Graphic Novels

"The writers of the Beat Generation had the good fortune to give themselves a name and to write extensively about their lives, in novels like Jack Kerouac’s On the Road and William Burroughs’s Junkie, in poems like Allen Ginsberg’s 'Howl' and, later, in memoirs like Joyce Johnson’s Minor Characters and Hettie Jones’s How I Became Hettie Jones. Jones once said they couldn’t be a generation because they could all fit in her living room, but in the popular imagination they were much more than the sum of their body parts or writings. They were a brand. When the country still considered literary writers and poets important public figures, these were literary writers and poets who came with luridly colorful lives, full of sex and drugs and cars, 'the best minds of my generation,' 'the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live,' cultural avatars who were often linked more by lifestyle considerations than by writerly ones. If they inspired lots of bad poetry set to bongos and little poetic discipline, they have even more effectively escaped disciplined literary or historical analysis. They rocked; they posed a threat to the nation’s youth. Either you got them or you didn’t. What could matter compared with that? The Beats moves this mythology into the comics realm, where it finds a nice fit . . . The medium provides a new angle on a familiar story, in a voice more directly empathetic than those of many prose histories. It gives the hipsters back their body language. In a book that is largely about license and the enlightened rebel, it is easy to find reflections of both in the graphic form."—John Leland, The New York Times Book Review

"This revelatory and exhilarating and funny book not only tells us of the Beat generation, but of a time when we as individuals felt truly free. It is as fresh and pertinent as the latest scholarly history only far more entertaining."—Studs Terkel

"History with a deeper perspective is the province of The Beats, a multifaceted effort led by writer Harvey Pekar, his frequent collaborator Paul Buhle and artist Ed Piskor. It delivers the texture of a movement easy to underestimate in brief biographies of touchstones like poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, novelists William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac and lesser-known lights like poet d.a. levy (an underground Cleveland icon) and mythopoeic poetess Diane di Prima . . . This fearless, substantial history entertains as it uncovers."—Carlo Wolff, The Boston Globe

"Pekar's history of the post-war literary, cultural and spiritual awakening is well researched and intended . . . Piskor is joined by such stellar artists as Kuper, Tooks, Gary Dumm and Fleener . . . More writers pitch in, too, and the diversity of images and narrative voices add texture and resonance to the proceedings . . . The absorbing graphic presentation may elicit interest from unexpected quarters."—Richard Pachter, The Miami Herald

"Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William Burroughs need no introduction, but here they are introducing The Beats: A Graphic History—in the section written by Harvey Pekar and illustrated by Ed Piskor. It's warts and all: the alcohol-fueled writings, the drug-fueled globe-trotting, not to mention the rampant sexuality and jaw-dropping misogyny . . . But there's humor here too by Joyce Brabner and Summer McClinton on a topic ripe for latter-day ridicule: 'Beatnik Chicks.' Good thing too that Pekar et al. salute some lesser lights in this primer on the birth of the cool: City Lights bookstore founder and poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, in addition to poets Philip Whalen, Kenneth Patchen, and D.A. Levy, plus former hobo Slim Brundage."—Leonard Gill, The Memphis Flyer

"Graphic novels don’t just have to be about dystopian alternative universes, no matter if Watchmen might indicate otherwise. Just peruse the eye-catching The Beats: A Graphic History (in stores as of Tuesday), from Harvey Pekar, Ed Piskor and Paul Buhle, which takes an illustrated look back at a very real part of American pop-culture history, when beat culture of the ’40s and ’50s—sandwiched between the improvisational nature of jazz and the recklessness of rock ’n’ roll—began to speak to a part of a generation at odds with mainstream society. One word sums it up: Cool."—Cary Darling, Star-Telegram

"The history of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs as told by Harvey Pekar and illustrated by Ed Piskor turns hipster history into a digestible, fun read . . . Edited by Brown University professor Paul Buhle, the 100-plus page graphic novel is an entertaining, educational ride . . . Anyone who has followed the lives of these iconic writers will be amused by this book."—Kathleen Pierce, Lowell Sun 

"Do we really need another bio on the lives of Kerouac, Ginsberg, et. al.? Yes, especially should it be one like The Beats. I expected The Beats to be dry, regurgitated history presented in graphic novel form simply because graphic novels are so 2009. So much for first impressions. American Splendor's Pekar leads a troop of writers who bring these influential—and often seriously flawed—writers to life . . . The Beats is strong, dramatic storytelling that is executed and illustrated by major leaguers."—Randy Myers, Contra Costa Times

"Written by Harvey Pekar and four other authors, with art by eleven cartoonists and illustrators, The Beats covers all the major writers of the generation—Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Philip Whalen, Robert Duncan, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Charles Olson, Diane DiPrima, and many more. 'No one claims this treatment to be definitive,' Buhle and Pekar write in their introduction to the book. 'But it is new and it is vital.' And, perhaps more important, it's fun."—Poets & Writers

"If you're a fan of Harvey Pekar, author of the successful graphic novel-turned-film American Splendor, then you can imagine how his voice sounds on a weekday morning, discussing topics including homophobia, Yiddish, and moves about Joseph McCarthy. In his latest project, The Beats: A Graphic History, Pekar conjures an imagine...