I love mixing humor and terror, or humor and exhaustion, or even humor and despair. I'm dealing right now with a loved one with cancer, and she's of course sad, but also telling the most disturbingly morbid jokes and puns. I love that, there's so much humanity in being able to mock fate and hardship.

I admire writers who can remain objective and distanced, but that doesn't seem to be in my toolbox, somehow.

I have read many, many of these first-time published efforts and often, even though some are absolutely at pro levels of production, and have very costly printing and presentation, they lack a purpose, they merely emulate successful comics that already exist... I can't stress this enough. Have something to say.

I write about heroes all the time, and I'm struck by how much of what fills us with wonder in the man-made world was the brainchild of a monster. I mean, slaves built most of the ancient wonders, our city skylines are dominated by the product of sometimes very ruthless capitalist ideals. There's a horrifying thought that I often wonder, which is, are monsters sometimes necessary?

Being a bad writer a thousand times first.

Your writing is still yours, no matter what the contract or your editor might say. Trust your gut. It knows when you're screwing up. Your brain will lie to you. It loves the paycheck, it loves positive feedback. Your gut is under no obligation to make you feel good.

Some people are worried about the future of comics and some people are busy building it. That latter group are my heroes.