Despite the variety my books reflect my, perhaps foolish, tendency to place artistic above financial concerns; of enjoying the more mature themes in whatever creative form; of being on a mission to show that comics are not just for kids; and on a wider level of standing up for individuality against conformity.

An aspect of 'post-modern' approach to history is to include the mistakes and the prejudices of the era, without modernizing them or 'correcting' them according to our modern ideals.

There are many things I still don't know or don't do well in comic books. It's more a question of having the will to do something creative on a subject that seems interesting. Then just giving it a bloody good bash - that's the main thing.

Mistakes and prejudices are as interesting as anything else. They reveal a lot about the mind set and culture of the time under consideration.

Who are we to be so arrogant as to say 'now WE know what's best, THAT era was full of daft ideas' etc. There will be plenty things we take as normal and good now that future generations will look back at in horror or amusement.

My personality has become one that tends to focus and move forward, yes. But I was not like that when I was 16 or 23, I think. I was much more uncertain, unconfident and inwards looking. Then via certain techniques I learned from psychotherapy, magick and just life in general I become more focused, confident and happy within myself.

Me being from a Celtic culture that tends to emphasize directness, conflict, openness has a big effect on my living in Japan, which tends to focus on indirectness, avoidance of conflict and keeping things close to your chest. So that has led to quite a lot of cultural misunderstandings in dealing with this East Asian culture I live in.