Look, there's no denying that comics have moved dramatically into the mainstream in North American culture in the last 10 years, and for someone like me who's always tried to make a living at it, it's been great, I'm very grateful for it. But at the same time, it's not a subculture-y thing anymore; it's something that's in the New York Times and the New Yorker.

Maybe you're not even in a position to really judge how good your kid is at that endeavor.

I think a lot of the criticism had to do with disliking the characters - which, again, I take as something of a compliment.

If you're changing diapers and going to the playground, any ambitions of being a cool guy have to fly out the window.

I'm getting to a point in my life where my whole attitude about the relationship between myself and the audience is totally different.

I think there was a point in the past when I felt that my options as an artist were either to make race a nonissue and deny its impact on life and just say, "Don't think of me as an Asian cartoonist. Just think of me as a cartoonist."

One of the by-products of being allowed to start my professional career prematurely is that the evolution of my work is really evident.