In Not the Israel My Parents Promised Me, one of the final graphic memoirs from the man who defined the genre, Harvey Pekar explores what it means to be Jewish and what Israel means to the Jews. Pekar's mother was a Zionist by way of politics, his father by way of faith, and he inevitably grew up a staunch supporter of Israel. But as he became attuned to the wider world, Pekar began to question his parents' most fundamental beliefs.

This book is the full account of that questioning. Over the course of a single day in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, Pekar and the illustrator JT Waldman wrestle with the mythologies passed down to them, weaving a personal and historical odyssey of uncommon wit and power. With an epilogue written by Joyce Brabner, Not the Israel My Parents Promised Me is an essential book for fans of Harvey Pekar and anyone interested in the past and future of the Jewish state.

In The Beats: A Graphic History, those who were mad to live have come back to life through artwork as vibrant as the Beat movement itself. Told by the comic legend Harvey Pekar, his frequent artistic collaborator Ed Piskor, and a range of artists and writers, including the feminist comic creator Trina Robbins and the Mad magazine artist Peter Kuper, The Beats takes us on a wild tour of a generation that, in the face of mainstream American conformity and conservatism, became known for its determined uprootedness, aggressive addictions, and startling creativity and experimentation.

What began among a small circle of friends in New York and San Francisco during the late 1940s and early 1950s laid the groundwork for a literary explosion, and this striking anthology captures the storied era in all its incarnations--from the Benzedrine-fueled antics of Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Burroughs to the painting sessions of Jay DeFeo's disheveled studio, from the jazz hipsters to the beatnik chicks, from Chicago's College of Complexes to San Francisco's famed City Lights bookstore. Snapshots of lesser-known poets and writers sit alongside frank and compelling looks at the Beats' most recognizable faces. What emerges is a brilliant collage of--and tribute to--a generation, in a form and style that is as original as its subject.

Comics impresario Harvey Pekar brings to vivid life Terkel's bestselling masterpiece, with comics by America's leading illustrators

Ever since Pulitzer Prize winner Studs Terkel's Working first documented American workers' hopes and dreams, that deep penetration of American thought and feeling (Los Angeles Times) has sold over a million copies, captivating readers with accounts of how their fellow citizens make a living.

A masterpiece of words, Working is now adapted into comic-book form by Harvey Pekar, the blue-collar antihero of his American Book Award-winning comics series American Splendor. Brilliantly scripting and arranging Terkel's interviews, Pekar collaborates with established comics veterans and some of the comic underground's brightest new talent, selected by editor Paul Buhle. Readers will find a visual palette of influences from Mexican, African American, superhero, and feminist art, each piece an electric melding of artist and subject. This is a book that will both delight Terkel fans and introduce his work to a whole new audience--a fitting tribute to an American legend.

HAVE ATTITUDE, WILL TRAVEL

Harvey Pekar changed the face of comics when his American Splendor series replaced traditional slam-bang superhero action with slice-of-life tales of his own very ordinary existence in Cleveland, Ohio, as a file clerk, jazz-record collector, and philosophical curmudgeon. Much as Seinfeld famously transcended sitcom conventions by being a show about nothing, Pekar's deadpan chronicles of regular life--peppered with wry and caustic reflections--have transformed comics from escapist fantasy into social commentary with voice balloons.

Huntington, West Virginia On the Fly is prime Pekar, recounting the irascible everyman's on-the-road encounters with a cross section of characters--a career criminal turned limo-driving entrepreneur, a toy merchant obsessed with restoring a vintage diner, comic-book archivists, indie filmmakers, and children of the sixties--all of whom have stories to tell. By turns funny, poignant, and insightful, these portraits la Pekar showcase a one-of-a-kind master at work, channeling the stuff of average life into genuine American art.