Even drawing gray hair at all is difficult to render in black and white.

The writing is hard, and the drawing is fun. It's very satisfying to see a drawing start to come together.

Autobiographical comics, I love them. I love them.

Yeah, I read Judy Blume. My mother didn't like that, but I read it anyhow.

I do sometimes miss doing that lighter, more humorous work, and I find there's a heavier responsibility that goes along with a literary reputation. You have to start knowing what you're talking about and you have to go have public conversations with writers. That's been pretty intense; I have to really stay on top of things in a way I didn't before.

It was a vicious cycle, though. The more gratification we found in our own geniuses, the more isolated we grew.

My father once nearly came to blows with a female dinner guest about whether a particular patch of embroidery was fuchsia or magenta. But the infinite gradations of color in a fine sunset - from salmon to canary to midnight blue - left him wordless.