You don't have to be a religious person to be affected by religion or a religious movement.
Thanos and Adam Warlock are two of a kind because they're both sort of out of the norm: out of the circle of life and death that falls on top of everyone else. Both have had multiple deaths and resurrections, and they always seem to get pulled in as key players for cosmic events.
When I was a kid, there was this neighborhood beer and wine store that sold old comics for a nickel a piece. I'd load up on old books whenever we went on vacation. Yeah, I have a lot of fond memories of riding in the back of the ol' station wagon and reading 'Mystery in Space' and 'Strange Adventures' as we headed up to Torch Lake.
I found that the artist market was expanding in comics. Marvel was going from something like eight books a month to somewhere in the 20s. As a result of this expansion, Marvel, in particular, was hiring anyone who could hold a pencil. That's how I got my first job there.
If I hadn't had the outlet of writing and drawing comics, I guess there's a good chance I wouldn't be around today.
I didn't like characters that were one- or two-dimensional. I liked a guy to have a lot of different levels to him and layers, and I think I pretty well succeeded with Thanos.
Back in my high school years, the Hulk was my favorite Marvel character, and I always enjoy drawing him.
Thanos was the first character I ever created professionally. He's always been the baby I return to whenever I work with Marvel.
It has taken some time, but I know I've put my trust in the right team, and I'm excited to collaborate with Universal Cable Productions and Benderspink to bring 'Dreadstar''s unique brand of chaos to television.
I'd grown up very Catholic, parochial school, and Warlock was a way of working a lot of things out.
Being an artist, you soak up imagery, and you put it back out in whatever form you do your own imagery.
The founding fathers of the U.S. were right when they erected that wall between church and state.
I consider 'Dreadstar' to be an extension of my family, so it took me a while to feel comfortable letting anyone else take care of this project.
Most times, life or death is the highest stake a person can play for.
If you look back on my career with Marvel, you will see that I don't really return to the House of Ideas to do Captain Marvel, Adam Warlock, and Silver Surfer stories. I always come back to the fold to tell further adventures of everyone's favorite Mad Titan.
I got rid of Warlock's lightning bolt because... it was a real pain to draw.
Very little other than Elmore Leonard's crime writing inspiring me on my Batman run.
When I started writing 'Batman,' I lobbied heavily to get rid of Robin - or at least not use him in the stories I wrote. Fighting crime with a teenager dressed in primary colors while you're sporting a gray-and-black outfit always struck me as child endangerment, if not abuse.
Thanos came to me while I was taking a psychology class in college after coming out of the service; the ol' Thanos/Eros concept.
My well-meaning parents decided to send me to a Catholic grade school to get a better education than I probably would have received at the local public school. They had no way of knowing that the school nuns, who were the majority of the teachers at this particular parochial school, were right-wing, card-carrying John Birch Society members.
