Salutations, traveler of The Internets! Welcome to William's Bloody Hell, so named after our founder, Sir Bloody William.
He is seen in the likeness above in a rare, 19th century woodcut. This
image was rumoured to have been
commissioned after a bout of unpleasantness
in the White Chapel district of London. Do enjoy your stay and peruse our many, varied offerings, much of which cannot be found elsewhere!
:: American Spleandor ::
by William the Bloody
Main stream comic books have typically been about the exciting adventures of
exciting individuals that battle exciting villains. A lot of independent comics
don't go this route however, which can be refreshing. One such comic book,
American Splendor, was an underground cult hit.
American Splendor the comic book is the real life journal of the life of
Harvey Pekar, a file clerk at a hospital who likes to moan and whine about his
life. He got the idea early when he met the cult icon comic book creator Robert
Crumb. Crumb would later be an illustrator at times for American Splendor.
The movie of the same name is innovative in the fact that the story is narrated
by Pekar himself and beautifully portrayed by Paul Giamatti. Kind of sad to
think that this is the role Giamatti was born to play. I've never considered him
"Gladiator" material anyway. The saving grace of this film is how it's told by
the narration and the appearances of Pekar and his real life wife and friends
all around the flashbacks played by actors.
Pekar continues his life making his comic book while still working at the V.A.
Hospital since he kinda gets along well with his fellow quirky employees and the
benefits of health insurance and a pension. The comic book works well for him to
vent. Strangely, Harvey meets his wife through the comic, since she contacts him
to get the latest issue for her comic book store. His wife Joyce Brabner is
played well by Hope Davis. She contacts him and when these two meet it's just
weird from the beginning with him telling her right of the bat that she might as
well know that he had a vasectomy. The night they first meet they end up in bed
with Joyce saying they might as well skip the dating part and just get married.
These two enjoy each other's odd misery.
The trials and tribulations of Pekar's life are not spectacular in any way, but
can be interesting. They go through unique couple things like Joyce's adventures
away from home doing volunteer work and while working on the book. Along the way
they adopt an illustrator's daughter, end
up on Letterman to foolish results and battle cancer. The life of Harvey Pekar
and his wife in the end seem.......... oddly charming.
The acting is great by everyone and proven when you see most characters real
life counterparts along with the actors at different points
in the movie. Paul Giamatti is great as always and I was really hoping he'd get
an Oscar nod. Oh, well. I definitely recommend this movie if you like the weird,
quirky, and ultimately sweet. American Splendor gets an A-.
