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Harvey Pekar died in 2010, but his posthumous graphic novel, “Not the Israel My Parents Promised Me,” is released this summer. Pekar, as comic book fans and viewers of “American Splendor” will remember, was a grouchy schlub and a brilliant independent thinker. He wrote the text for his comics and graphic novels, which were illustrated by various comic-book artists, most notably Robert Crumb. “Not the Israel,” illustrated by JT Waldman, begins with Pekar addressing the reader—he introduces Waldman and says they’re researching a book about the history of Israel. He also wants “to explain why my attitude about the state of Israel changed.” Pekar’s parents were Zionists who ardently supported Jewish settlers in Palestine after WWII, his mother a Marxist and his father a practicing Jew. Learning about Pekar’s parents provides a unique insight into postwar Jewish immigrants, but, like any thorough explanation of the state of Israel, it’s necessary to go further back in history—to, basically, the beginning of time, or, approximately 500 B.C. Pekar and Waldman intersperse the history of God’s promises, the Jewish diaspora and present-day relations with Harvey’s own history—attending Hebrew school, having a Bar Mitzvah and his own attempts to immigrate to Israel. The didactic element of retelling the history of the Middle East has a tendency to sound like a Wikipedia article, although one that’s beautifully illustrated and casually told. What brings life to the story is Pekar’s changing attitudes toward the Jewish state. He moves from the acceptance of his parent’s ideals to forming his own opinions about the political and social maneuverings. While this graphic novel is sure to be controversial, Pekar’s story is told with honesty and his frank desire to simply tell his own truth. In the comic, Harvey and JT are driving through Cleveland, talking about his thought process. “I’m just tired of people saying I’m a self-hating Jew because I’m critical of Israel or make fun of old Jewish ladies,” Harvey says. “For centuries Jews endured horrible suffering and like other people deserve the right to self-determination, but the current trajectory of Israel frightens me. Jews make awkward colonial overlords. Some may argue that it is better to be an oppressor than be oppressed, but oppressors are corrosive, while they bully, they rot.” While Pekar’s extended defense of his position is ostensibly toward his critics, what seems to emerge is a gentle yet exhaustive explanation to his long-dead parents that he no longer shares their beliefs about the nation of Israel. After Pekar died, Waldman completed the collaborative project. Although only his second graphic novel (his first is “Megillat Esther,” an illustrated version of the Book of Esther, in Hebrew script and English), he has a sophisticated style, portraying himself and Pekar realistically and allowing artistic periods to influence his drawings as they describe the history of Israel. Some pages are drawn like a Roman mosaic, others as though they are part of an Islamic illustrated manuscript. He turns another page into a drawer of a filing cabinet, where loose files form the background of a scene from the past. Pekar’s wife, Joyce Brabner, completes the book with a touching (graphic) epilogue, recalling their quick marriage and her own extremely brief relationship with Harvey’s family. She didn’t meet his family until the day of his mother’s funeral, which was impersonal and “like an infomercial” for Israel. She worked to make Harvey’s funeral personal—Jewish, but not nationalistic, as his “place of belonging” was Cleveland. Her brief epilogue is the perfect end to the graphic novel and provides something of a farewell to the author. (Kelly Roark)

“Not the Israel My Parents Promised Me”
By Harvey Pekar and JT Waldman
Hill and Wang, 176 pages, $25