I wanted to reinvent horror comics. I felt like it was my mission to open people's eyes to the fact that horror comics could be so much more than the popular perception of them.

I think all kids understand from a very tender age that dinosaurs were real. They really walked around. That instantly sets them apart from monsters. And it instantly makes them safe. Because you can love 'em, and they're never going to bite you. They're not like a dog. They're safer than a pet, in a weird way.

The power of monsters is, it is a way of giving almost tangible substance to fears, beliefs, things that aren't real. You can coalesce it and draw it, or describe it, and it's a monster.

I hate superheroes. I always hated superheroes. From the time I was a little kid, I could believe in a 50-foot gorilla trashing New York City before I could believe a guy would put on long tights and bat ears and go and fight crime. Like, the fantasy never made sense to me, on a basic level.

I had thought comics could only be one thing, and that was what mainstream comics were selling us. And the undergrounders proved anything you had in your head, as long as you had the skill to put it down on paper, was fair game. And I started filling sketchbooks with my own comics.

When you're making your living as a writer or an artist or a musician, you kind of live in a trance. You're sort of in the day-to-day world, you're certainly there for your day-to-day relationships with people, and so on.

If we can't get more John Rovnaks in this world, let's all support the John Rovnak we've got.