"Oscar The Amazing Baby" written by Harvey Pekar & illustrated by Tara Seibel

About a month before Harvey passed he told me that he felt bad sometimes because he

seemed to favor baby Oscar more than the other two kids. I said to him,"Harvey, they don't notice. Besides you favored Paddy when he was a baby. You're just a baby person that's all."

As Patrick became a toddler they developed a bond. It was like they were buddies. This sort of made me nervous, because you worry about your kids, and there was something about Harvey that I couldn't quite pin down that made me nervous about him being around. The fact that his home life was unstable could have been it and he was always walking on eggshells with his wife about working with me. Also, he was seventy and I didn't know if he was going to be around for five years or five weeks. These things made me nervous. But you can't stop human beings from enjoying each other while on earth.

Just lately I finally had to explain to Patrick that Harvey had died. This is where I start to pay my dues for getting to work with a legend. I would have taken a bullet in the arm rather than explain to my four year old son that his buddy passed away. But I figured it was part of life and he needed to learn about it. I felt he was ready to understand. In the car he heard Harvey's voice talking about jazz on the radio. So he asked me, "Mommy, why is Harvey talking on the radio but not with me at home? Where is Harvey's house? Can we go see him? I miss him Mommy." I explained to Patrick that Harvey didn't live at home anymore that he got sick and he went to heaven. He started to cry and not the kind of cry when he doesn't get an ice cream cone. This was a different kind of cry. A cry I had never heard before. This is when I was reminded that nothing in life is free. I started to wonder if it was worth it. Patrick asked me, "Why is Harvey in the sky?" I told him, that people have different "heavens" depending on what they believe. But they get released from pain on earth and get released as spirits into happy places. I also reminded him of all the books Harvey gave him and all of his comics he'll be able to read when he gets older. I gave him a big hug and kiss and told him I loved him more than anything in the world. That seemed to put a smile back on his face.

Harvey also made a genuine attempt to talk with Lauren, my oldest. What I appreciated was that he somehow could put himself on her level and ask her what kind of books she was reading. One time Lauren read one of Harvey's scripts he wrote for a comic we did called "Gut Shabbos" http://www.jewishreviewofbooks.com/publications/detail/gut-shabbes for the Jewish Review of books. The editor asked Harvey to take a section out, which happened to be the funny part. When Harvey brought over the published comic in the magazine, we were all sitting around eating bagels in the kitchen and Lauren asked him if she could read the comic. Harvey was so excited, he put his bagel down and with butter on his fingers flipped to the page. She was reading it with a puzzled expression on her face. Harvey said, What's a matter don't you like it? Lauren said, It's not that I don't like it, it's just that I like the original script you wrote with the panel that had the group huddled around whispering about you." Harvey was impressed she remembered the original script and agreed with her. I remember him saying to her, "Boy, you are really sharp."

I picked up the comic and gazed at the glossy colors and smelled the fresh ink.

I started writing this blog about "Oscar the Amazing Baby" but now got onto another comic. Oh well, I'll leave a link for one and post the other. Enjoy. -Tara