The Museum of Comic & Cartoon Art Festival 2012 happens all day 4/28 & 4/29 at the Lexington Ave Armory in NYC. The Klein Award is being presented to Gary Panter. The afterparty which is also a Harvey Pekar's CLEVELAND launch, with music by Daniel Johnston, and a special appearance by Jeffrey Lewis, happens Saturday night at Village Pourhouse.

Daniel Johnston and Jeffrey Lewis last saw each other in March, also at a comic-related event.

Harvey Pekar, the irascible writer who spun the mundane details of his own life and the quotidian existences of his fellow Cleveland residents into comic-book narratives, and who showed that the comic-book panel could include everyday feelings of anxiety and disappointment as easily as it does the adventures of costumed heroes, has died, The Plain Dealer of Cleveland reported. He was 70.

A spokesman for the Cuyahoga County Coroner's office told The Plain Dealer that Mr. Pekar was found dead by his wife, Joyce Brabner, at around 1 a.m. An autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause of death. Mr. Pekar was given a diagnosis of lymphatic cancer in 1990, an experience he documented in the graphic novel "Our Cancer Year."
[NY Times]

A Brooklyn cartoon Harvey wrote, videos of Harvey recently shopping for jazz records (he was also a critic), classic David Letterman, and more, below...

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