Helen also commented on the late Harvey Pekar by wearing a shirt with his name. “It was a great graphic artist and I want to salute him today,” she said.
Helen also commented on the late Harvey Pekar by wearing a shirt with his name. “It was a great graphic artist and I want to salute him today,” she said.
Ohh I could be really pedantic here and say that Harvey Pekar never actually drew anything, and so wasn’t technically a “graphic artist” but more of a “graphic novelist” — but I won’t.
Ah, but you did. But everyone is thinking it anyway. And it’s Helen’s good intentions that count in the end. :)
And the “it”, well, okay, Pekar was a “he”.
But Mirren is so well known and well spoken that her well meaning comment in itself probably caused a surge in sales of Pekar’s books to the general public.
I think her manager handed her the shirt and said, “Here…put this on. These people will eat it up.”. Sort of a geek cred thing. She obviously knew nothing about Pekar and his work. And WTF? “It”?
Geek cred:
* Voice of “Deep Thought” in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
* Red (based on a GN)
* Inkheart
* The Twilight Zone (“Dead Woman’s Shoes)
* 2010
* Excalibur (nominated for a Saturn)
(And as a film geek, she’s in two amazing casts: Caligula, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.)
Which makes her wearing of a Pekar shirt all the more unnecessary. Really….does it seem like she’s familiar with the guy’s work? If she was, she’d know he wasn’t a “graphic artist”.
Speaking of graphic artists, I can tell you one did NOT design that Pekar shirt. Comic Sans wouldn’t be used for a garage sale sign, much less a tribute/memorial piece.
Mark, you really think a Harvey Pekar shirt is a calculated move to earn geek cred? This isn’t SPX, it’s ComicCon.
No, I don’t think it was calculated. I think it was more a spur of the moment thing (possibly a manager) who said “here, wear this”. It just seems silly for someone of her stature memorializing someone whose work she’s obviously not that familiar with.
From Starpulse.com:
“Mirren even sported comic related wardrobe. She wore a T-shirt in tribute of the late Harvey Pekar, author of American Splendor. She designed the shirt herself online and had it made for the convention.
“I’m wearing a t-shirt in [tribute] to Harvey Pekar who I thought was a great, great artist. I thought it was all about comic book heroes and boys kind of stuff. He revealed the fact that a graphic novel could be as deep, complex, personal and psychological as any other work of art: novel, movie, painting, anything. So I think that this world, I think it’s really exciting to see it burgeoning and expanding and changing as it goes into a real total art form. I think we’re at a very exciting point in the whole era, the whole ether, the whole development of comic books. I’m fascinated to see where it’s going to be in another 20 years.””
I stand corrected! Thanks for the additional info, Torsten. She obviously IS a fan….though I still wonder why she characterized him as a graphic artist.
That also explains the use of Comic Sans!
She’s so classy!
I’m assuming she just meant it in terms of an artist using a graphical medium. The phrasing is a bit off, clearly.
Love Bruce Willis’ expression.
Yeah, playing ‘who’s a sincere nerd’ is a waste of time.
Down in front, AP!
God gotta love Helen
dont ever go to magic mountain alone.