The novels have done so well because the drawings are abstract, black-and-white. This adds to the universality of the story. "Persepolis" also has dreamlike moments, and the drawings help maintain cohesion and consistency.

If today I have to make a political statement, it is, 'I love beauty.' I think beauty makes people better.

I was a westerner in Iran, an Iranian in the West. I had no identity. I didn't even know anymore why I was living.

The language in a comic book or a graphic novel and the cinematographic language are really not the same language. They are false brother and sister. It's not at all the same.

'The Jungle Book.' It's one of the best animated films ever. I saw it when I was small at a cinema in Tehran.

To speak behind others' backs is the ventilator of the heart.

Words also are filters. They have to be translated. Even in the original language, there is interpretation and some ambiguity. If there's a cultural difference between the writer and the reader, that might come out in words. But with pictures, there's more efficiency.