I think there is a possible future where maybe we do just take a hard turn away from the Internet and we do start valuing our privacy again.

I'm the one who started spreading that particular factoid, about Bendis, Azz and me all being bald Brian's from Cleveland, just to get my name mentioned in the same sentence as two much-better writers, and it's worked like a goddamn charm. Next up, I'm going to grow a big, disgusting beard, just so people will start talking about Alan Moore and me in the same breath.

I start with something that makes me angry or confused, and then I write about it. It's a form of self-help.

I like things that are weirdly imaginative and couldn't be real, but I also like stories that are recognizable and relatable.

I think a lot of creators are attracted to those toys they got to play with when they were young, and everyone wants to write a Superman story or a Batman story or a Spider-Man story. I don't know, if it's been successful for me, it should be successful for anyone. "Hit the ground with your feet running" is the secret of breaking new characters when it seems like no one else is having any luck.

I think there is a possible future where maybe we do just take a hard turn away from the Internet and we do start valuing our privacy again.

I remember seeing Stand by Me, when I was around 12, and just feeling like, "This is so refreshing to see kids swear and smoke cigarettes like my friends." It just felt much more real than the Sesame Street version of childhood that I'd been spoon-fed.