Life is never completely without its challenges.

I remember when I was a kid, I loved Sherlock Holmes. I thought Arthur Conan Doyle was one of the greatest writers, because I felt I knew Sherlock Holmes. He existed to me. When I went to England the first thing I did was go to Baker Street to look for his house. I think you've got to try to make all of your characters as empathetic and realistic as possible.

That's what everybody tells me. "I would've had a great comic-book collection, but my mother made me throw them away." But when I was growing up, my mother didn't care. As long as I was reading, she didn't care if my room was filled with comics. I could have saved everything. I was just too stupid to do it.

If you're going to write something, that's going to be read by people, a lot of people, you hope it will not only entertain them but maybe do them some good in some way.

In fact, I was too dumb to save any of the old comic books or the old artwork. I used to give them away.

These stories of people with unusual powers and unusual appearances, who do unusual things, people are always fascinated by them.

When you work with people whom you like and you admire because they're so good at what they do, it doesn't feel like work. It's like you're playing.