Sometimes you're not even sure which of your stories were failures. There are things I've written that I thought were complete catastrophes when I finished with them that have gone on to generate some of my most positive feedback.
I consider myself the luckiest man in the world. I have spent a lifetime doing what I love.
What makes a story is how well it manages to connect with the reader, the visceral effect it has.
Lord of the Rings, I think, is far and away the most brilliantly done stuff.
The curse of comic book adaptations, when I was younger, was that the director or producer would go, "Don't worry about it, it's just a comic book."
I've never had to work out of the arts. I've always either been a writer or an editor, or something where I've made my living from doing what I love. You can't get any better than that.
I would like immortality.
In these litigious times, if you're a beginner, it's becoming harder and harder to get your work to the people who might actually be able to hire you.
If a story isn't working, I'm simply unable to finish it. That's what usually tells me something is wrong.
There are very few of us, who reach my advanced age, who are still working in the business, as writers. As artists, people can hang out longer.
People who were more concerned with themselves and looking good to their readers then they were with the characters sacrificed a series for the sake of a story.
When someone writes to tell me something I've written made them laugh or cry, I've done my job and done it well. The rest is all semantics.
I've always thought of myself as an organic writer, rather than a cerebral one. I feel my way along as I go, hoping I'll get to the place I intend to reach.
I hate the crazy, neurotic characters beyond a certain point.
I've never sat down and thought about the difference between plot and theme. To me, that's never been important.
The most unrealistic thing I've ever read in comics is when some group of characters calls themselves the Brotherhood of Evil or the Masters of Evil. I don't believe any character believes their goals to be truly evil.
I became an art major, took every art class my school had to offer. In college, I majored in Advertising Art and Design.
When I got my first glimpse of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, my breath caught. In that single instant, he was Wolverine.
You can read a dozen different textbooks or how-to manuals that will tell you the basic rules of what makes a story - a beginning, a middle, and an end.
I had never really thought of myself as a writer; any writing I had done was just to give myself something to draw.
Were there stories I wrote along the way that were terrible clinkers? God, yes. But they were all a product of their time, and I did the best I could.
I was a very sickly kid. While I was in the hospital at age seven, my Dad brought me a stack of comic books to keep me occupied. And I was hooked. When my eighth grade art teacher, Mr. Smedley, told me he thought I had actual art talent, I decided to devote all my efforts in that direction in the hope that I might someday get into the comics biz. I became an art major, took every art class my school had to offer. In college, I majored in Advertising Art and Design.
My father brought me my first stack of comics, when I was seven years old and in the hospital. I was not a well child. And that's where my love for comics began.
I'm still a fanboy geek. I always will be. In many ways, if my work still resonates with the audience, it's because I'm still writing from the point of view of the fan, so I'm geeked out constantly.
