Harvey Pekar, a nationally-known underground comics writer and Cleveland icon, is dead at age 70. Pekar was best known for his American Splendor series (which inspired a movie of the same name, starring both Paul Giamatti and Pekar himself.) 

Much of his work was autobiographical, about his life as a low-level clerk for the Veterans Administration who had a "second life" as an underground comics writer. Many of the storylines were about his day to day frustrations and complaints.

Pekar was closely associated with Robert Crumb and also was a notable jazz critic. He was a Cleveland figure, but was nationally known. I first heard of his death when I got an e-mail from a friend who lives in the Kansas City area.