I Write About What I Know And

A Key To My Thinking Has Always Been The Almost Fanatical Belief That What I Was Engaged In Was A Literary Art Form. That Belief Was Compounded Out Of Ego And Necessity, I Guess, A Combination Of The Two.

Before World War Ii, I Was Living A Very Cloistered Existence, As Most Cartoonists Do. The Work I Was Pouring Out Did Not Come From Any Real, Personal Life Experience; This Was All The Residue Of The Accumulation Of Rafael Sabatini, O. Henry, All The Short-story Writers That I'd Been Reading.

Thus, Sped By Currents Of Curiosity Afloat The Swift River Of Rumor Do Secrets Sail To Strange Ports.

Humor Has Historically Been Tied To The Mores Of The Day. The Yellow Kid Was Predicated On What People Thought Was Funny About The Immigrant Irish. When You're Different In A Society, You're Funny.

[before The Spirit] I Had Been Producing Comic Books For 15-year-old Cretins From Kansas [i Wanted To Aim For] A 55-year-old Who Had His Wallet Stolen On The Subway. You Can't Talk About Heartbreak To A Kid.