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.

Not a word of my writing has ever been changed by another person's hands, and I don't think many screenwriters can say that.

Your own creations are your own children; you gave life to them, so you'll always have, if not more passion to them, more connections to them.

I think some people are just very passionate that things remain the way they were when they were kids.

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

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.

I know I'm a grumpy old man, but I'm always more delighted by readers talking about the actual comics than people talking about how eager they are to have their favorite comics be "elevated" into another medium. Adaptations are great, but for me, comics have always been the destination, not a stepping-stone to get somewhere else.