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Harvey Pekar: Man, listen, I'll tell you something, people are starting to know the name Crumb. And when you croak, man, you're gonna leave something behind.
Robert Crumb: Yeah, I guess. Ha-ha. It's not like I'm Blind Lemon Jefferson or Big Mama Thornton.
Harvey Pekar: Oh, come on, man. I'll tell you something, it sure beats working a gig like mine, being a nobody flunky and selling records on the side for a buck.
Robert Crumb: Well, that's true.
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Harvey Pekar: Ever since I read your stuff, man, I been thinkin', I could write comic book stories that are different from anything that's being done. I figure, you know, that the guys that are doing animal comics and, eh, super hero stuff, they're really limited. 'Cause they got to try to appeal to kids. And underground stuff, like yours, have been really subversive and its opened things up politically. But, there's still plenty more to be done with them too, you know.
Robert Crumb: Pass the ketchup.
Harvey Pekar: The words and pictures, they could be more of an art form. You know, like those French movies or, or, eh, or De Sica over in Italy. So, anyway, I just, I tried to, I tried to write you some stuff about - real life - you know, stuff that the everyman's got to deal with.
Robert Crumb: These are all about you?
Harvey Pekar: Yeah.
Robert Crumb: You've turned yourself into a comic hero.
Toby Radloff
Extended Reading
