Joyce Brabner | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Brabner in 1985 | |
| Born | (1952-03-01)March 1, 1952 |
| Died | August 2, 2024(2024-08-02) (aged 72) |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Notable works | Real War Stories Brought to Light Our Cancer Year Second Avenue Caper |
| Notable awards | Harvey Award (1995) Inkpot Award (2011) Lambda Literary Award (2014) |
| Spouse | |
Joyce Brabner (March 1, 1952 – August 2, 2024) was an American writer of political comics and the widow ofHarvey Pekar.
Brabner was born on March 1, 1952,[1] and grew up inWilmington, Delaware.[2] She recalled "read[ing] comics when I was five or six years old – includingMad magazine", her first exposure topolitical satire.[3] Drifting away from comics as she grew older and discovering that "for the same amount of money I could get on the bus and go down to the library," she nevertheless remembered "a lot of what I'd read."[3]
Living "in Delaware working with people in prison, with kids in trouble," running a non-profit culture-based support program for inmates in the Delaware correctional system, Brabner was a founder and manager of "TheRondo Hatton Center for the Deforming Arts," a small theater space in Wilmington.[2] (Hatton played horror roles – The Creeper – in the early 1940s without makeup because he was severely disfigured bya glandular disease.)
During this time, Brabner became friendly with "two sometime artists who were very involved in comic fandom," which "seemed like a lot of fun."[3] Feeling burned out from "working with courts, with sexual abusers of children and so on," Brabner began working with Tom Watkins, who "was doing a lot of costumes for thePhil Seuling comic shows."[3] Moonlighting "as a costumer while continuing to work in the prison programs [she] had organized on [her] own," while not spending much time atconventions or comic shops, she nevertheless eventually became co-owner, with Watkins and Craig Dawson,[4] of a Wilmington comic book (and theatrical costumes) store called Xanadu Comics & Collectables, Inc.[5][4]
Her store stockedHarvey Pekar'sAmerican Splendor, but when the store "ran out of an issue" (one of Brabner's partners selling the last copy ofAmerican Splendor #6 without her getting a chance to read it), Brabner sent Pekar apostcard directly, asking for a copy, and the two "began to correspond."[3] Developing a phone relationship, after a stay in the hospital by Brabner, Pekar spoke to her daily and sent her a collection of old records.
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Brabner recalled that she was:
"flying out to his [Pekar's] part of the country on other business, and decided to visit him, and the next day we decided to get married!"[3]
On their second date, they bought rings, and the third date they tied the knot. With the benefit of hindsight, she believes that it was Pekar's honesty that attracted her to him,[6] crediting his work on "American Splendor [for giving her] a worm's-eye view of what his other marriages were like," allowing for a greater degree of understanding and openness between the two of them.[3] It was Brabner's second marriage and Pekar's third.[7]
As Pekar's third wife, she has appeared as a character in many of hisAmerican Splendor stories, as well as helping package and publish the various iterations of the comic.[3] Citing her "talent for publicity," Brabner recalls thatAmerican Splendor was losing money and decided (having "stopped working for the prison program") to engage in some "screwball publicity."[3] Utilising her costume-making skills, she
"started cutting up some of his [Pekar's] old clothes and making little Harvey Pekar dolls; just like theShroud of Turin, they were made with clothing actually worn by the author, like someholy relic. They were these odd collectibles, and I carried these ugly little dolls around at our firstSan Diego con together."[3]
The gimmick worked, and they "picked up nine distributors for the book!"[3] The comic began to be profitable, and one of Brabner's dolls "ended up onThe David Letterman Show."[3] She still made them occasionally for charity auctions.[3]
In the early 1990s, Brabner and Pekar became guardians of a young girl, Danielle Batone, when she was nine years old.[8] Danielle became a recurring character inAmerican Splendor, alongside Pekar's diverse cast of family and friends.[7]
Brabner died on August 2, 2024, at the age of 72.[9]
In addition to Pekar andAmerican Splendor, Brabner worked with many of independent comics' highest-profile writers and artists.
Brabner editedEclipse Comics'Real War Stories (2 issues, 1987, 1991), which broughtMike W. Barr,Steve Bissette,Brian Bolland,Paul Mavrides,Dean Motter,Denny O'Neil andJohn Totleben (among others) together on behalf of theCentral Committee for Conscientious Objectors andCitizen Soldier.[10]
Lou Ann Merkle, "an art student and activist living in Cleveland" began working with the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors, a "military and draft counseling organization," and sought out Pekar for advice on the costs involved in creating a comic.[3] Seeking "a tool to reach teenagers with information about the military" in the face of thepeacetime draft and what she saw as an "aggressive recruiting campaign" (aided by the release ofTop Gun in 1986).[3] Brabner recalls that Merkle was looking for some "counterpropaganda, a way of presenting some of the things the recruiters weren't telling the kids about the draft," including the stories of "veterans and people fromEl Salvador."[3]
Although Merkle had only budgeted for a black-and-white comic, Brabner felt strongly "that color was necessary if they were going to reach the kids", preferably with "popular artists and writers," but "realized with the integrity and honesty the undergrounds had."[3] Brabner, Merkle, and the CCCO managed to find in Eclipe a publisher willing to split the costs of printing, were given "some grant funding," and found some creators willing to defer their pay.[3] After publication, the CCCO took on the responsibility of distributing the comic –Real War Stories – including getting copies "into some schools [where] they were used in classrooms".
This drew the attention of theDepartment of Defense and theDepartment of Justice after anAtlanta newspaper objected strongly to the "presence ofReal War Stories" at a "high school 'career day'."[3] Pressure from "different people from around the country" caused the school to tell the Atlanta Peace Alliance and the CCCO that "theycouldn't [attend the career day], prompting the APA and CCCO to file asuit against the school."[3]
At the hearing, the Department of Defense "offered an expert witness" who labeled the contents ofReal War Stories as being "all made up", despite Brabner's assertion that not only were they "all autobiographical stories", but that personally "participated in all the interviews [which]... were all carefully documented."[3] During one courtroom exchange, Brabner recalls that they "had military Naval court records" supporting the truth of some of the autobiographical comics stories, and when the case was continued, the "CCCO got a letter from the Department of Defense essentially withdrawing the complaint."[3]
Eclipse published a second issue ofReal War Stories in 1991.[11]
Her writing onBrought to Light withAlan Moore and artistBill Sienkiewicz[12] brought critical praise from both the artistic and activist communities. Originally a joint publishing venture betweenEclipse Comics andWarner Books, the 1989graphic novelflip bookBrought to Light dealt in part with theCentral Intelligence Agency's involvement in theIran–Contra affair.[3] The impetus behindBrought to Light was the involvement of theChristic Institute ("a public-interest legal firm, best known at that time for its work on theKaren Silkwood case") in a case "involving the bombing of a press conference in Costa Rica."[3] Survivors of the bombing who had investigated "found," says Brabner "it involved much broader issues involvingcovert operations [and] possible swaps of drugs for arms."[3]
Stymied in initial attempts to bring the matter to court, the initial investigators required an outside organization, bringing in the Christic Institute.[3] "People at Christic had seenReal War Stories #1" and in trying to raise funds to investigate and document facts and allegations surrounding the "very complicated" story, turned to Brabner "and asked if I could communicate this very complex story in comic book form."[3] Faced with "two ways the stories could be told," Brabner remembers she decided to utilize both.[3]
I decided to tell these stories in two different ways, as a "topsy-turvy" format comic book. A number of people in comics were too afraid to be involved with the project, butAlan Moore had a story inReal War No. 1 and I knew we could work together, and he took it on. I wrote the other.[3]
Warner Books "was interested in the project from the beginning," thinking that they could be involved from the start in a book on the Iran-Contra affair, which could, says Brabner, have been "as big asWatergate."[3] Caution overtook enthusiasm, however, when "it became clear that this story was a lot bigger than everybody thought it was."[3] Although thoroughly scrutinised – and Brabner says that she "was told at the time by Warner's attorneys that our sources were solid and our book would fly" – she believes that Warner "realized this wasn't going to be the enormous trial, or victory, they thought it would be."[3] Ultimately,Brought to Light was published solely by Eclipse.
Brabner, talking in the early 1990s, described the difficulties involved in "publish[ing] non-fiction, public interest comics," which entail "go[ing] outside the world of comic book publishing," and often relying on "grant money."[3] Even with funding in place, however, she described the difficulty in finding "a publisher willing to take on a reprinting of theMartin Luther King comicAl Capp Studiospackaged [Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story]," which was cited as an inspiration by one of the four students who began the February 1960 "non-violent sit-in demonstration" in Greensboro, North Carolina.[3] Brabner refers to this event as particularly highlighting "the historical role of comics in social and political arenas," and (withAmerican Splendor) "play[ing] a vital role in Joyce's decision to build upon her work in prisons and schools, to apply the medium to controversial investigative ventures."[3] Together, and separately, Pekar and Brabner "have [both] tenaciously pursued a path dedicated to the truths of the human condition, contrary to the lurid escapist fantasies that fuel the main engines of the comic book industry."[3]
Indeed, in theStephen R. Bissette/Stanley Wiater-editedComic Book Rebels, the editors draw a distinction between Pekar's stories – which are "primarily by himself and about himself" — and Brabner, who "uses her own experiences to frame broader investigative narratives about America, and the impact our social, political, and military institutions have upon not only ourselves but the world."[3]
She also wroteActivists!, which was commissioned, and then canceled, by theFellowship of Reconciliation, but later published byStabur Press;[13] and thePETA-supportedAnimal Rights Comics, both of which illustrated byMark Badger (among others) — as well as working onStrip AIDS (1987–1988) and a book calledCambodia, USA[3] (never published).
In 1994, Pekar and Brabner collaborated with artistFrank Stack on theHarvey Award-winning graphic novelOur Cancer Year.The project was, according to Brabner, planned to be a "book about activism and cancer and being married and buying a house, about being sick at a time when we feel the whole world is sick."[3] It takes the reader through Pekar's struggles withlymphoma, as well as serving as a social commentary on events of that year, and was, said Brabner, written "together from our different points of view, in the different way we experienced Harvey's illness."[3]
She and Pekar later published work in Jason Rodriguez's"Postcards" series,[14] as well as an anthology (with Pekar,Ed Piskor and others) calledThe Beats (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008).[15]
With Pekar, she co-authored and appeared as herself in an opera performed by Real Time Opera in January 2009; the event was broadcast on the Internet fromOberlin College on January 31, 2009.[16]
She helped finish and publish two of Pekar's posthumously published works,Harvey Pekar's Cleveland (Zip Comics/Top Shelf Productions, 2012) andNot the Israel My Parents Promised Me, (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, July 2014). In addition, Brabner's 2014 nonfiction comic bookSecond Avenue Caper: When Goodfellas, Divas, and Dealers Plotted Against the Plague was given theLambda Literary Award for "LGBT Graphic Novel" at the27th Lambda Literary Awards in 2015.[17] Illustrated byMark Zingarelli, the book was published byHill & Wang.[18]
From 2015 to 2018 Brabner performed in storytelling and comedy shows that also featuredKevin Meaney,Marina Franklin,Lydia Lunch,Aparna Nancherla, Nonye Brown-West, and Cassie J. Sneider. These shows took place at Ralph's Rock Diner[19][20] (Worcester, Massachusetts) and venues in and near Boston. The shows were produced and hosted by comedian Matthew Flynn, and the shows were often called Guerrilla Theatre or Thought Bomb.[21][22]
After writing the foreword for Joe Biel's memoir,Good Trouble: Building a Successful Life and Business with Autism,[23] Brabner publishedThe Courage Party: Helping Our Resilient Children Understand and Survive Sexual Assault with Biel's pressMicrocosm Publishing in 2020 (co-authored with her foster daughter Danielle Batone). At the time of her death, Biel and Brabner had been planning to reissue out-of-print books and new posthumous comic books from Pekar and other unreleased work.[24]
In 1995, Brabner and Pekar shared aHarvey Award (named after cartoonistHarvey Kurtzman) for "Best Original Graphic Novel" forOur Cancer Year. In 2011, Brabner was awarded anInkpot Award in recognition of her work in comics.[25]Second Avenue Caper: When Goodfellas, Divas, and Dealers Plotted Against the Plague won the 2015Lambda Literary Award.[17]
Brabner was portrayed by actressHope Davis in thefilm adaptation ofAmerican Splendor (2003), and also appeared as herself in some scenes. Davis' performance was met with critical acclaim, and she was nominated for theGolden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture.[26][27]
Brabner appeared as herself in the 2015 documentaryCall Me Lucky, being interviewed about comedian and fellow activistBarry Crimmins.[28]
haha.. Xanadu Comics & Collectables inc [sic].. I was the president..called Cosmic Comics in the movie.
In 2004 the actress was nominated for... a Golden Globe Best Supporting Actress Award (for her work inAmerican Splendor)....
Starring Paul Giamatti as Harvey Pekar..., the film has already received a Golden Globe nomination and an award from theNew York Film Critics Circle. Both those bodies chose to honour Hope Davis for her performance as Giamatti's soulmate Joyce Brabner.
Bobcat was there with a documentary entitledCall Me Lucky, which included an interview with Harvey Pekar's widow, Joyce Brabner.
