons, paintings, graphics, performances and writings that encompass a disturbing yet humorous catalog of the social ills and shortcomings of human civilization...
, Dean Motter
Dean Motter
Dean Motter is an illustrator, designer and writer who worked for many years in Toronto, Canada, New York City, and Atlanta. Motter is best known as the creator and designer of Mister X, one of the most influential "new-wave" comics of the 1980s....
, Denny O'Neil and John Totleben
John Totleben
John Totleben is an American illustrator working mostly in comics.-Biography:After studying art at a vocational high school in Erie, Totleben attended The Kubert School for one year...
(among others) together on behalf of the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors and Citizen Soldier.
Real War Stories
Lou Ann Merkle, "an art student and activist living in Cleveland" began working with the Central Committee for Conscientious ObjectorsCentral Committee for Conscientious Objectors
The Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors is a United States organization founded in 1948 and dedicated to helping people avoid or resist military enlistment...
, a "military and draft counseling organization" and sought out Pekar for advice on the costs involved in creating a comic. Seeking "a tool to reach teenagers with information about the military" in the face of the peacetime draft
Conscription in the United States
Conscription in the United States has been employed several times, usually during war but also during the nominal peace of the Cold War...
and what she saw as an "aggressive recruiting campaign" (aided by the release of Top Gun
Top Gun
Top Gun may refer to:* Top Gun is a 1986 film starring Tom Cruise.**Top Gun , soundtrack to the movie**Top Gun , a number of games based on the movie...
in 1986
1986 in film
-Events:*April 12 - Actor Morgan Mason marries The Go-Go's Belinda Carlisle.*April 26 - Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger marries television journalist Maria Shriver.*May - Actress Heather Locklear marries Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee....
). Brabner recalls that Merkle was looking for some "counterpropaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
, a way of presenting some of the things the recruiters weren't telling the kids about the draft," including the stories of "veterans and people from El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
."
Although Merkle had only budgeted for a black and white comic, Brabner felt strongly "that color was necessary if they were going to reach the kids," preferably with "popular artists and writers," but "realized with the integrity and honesty the undergrounds had." Brabner, Merkle and the CCCO managed to find a publisher willing to split the costs of printing, were given "some grant funding" and found some creators willing to defer their pay. After publication, the CCCO took on the responsibility of distributing the comic - Real War Stories - including getting copies "into some schools [where] they were used in classrooms".
Legal victory
This drew the attention of the Department of DefenseUnited States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
and the Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
, after an Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
newspaper objected strongly at the "presence of Real War Stories" at a "high school 'career day'." Pressure from "different people from around the country" caused the school to tell the Atlanta Peace Alliance and the CCCO that "they couldn't [attend the career day], prompting the APA and CCCO to file a suit
Lawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
against the school."
At the hearing, the Department of Defense "offered an expert witness" who labelled the contents of Real War Stories as being "all made up," despite Brabner's assertion that not only were they "all autobiographical stories," but that personally "participated in all the interviews [which]... were all carefully documented." During one courtroom exchange, Brabner recalls that they "had military Naval court records" supporting the truth of some of the autobiographical comics stories, and when the case was continued, the "CCCO got a letter from the Department of Defense essentially withdrawing the complaint."
Brought to Light
Brought to Light
Brought to Light: Thirty Years of Drug Smuggling, Arms Deals, and Covert Action is an anthology of two political graphic novels, published originally by Eclipse Comics in 1988. Both are based on material from lawsuits filed by the Christic Institute against the US Government...
with Alan Moore
Alan Moore
Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...
and Bill Sienkiewicz
Bill Sienkiewicz
Boleslav Felix Robert "Bill" Sienkiewicz [pronounced sin-KEV-itch] is an Eisner Award-winning American artist and writer best known for his comic book work, primarily for Marvel Comics' The New Mutants and Elektra: Assassin...
brought critical praise from both the artistic and activist communities. Originally a joint publishing venture between Eclipse Comics
Eclipse Comics
Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market...
and Warner Books, the 1989
1989 in comics
-Year overall:* "Inferno" company-wide Marvel Comics crossover continues, involving the mutant titles The Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor, The New Mutants, and Excalibur, as well as the X-Terminators limited series and various other Marvel titles...
graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
flip-book Brought to Light dealt in part with the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
's involvement in the Iran-Contra affair
Iran-Contra Affair
The Iran–Contra affair , also referred to as Irangate, Contragate or Iran-Contra-Gate, was a political scandal in the United States that came to light in November 1986. During the Reagan administration, senior Reagan administration officials and President Reagan secretly facilitated the sale of...
. The impetus behind Brought to Light was the involvement of the Christic Institute
Christic Institute
The Christic Institute was a public interest law firm founded in 1980 by Daniel Sheehan, his wife, Sara Nelson and their partner, William J. Davis, who was a Jesuit priest. Its headquarters were based in Washington, D.C. with several offices in other major United States cities, such as San...
("a public-interest legal firm, best known at that time for its work on the Karen Silkwood
Karen Silkwood
Karen Gay Silkwood was an American labor union activist and chemical technician at the Kerr-McGee plant near Crescent, Oklahoma, United States. Silkwood's job was making plutonium pellets for nuclear reactor fuel rods...
case") in a case "involving the bombing of a press conference in Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
." Survivors of the bombing who had investigated "found," says Brabner "it involved much broader issues involving covert operation
Covert operation
A covert operation is a military, intelligence or law enforcement operation that is carried clandestinely and, often, outside of official channels. Covert operations aim to fulfill their mission objectives without any parties knowing who sponsored or carried out the operation...
s [and] possible swaps of drugs for arms."
Stymied in initial attempts to bring the matter to court, the initial investigators required an outside organization, bringing in the Christic Institute. "People at Christic had seen Real War Stories #1" and in trying to raise funds to investigate and document facts and allegations surrounding the "very complicated" story, turned to Brabner "and asked if I could communicate this very complex story in comic book form." Faced with "two ways the stories could be told," Brabner remembers she decided to utilize both.
Warner Books "was interested in the project from the beginning," thinking that they could be involved from the start in a book on the Iran-Contra affair, which could, says Brabner, have been "as big as Watergate." Caution overtook enthusiasm, however, when "it became clear that this story was a lot bigger than everybody thought it was." Although thoroughly scrutinised - and Brabner says that she "was told at the time by Warner's attorneys that our sources were solid and our book would fly" - she believes that Warner "realized this wasn't going to be the enormous trial, or victory, they thought it would be." Ultimately, Brought to Light was published solely by Eclipse.
Other works
Brabner, talking in the early 1990s, described the difficulties involved in "publish[ing] non-fiction, public interest comics," which entail "go[ing] outside the world of comic book publishing," and often relying on "grant money." Even with funding in place, however, she described the difficulty in finding "a publisher willing to take on a reprinting of the Martin Luther King comic Al CappAl Capp
Alfred Gerald Caplin , better known as Al Capp, was an American cartoonist and humorist best known for the satirical comic strip Li'l Abner. He also wrote the comic strips Abbie an' Slats and Long Sam...
Studios packaged," which was cited as an inspiration by one of the four students who began the February 1960 "non-violent sit-in demonstration" in Greensboro, North Carolina. Brabner refers to this event as particularly highlighting "the historical role of comics in social and political arenas," and (with American Splendor) "play[ing] a vital role in Joyce's decision to build upon her work in prisons and schools, to apply the medium to controversial investigative ventures." Together, and separately, Pekar and Brabner "have [both] tenaciously pursued a path dedicated to the truths of the human condition, contrary to the lurid escapist fantasies that fuel the main engines of the comic book industry."
Indeed, in the Stephen R. Bissette
Stephen R. Bissette
Stephen R. Bissette is an American comics artist, editor, and publisher with a focus on the horror genre. He is best known for working with writer Alan Moore and inker John Totleben on the DC comic Swamp Thing in the 1980s....
/Stanley Wiater-edited Comic Book Rebels, the editors draw a distinction between Pekar's stories - which are "primarily by himself and about himself" - and Brabner, who "uses her own experiences to frame broader investigative narratives about America, and the impact our social, political, and military institutions have upon not only ourselves, but the world."
She has also written Activists! and the PETA
Peta
Peta can refer to:* peta-, an SI prefix denoting a factor of 1015* Peta, Greece, a town in Greece* Peta, the Pāli word for a Preta, or hungry ghost in Buddhism* Peta Wilson, an Australian actress and model* Peta Todd, English glamour model...
-supported Animal Rights Comics, as well as working on a book called Cambodia, USA. In 1994, Pekar and Brabner collaborated with artist Frank Stack
Frank Stack
Frank Huntington Stack is an American underground cartoonist. Working under the name Foolbert Sturgeon to avoid persecution for his work while living in the bible belt, Stack published what is considered by many to be the first underground comic book, The Adventures of Jesus, in 1962.He graduated...
on the Harvey Award
Harvey Award
The Harvey Awards, named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman and founded by Gary Groth, President of the publisher Fantagraphics, are given for achievement in comic books. The Harveys were created as part of a successor to the Kirby Awards which were discontinued after 1987.The Harvey Awards are...
-winning graphic novel, Our Cancer Year
Our Cancer Year
Our Cancer Year is a graphic novel written by Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner and illustrated by Frank Stack.-Overview:Published in 1994 by the New York Press publisher Four Walls Eight Windows, Our Cancer Year relates the story of Harvey's struggle to overcome cancer, as well as serving as a social...
. Our Cancer Year was, according to Brabner planned to be a "book about activism and cancer and being married and buying a house, about being sick at a time when we feel the whole world is sick." It takes the reader through Pekar's struggles with lymphoma
Lymphoma
Lymphoma is a cancer in the lymphatic cells of the immune system. Typically, lymphomas present as a solid tumor of lymphoid cells. Treatment might involve chemotherapy and in some cases radiotherapy and/or bone marrow transplantation, and can be curable depending on the histology, type, and stage...
, as well as serving as a social commentary on events of that year, and was, says Brabner, written "together from our different points of view, in the different way we experienced Harvey's illness."
She and Harvey have since published work in Jason Rodriguez's "Postcards" series, as well as an anthology (with Pekar, Ed Piskor
Ed Piskor
Ed Piskor is an alternative comics artist operating out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is a former student of The Kubert School and is best known for his artistic collaborations with underground comics pioneers Harvey Pekar of American Splendor fame, and Jay Lynch who illustrates Garbage Pail Kids...
and others) on the Beat Generation
Beat generation
The Beat Generation refers to a group of American post-WWII writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena that they both documented and inspired...
, due in 2008.
In addition, Brabner is working on another nonfiction comic book with Ray Dobbins (The Colombian Arts Council Grant) to be illustrated by Mark Zingarelli and published by Farrar, Strauss and Giroux. With Pekar, she co-authored and appeared as herself in an opera performed by Real Time Opera in January, 2009. The event was broadcast on the Internet from Oberlin College on January 31, 2009. Also anticipated is the couple's first autobiographical comic book work together since Our Cancer Year-- Harvey and Joyce's Big Book of Marriage and "Harvey and Joyce Plumb the Depths of Depression."
Non-writing
In the early 1990s, Brabner and Pekar became guardians of a young girl, Danielle Batone. Danielle became a recurring character in American Splendor, alongside Pekar's diverse cast of family and friends. Brabner was portrayed by actress Hope DavisHope Davis
Hope Davis is an American actress. She has starred in more than 20 feature films, including About Schmidt, Arlington Road, Flatliners, Mumford, American Splendor, The Lodger and Next Stop Wonderland....
in the film adaptation
Film adaptation
Film adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. It is a type of derivative work.A common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a feature film, but film adaptation includes the use of non-fiction , autobiography, comic book, scripture, plays, and even...
of American Splendor
American Splendor (film)
American Splendor is a 2003 American biographical comedy-drama film about Harvey Pekar, the author of the American Splendor comic book series. The film is also in part an adaptation of the comics, which dramatize Pekar's life...
(2003
2003 in film
The year 2003 in film involved some significant events. Releases of sequels took place with movies like The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Pokémon Heroes, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,...
), and also appeared as herself in some scenes. Harvey Pekar died on July 12, 2010.
Select bibliography
- Real War Stories (Eclipse ComicsEclipse ComicsEclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market...
, 1987–91) - Brought to Light (Eclipse ComicsEclipse ComicsEclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market...
, 1989) ISBN 0-913035-67-X - Our Cancer Year (Running Press, 1994)
- Activists! (Stabur Press, 1995)
- Animal Rights Comics (Stabur Press, 1996)