Ego & Hubris: The Michael Malice Story

    (Ballantine, 2006)
™ and © 2006 Harvey Pekar LLC

Michael Malice’s encounters with the world are best summarized on page 72 of his biography: “I still pass for 16 at age 29—as well as seeming innocent to boot. This is a huge advantage to me strategically, as people always underestimate me.”

Malice is one of those people that’s remarkably engaging on paper, but probably quite alienating to most people in real life. Harvey Pekar adapts his lifestory to illustrations by Gary Dumm, and shows a highly principled and intelligent, hard-working man, with zero tolerance for others’ qualms, quirks and faults.

Malice is a consummate Objectivist, but his self-assured, cold-blooded personality exceeds that of his hero, Ayn Rand’s fictional Howard Roark, because he is honest about his personality, and abhors hypocrisy. Those who accept him for who he is find themselves on great terms, whereas Roark expects others to implicitly understand his worldview, and then damns them internally when they don’t.

— Brendan McGinley
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