It was they year of Desert Storm that Harvey Pekar and his wife, Joyce Brabner, discovered Harvey had cancer. Pekar, a man who has made a professio...
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Jan 20, 2012
Paul
rated it: 
Our Cancer Year is written by the American everyman comic artist, Harvey Pekar, and Joyce Brabner, his wife. He’s the author of American Splendor, an ascerbic, tell-it-like-it-is series of comics that chronicle the life of the lower middle class.
Our Cancer Year picks up right from the American Splendor series, and in fact, feels like it could be an entry in the series, except that Brabner plays a major authorial and narrative role in the comic. The same Pekar bluntness is there, but More...
Our Cancer Year picks up right from the American Splendor series, and in fact, feels like it could be an entry in the series, except that Brabner plays a major authorial and narrative role in the comic. The same Pekar bluntness is there, but More...
Jul 25, 2010
Mark
rated it:
I want to say that this is a wonderful, inspired memoir, a helpful work of art for anyone who is living with a cancer-diagnosed spouse. But no, Harvey Pekar ain't your typical spouse, Frank Stack is a strangely half-assed illustrator, and this book is just a descent into madness. Oh sure the last THREE PAGES are filled with hope and a waterfall, but on the whole this will fill you with fear and dread.
Right off the bat, I should point out that this is Joyce Brabner's work, not Harvey More...
Right off the bat, I should point out that this is Joyce Brabner's work, not Harvey More...
Mar 12, 2009
Mark
rated it: 
Honestly, I feel kind of bad, I had some problems with Frank Stack's art in this one. The art is extremely sketchy and loose and may be argued as spontaneous but I would say more so rushed. There are some panels that capture the moment quite well and sing with the emotion of the scene. However, these scenes are the exception to mistakes like the same characters looking different from panel to panel in the same scene. There are some scenes also where the expressions on people's faces don't qu
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May 30, 2008
Tj
rated it: 
I thought that this was a great story about everyday people facing difficult obstacles. Using comics as a medium really allowed them to demonstrate the fear and physical pain that Pekar experienced (I guess you would have to see the scenes to know what I am talking about).
I really liked the simplicity of the story, and the way it portrayed the reality of their lives.
I really liked the simplicity of the story, and the way it portrayed the reality of their lives.
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Dec 28, 2009
Osho
rated it:
Another jury duty waiting room book. This is a graphic memoir of Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner's year or so during which Harvey discovered and was treated for cancer. The story is coherent enough and intertwines with one about Brabner's work (both she and Harvey are comic book writers). Frank Stack's illustrations are sometimes difficult to puzzle out and characters' expressions don't always match their affect. Still, the story and emotions will be familiar to anyone who has been intimately inv
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May 15, 2008
Michael
rated it:
I got this book two years ago at the Brooklyn Book Fair, in downtown Brooklyn. I'm not sure why it took me so long to pick it up off the shelf and read it. I think I've been a little hesitant because I've never thought Harvey Pekar's autobiographical style lends itself well to longer pieces. However, after reading The Quitter and Ego and Hubris (though that last title isn't autobiographical but biographical) I've come to see that his storytelling skills are well adapted to novel-length storie
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Jun 13, 2009
Lobeck
rated it: 
I wanted to like this because of the topic, but in truth I was less than thrilled with the storytelling and the art. In some cases the art was so vague that I found the story difficult to follow. This is perhaps representative of what dealing with major illness is like, but given the times in the story when it happened, I don't think it was intentional and was therefore merely confusing.
May 08, 2009
Nicholas
rated it:
After reading numerous reviews and recommendations on this one I was somewhat disappointed. The artwork was mostly scratches and sometimes even hard to tell one character from the other but then when I would get mad, Stack would draw a very emotional scene. That is how this whole GN read to me .... nothing, nothing, then emotional scene. I did get a feel on the desperation of Harvey and Joyce but not enough to make me weep, which is what I was expecting.
Don't get me wrong, it's More...
Don't get me wrong, it's More...
Aug 17, 2011
Probably the most substantial work I have read by Pekar, as ever deeply personal and honest. Deals not only with Pekar's illness, and how it effected his relationship with his wife, but also delves into the Gulf war and the recursions for Joyce and friends she had made through her work.
The art had an erratic simplicity and gave the work a feeling of uncertainty and of being ungrounded.
11/11/09
The art had an erratic simplicity and gave the work a feeling of uncertainty and of being ungrounded.
11/11/09
May 04, 2011
Ed
rated it:
I was introduced to Pekar by a friend who sent me a collection of American Splendor. You may have seen the movie. Harvey Pekar was Joyce's partner. They have a very real sort of a relationship, and this book chronicles their life as Harvey is diagnosed with cancer.
Mar 12, 2010
Jason
rated it:
I'm not a very big Pekar fan, but this one worked for me on a number of levels. It doesn't feel quite as annoyingly introspective or occasionally cloying as American Splendor sometimes has been and there is a strong story arc that works out pretty well.
Jul 16, 2010
Christina
rated it:
good story and writing. frank stack's illustrations are distracting at times because in his loose style, he draws the characters differently from scene to scene, so sometimes it's a little more difficult to follow who is who.
Jul 29, 2011
Yair
rated it:
Joyce Brabner and Harvey Pekar (with artist Tom Stack's surrealistically wonderful art) have made one of the most touching and affecting works I've read in years, maybe ever. And this is something as Pekar's work is naturally that anyway, but here it goes beyond that. Going through this story I felt I was a member of their household and witness to their moment in history. Told in sparse unadorned dialogue the story cuts through all the unnecessaries of alternative comics and creates something
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Apr 19, 2009
Erin
rated it:
Good art, compelling story. I think I already knew too much about it to really be surprised or called by it.
Feb 08, 2012
Unigami
rated it:
Probably my favorite Harvey Pekar collection. The world will never see another guy like Harvey.
Oct 02, 2010
heard all the best about it. i believe it is fantastic, so i can't wait to read it.
May 19, 2011
Adam
rated it:
Maybe a 3.5 or so. I really felt the strain of the chemo treatments on Harvey.
Oct 29, 2008
Sarah
rated it:
I am not a member of the "It's a graphic novel not a comic book" club. That being said, this is a graphic novel worth reading. Harvey and Joyce chronicle their ordeals in and out of cancer catastrophes and real life events in such a way that render the text and the images as two distinct tales. There isn't anything that makes cancer easier in the grand scope of things. The authors don't mask the ugly or the beautiful. They show life as it is, and their honesty it what is so remarkable.
Oct 20, 2011
Drew
rated it:
Like the parts about Harvey . . . wasn't as interested in the parts about Joyce and the teens she was working with.
Dec 12, 2010
Dennis
rated it:
Very realistic, story in graphic form of Harvey Pekar's battle with cancer and other events in the life of he and his wife, Joyce Brabner. Brings you back to the era of the early 1990's, with a back drop of the 1st Iraq war. The art work is well done, giving the reader a sense of emotions and trauma. It also brings back memories of life in Cleveland since it includes many interesting landmarks such as Tommy's restaurant and Chagrin Falls.
Nov 19, 2007
King Dinösaur
rated it:
Harvey Pekar is a file-cleark in Cleveland who had been writing and publishing his own comic book, "American Splendor" since the 1970's. Harvey found out he had cancer and he and his wife, Joyce Brabner, decided to chronicle this grueling year of their lives. Sometimes hard to take as Harvey stuggles through painful chemo-therapy and thoughts of death. But in the end, this is the story of a survivor. Very well done. Art by Frank Stack.
Sep 29, 2010
Jeff
rated it:
I loved it, but it made things clear regarding what I often dislike about graphic novels - not that they're books with pictures, but rather movies without motion or sound. If they're well-done, it doesn't make a difference, but it's always kind of jarring. Our Cancer Year was jarring in that respect - it hit me like a good book or movie, but it also kept drawing me away because of the style, which works for lots of people.
Oct 28, 2007
Dayna
rated it:
I didn't know much about the author before this. He is a weird guy, and so is his wife...but I appreciated the honesty of this unflattering account.
I really like this book because it showed a real-life situation (the small details and indignities of illness) and how a couple survives it without any of the glorious "LIVE STRONG" moments that bigger celebs project.
I really like this book because it showed a real-life situation (the small details and indignities of illness) and how a couple survives it without any of the glorious "LIVE STRONG" moments that bigger celebs project.
Nov 05, 2007
Tobey
rated it:
There is something amazing about finding out that you have cancer and then deciding that the best way to deal with it is by writing about it as a project. This is pretty raw stuff emotionally. I like Pekar's writing normally as weird observations on life but this is somehow different.
Jun 10, 2008
Angeline
rated it: 
i picked this up while in high school. I was a book shelver at the library. it was my first experience with graphic novels and Mr. Pekar. I was in awe of the topic, the format, the cleveland. I appreciated it more than two stars but can't recall enough about it to give it a three.
Jul 31, 2009
Alison
rated it:
A pretty honest portrait of what living with cancer is like from the person in pain to the person helping them. Unfortunately it didn't make me think that Harvey Pekar was a very nice person so I didn't have a lot of sympathy for him.
Jul 11, 2007
Needleroozer
rated it:
Another book in my current "cancer in comics" obsession. This one is really well done and heart wrenching. Oh, and this is the first cancer comic I've read where the person with cancer is a man, instead of a woman.
Recommended
Recommended
