I was an artist, but not a self-proclaimed great artist, just a common man who was working in a form of art which is universal.

A character to me can't be contrived. I don't like to contrive characters. They have to have an element of truth.

I began to learn about the universe myself and take it seriously. I know the names of the stars. I know how near or far the heavenly bodies are from our own planet. I know our own place in the universe. I can feel the vastness of it inside myself. I began to realize with each passing fact what a wonderful and awesome place the universe is, and that helped me in comics because I was looking for the awesome.

I've never done anything half-heartedly; it's a disservice to me and the audience if I do it half-heartedly.

I've done things that I wouldn't ordinarily seem capable of doing. And I've proven myself in situations where there's life and death at stake. And so, I can live with myself knowing that it's not a matter of guts or anything like that. It's a matter of willingness to go the length, to transcend yourself.

There are people that I didn't like, but I saw them suffer and it changed me. I promised myself that I would never tell a lie, never hurt another human being, and I would try to make the world as positive as I could.

Every father was his own man. He did what he wanted. If your mother went shopping, your father never went with her.