The only real politics I knew was that if a guy liked Hitler, I'd beat the stuffing out of him and that would be it.
I feel my characters are valid, my characters are people, my characters have hope. Hope is the thing that'll take us through.
Our dreams make us large.
I feel that man can transcend himself to a point where he can accomplish greater things than he thinks. I see people depressed and I see people who devalue themselves and I feel that's a terrible, terrible waste. But I love the people who try. But try fairly, try honestly.
Kid ... Comics will break your heart.
It's not in the draftsmanship, it's in the man. Like I say, a tool is dead. A brush is a dead object. It's in the man. If you want to do it, you do it.
I felt the comics grew because they became the common man's literature, the common man's art, the common man's publishing.
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 feel that man can transcend himself to a point where he can accomplish greater things than he thinks.
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.
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.
Everybody can draw, in my estimation. If you give a man 50 years, he'll come up with the Mona Lisa.
Perfectionists are their own devils.
I taught myself how to draw, and I soon found out it was what I really wanted to do. I didn't think I was going to create any great masterpieces like Rembrandt or Gauguin. I thought comics was a common form of art, and strictly American in my estimation, because America was the home of the common man - and show me the common man that can't do a comic. So comics is an American form of art that anyone can do with a pencil and paper.
Once we've learned enough about the universe we will admit to ourselves that we will never know everything.
If you think a man draws the type of hands that you want to draw, steal ‘em. Take those hands.
Life at best is bittersweet.
I've never done anything half-heartedly; it's a disservice to me and the audience if I do it half-heartedly.
I write from a people's point of view. I love people because I understand them. I understand an enemy, I understand a friend, I understand grey areas, and I understand black areas.
The artist is the lowest form of life on the rung of the ladder. The publishers are usually businessmen who deal with businessmen. They deal with promotional people. They deal with financial people. They deal with accountants. They deal with people who work on higher levels. They deal with tax people, but have absolutely no interest in artists, in individual artists, especially very young artists.
All human beings have the capability of doing what they want, what they're attracted to.
I feel that life is a series of very interesting questions, and very poor answers. But I myself am willing to settle for the questions. If the questions are interesting, I feel I evoke them in what I do. I feel that should be good enough for everyone else.
My monsters were lovable monsters. I gave them names - some were evil and some were good. They made sales, and that's always been my prime object in comics.
The average politician was crooked. That was my ambition, to be a crooked politician. I'd see them in these restaurants, and they'd all hold these conferences. I'd see politicians who were supposed to be on opposite sides of issues all together at one table.
I'll never speak to another person without telling the truth. I've been a cruel man in my time, I've been a devious man in my time, like everybody else. I've told lies in my time. But I've seen enough suffering to experiment with the truth.
