Ego & Hubris Harvey Pekar
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Ego & Hubris: The Michael Malice Story
Harvey Pekar
Ballantine Books
Hardcover
160 pages
April 2006
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The latest offering from Harvey Pekar (American Splendor, The Quitter) has him branching out in telling of someone else’s story. What can be described as graphic memoir, Ego & Hubris: The Michael Malice Story runs in the same vein as his previous works. It is the tale of Michael Malice, a geeky weakling with a high I.Q. and a personality befitting the title. At times, in fact a lot of times, Malice is jerk-boasting about his superior intelligence, yet is honest.
“I was a brilliant kid. People think that it’s bragging to say you’re brilliant. But if I were the tallest kid, it would be regarded as a mere statement of fact. So I’m not sure why it’s regarded as arrogance when I say I was smarter than everyone. Maybe because so many people think they’re smart when they’re not. I have a 160 I.Q., which is four standard deviations above the mean (or a higher I.Q. than 99.97% of the population), which means that there are 240 people smarter than me in New York City. I just did the calculation, and I’m pretty weirded out by it.”
Harvey Pekar nails the tone of the story perfectly. Delivering a slice of someone else’s life instead of his doesn’t affect the quality of the writing; it’s very good. The artwork by Gary Dumm is just as good as previous collaborations with Pekar. Overall, Ego & Hubris is a quirky yet enjoyable read filled with off–beat humor. Fans of American Splendor will enjoy this immensely.
Originally published on Curled Up With A Good Book at www.curledup.com. © Bobby Blades, 2006
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