It's always interesting to see what the real enthusiasts think, but they're rarely representative of the tastes of the wider audience, so I tend to write for myself, for an imagined smart 14-year-old, and for a couple of friends who are still big comics fans.

Imagine the earth’s population of six billion people reduced to just one hundred representatives. Statistically, that makes 30 white, 70 non-white. It means 6 people own 59% of the wealth and they all live in North America. 80 are in substandard housing. One has an education. One owns a computer. Don’t blame me if it all sounds crazy.

If this book has made any point clear, I hope it's that things don't have to be real to be true. Or vice versa.

Unlike novel characters, comic book characters last an eternity. When a character is changed beyond recognition, there's no longer the merchandising aspect.

And that's why people read comics, to get away from the way life works, which is quite cruel and unheroic and ends in death.

I was a clubber in the Nineties. I went dancing every week.

It's so horrible to realize you're just the same as everyone else, isn't it?