“It’s psychologically a weird experience to be so aware of the fact that the real time of your life is moving much faster than the fictional time you’re trying to depict.”

There were points at which I was trying to use my art to reflect positively on myself, to almost be flirtatious through the work.

That partially due to the world of media and commerce, the idea of a comic book has been lost in the ghetto.

But not the kind of comics that they were used to, and no, it’s not pornography, etc.

Look, there’s no denying that comics have moved dramatically into the mainstream in North American culture in the last 10 years.

I never go home and take out those business cards and go to those websites.

But if there was a mini-comic here in my hand, I’d read it while I ate my lunch.

I wanted to avoid doing what I thought people wanted me to do.

The idea of trying to make the effort to produce something, to put something out into the world, rather than just taking in all the stuff the world’s putting out at you.

I do think it’s getting more and more rare in this country to raise a kid with the attitude that creativity is something valuable.

And I do think it’s sort of too bad that what once was a safe haven for truly eccentric, outsider artists is no longer that thing.

Just in terms of being able to be a professional artist, but also it’s nice to not have to dread introductions.

I think there’s a lot of evolution that’s happened in intangible ways, in terms of how I think about the work or how I plan it out.

Either thought balloons or narrations or some sort of showy action, then those thoughts and realizations never existed.

There’s been a lot of progress recently. And I shouldn’t make a definitive statement about this.

The experience of reading a comic should not be the time it takes to turn each page.

When email and the Internet came along, I never publish an email address. I just stuck with this P.O. Box address.

You don’t want to hear about how much money I donate to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America or to AIDS awareness or to give out scholarships. You don’t want to hear about that.

The problem as you get older, is that you become more self-aware. At the same time, you have to surprise yourself. There’s no way of arranging the surprise, so it is tricky.

I know now that most people are so closely concerned with themselves that they are not aware of their own individuality, I can see myself, and it has helped me to say what I want to say in paint.

As a broadly left-wing, environmentally aware urban believer in anthropogenic global warming, I am all for a total ban on motor vehicles.

Except I’m aware that as a writer you can’t get away with as much writing for children as you can with adults.

I like the incongruity of how in Iran, these people we think of as being revolutionaries or fanatics or whatever are just as aware of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader as our people are back home.

We are all more intelligent than we are capable, and awareness of the insanity of love has never saved anyone from the disease.

There is nothing more dangerous than a girl who is aware of the flames inside her, and all the damage she can do.