proving that comic books arent just about antiheroes, gunplay, sex and action scenes, harvey pekar was one of the people who turned the idea of what was possible in the medium on its ear with american splendor. the autobiographical comic books ran from 1976 through 2008 at varying frequencies of publication and delivered great stories about his own life. to some that didnt seem like a good idea for a comic book, let alone a movie. shari springer berman and robert pulcini saw differently and wrote and directed this film adaptation of the same name as the comic which brought home a host of awards and nominations in 2003. paul giamatti and hope davis are simply brilliant as harvey and his wife joyce brabner; the real-life harvey and joyce appear in the film as well, offering their own insight. its rare that you can find an opportunity to create a biopic based on the subjects own comic book work but thats exactly what they accomplished here and it carries off without a hitch. its a moving story about an everyman with giamatti delivering the best performance of his great career so far. it may not be the most action-packed comic book film of all time, but its certainly one of the most engaging.