Frequently described as the "poet laureate of Cleveland",[2][3] Pekar "helped change the appreciation for, and perceptions of, the graphic novel, the drawn memoir, the autobiographical comic narrative.

[7] Although Pekar said he wasn't close to his parents due to their dissimilar backgrounds and because they worked all the time, he still "marveled at how devoted they were to each other.

[13] According to fellow cartoonist R. Crumb, who knew the couple socially, "She left him.... She took all the money out of their bank account and ran off.... Never heard from her again.

By the time the disease was discovered, the couple was in the midst of buying a house (a tremendous worry to Pekar, who fretted about both the money and corruptions of bourgeois creature comforts).

"[15] After Pekar's recovery, he and Brabner collaborated on Our Cancer Year (released in 1994), a graphic novel account of that experience, as well as his harrowing yet successful treatment.

[16][18] Pekar's friendship with Robert Crumb led to the creation of the self-published, autobiographical comic book series American Splendor.

"[20] Pekar's influences from the literary world included James Joyce, Arthur Miller, George Ade, Henry Roth, and Daniel Fuchs.

[21] Around 1972, Pekar laid out some stories with crude stick figures and showed them to Crumb and another artist, Robert Armstrong.

Including "Crazy Ed" and before the publication of American Splendor #1, Pekar wrote a number of other comic stories that were published in a variety of outlets: The first issue of Pekar's self-published American Splendor series appeared in May 1976, with stories illustrated by Crumb, Dumm, Budgett, and Brian Bram.

Applying the "brutally frank autobiographical style of Henry Miller,"[11] American Splendor documented Pekar's daily life in the aging neighborhoods of his native Cleveland.

Other cartoonists who worked with him include Jim Woodring, Chester Brown, Alison Bechdel, Gilbert Hernandez, Eddie Campbell, David Collier, Drew Friedman, Ho Che Anderson, Rick Geary, Ed Piskor, Hunt Emerson, Bob Fingerman, and Alex Wald; as well as such non-traditional illustrators as Pekar's wife, Joyce Brabner, and comics writer Alan Moore.

The first of these, American Splendor: Unsung Hero (Dark Horse Comics, 2003), illustrated by David Collier, documented the Vietnam War experience of Robert McNeill, one of Pekar's African-American coworkers at Cleveland's VA hospital.

A film adaptation of American Splendor was released in 2003, directed by Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman.

On October 5, 2005, the DC Comics imprint Vertigo published Pekar's autobiographical hardcover The Quitter, with artwork by Dean Haspiel.

[32] In 2011, Abrams Comicarts published Yiddishkeit, co-edited by Pekar with Paul Buhle and Hershl Hartman.

[13][11] Pekar wrote hundreds of articles for DownBeat, JazzTimes, The Village Voice, and The Austin Chronicle;[33] as well as liner notes for Verve Records and other labels.

[38] Pekar's comic book success led to a guest appearance on Late Night with David Letterman on October 15, 1986.

These appearances became notable for the increasing hostility and verbal altercations between Pekar and Letterman,[26] particularly on the subject of General Electric's ownership of NBC.

[43] While there had been earlier American Splendor theater adaptations,[44] in 2009, Pekar made his theatrical debut with Leave Me Alone!, a jazz opera for which he wrote the libretto.

featured music by Dan Plonsey and was co-produced by Real Time Opera and Oberlin College, premiering at Finney Chapel on January 31, 2009.

[45] In 2009, Pekar was featured in The Cartoonist, a documentary film on the life and work of Jeff Smith, creator of Bone.

[47] In October the Cuyahoga County coroner's office ruled it was an accidental overdose of antidepressants fluoxetine and bupropion.

[54] One of his final graphic memoirs was "Not the Israel My Parents Promised Me" (2013) in which he explains how he lost his faith in the Jewish state.

Frequently described as the "poet laureate of Cleveland,"[2][3] Pekar "helped change the appreciation for, and perceptions of, the graphic novel, the drawn memoir, the autobiographical comic narrative.

"[4] According to Los Angeles Times columnist David Ulin, American Splendor "remains one of the most compelling and transformative series in the history of comics.

"[56] While it is common today for people to publicly write about their lives on blogs, social media platforms, and in graphic novels, "In the mid-seventies, Harvey Pekar was doing all this before it was ubiquitous and commercialized.

"[56] In October 2012 a statue of Pekar was installed at the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Library, a place he visited almost daily.