Am I a guy who writes about himself in a comic book, or am I just a character in that book? If I die, will that character keep going, or will he just fade away?
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the relationship between the creator and their creation, questioning identity and legacy.
Harvey Pekar's quote delves into the complex interplay between the artist and their work, raising existential questions about personal identity and the permanence of artistic expression. It suggests a contemplation of whether a creator's influence persists after their demise and how they are perceived in their own narrative versus that of their creations. Pekar's musings prompt us to consider how much of ourselves we invest in our work and the implications of that investment on our legacy.
In practice
In a panel discussion about personal storytelling and graphic novels.
It dawned on me that comics were not an intrinsically limited medium. There was a tremendous amount of things you could do in comics that you couldn't do in other art forms - but no one was doing it. I figured if I'd make a try at it, I'd at least be a footnote in history.
Calligraphy of geese_x000D_ against the sky-_x000D_ the moon seals it.
Film acting, if you don't play the lead, you come, and you do your scenes in a few days, and you act with a couple of colleagues. All the rest of the actors you never see, and you don't even meet many of them. And you don't know what will happen with what you've done. Maybe it will be in the film, maybe it will not.
The last time I saw her was red. The sky was like soup, boiling and stirring. In some places, it was burned. There were black crumbs, and pepper, streaked across the redness.
It's delightful, it's delicious, it's de-lovely.
Artists can no more speak about their work, than plants can speak about horticulture.
The skyscrapers began to rise again, frailly massive, elegantly utilitarian, images in their grace, audacity and inconclusiveness, of the whole character of the people who produces them.
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