OUR CANCER YEAR by Harvey Pekar...

OUR CANCER YEAR by Harvey Pekar & Joyce Brabner, art by Frank Stack (Four Walls Eight Windows: $17.95; 224 pp., paperback original). In this graphic novel, Harvey Pekar and his wife, Joyce Brabner, re-create the grim time they shared during Pekar’s battle with lymphoma. While she worked with a student peace organization, he underwent surgery and chemotherapy, then faced a traumatic move and the computerization of his clerical Civil Service job. Pekar essentially created the comic verite genre in the U.S. with his “American Splendor” series, and “Year” is a gritty, if sometimes whiny, self-portrait. Although a regular contributor to “American Splendor,” Stack fails to differentiate the characters or depict the action clearly: His scribbled artwork muddles the text it should elucidate.