I think it has most to do with the way in which a story is told, whether it feels real either via the music of the telling or the honesty of the story.

Cartoons are not real drawings, because they are drawings intended to be read.

No one blames themselves if they don't understand a cartoon, as they might with a painting or "real" art; they simply think it's a bad cartoon.

I can definitely say that of all my friends who I consider to be really great cartoonists, we're all trying to aim at basically the same thing, which is an ever closer representation of what it feels like to be alive.

Mostly, I was only interested in television as a kid, and the majority of reading material I collected was an adjunct to that central concern, comic books and magazines included.

I don't think there's any independent cartoonist whose stuff I don't like or respect in at least some way or another. We're all marginal laborers - we're practically medical oddities - so I don't see why we can't all be nice to each other.

My grandmother was an unparalleled storyteller who gave me a preview of how life might turn out, and also fortified my empathy.