My father worked in Chrysler's drafting department and used to bring home tracing paper, No. 2 pencils, and masking tape from the office. With these, I used to trace off drawings from the 'Superman' and 'Batman' comics and put them up on my bedroom walls.
I had worked on Thanos, created him back even before I started working at Marvel.
I'd like to have had a bigger piece of Thanos than I do, but when the first 'Avengers' movie came out, Marvel and I - we renegotiated some things, so I get a taste out of this thing. I'm not becoming the next Bill Gates, but I'm getting a little something out of it.
Most of my work is science fiction, with many a spaceship but few cars.
Not exactly sure there can be a final chapter to Thanos, considering what he is and his relationship with Mistress Death. Might just be that as long as there is a Marvel, there will be a Thanos to plague that universe's heroes.
I was just as crazy as everybody else post-Watergate, post-Vietnam.
As time went on, Thanos just sort of grew organically on his own.
When I started in the comic book business, 'Art Of' books were strictly the provenance of the greats, like Rembrandt and Da Vinci. But times change, and so do attitudes. Now the comic is considered an art form, and I hope 'A Life in Words and Pictures' contributes a little to that art form's history.
When folks are in desperate times - say, like being stuck in the middle of a long-running interplanetary war - they grasp onto anything that might keep them afloat.
It's nice to see my work recognized as being worth something beyond the printed page, and it was very cool seeing Thanos up on the big screen.
My only surprise when I saw Thanos up on the screen was how violet he was. I always saw his exposed hide as being more grayish violet.
We all - if we are honest with ourselves, we all have these dark spaces within our souls that we don't always want to talk about or acknowledge.
It's hard to say, but I think Warlock is the closest thing Thanos has to a friend.
There's a character, Eon, I did back in the 'Captain Marvel' story. Eon came from a greasy smudge on a paper bag inside my kitchen being used for garbage. I went and got a paper and pencil, drew it up, and he became a character in that story. Things come from everywhere.
Most of the time, I don't like planning out too far ahead. I like to be spontaneous, make decisions, and go, 'Hey! That inspired me! I want to do more with that!'
Whenever I come back to Marvel, it's to do a Thanos story for one reason or another.
I never imagined people like Thanos and Warlock would be drawn into films. They're weird characters in weird stories. Luckily, the twisted kids who read those weird stories are now the twisted adults who are making movies.
If you look closely, you'll see that Marvel basically has three Thanoses. There is the 1970s Thanos appearing in the movies. This is before he got the Infinity Gauntlet. Then there are the Thanos stories I'm telling. And finally, there is the Thanos that appears in the mainstream Marvel stories.
Yes, Marvel Entertainment has treated me very well and generously. Them, I like.
I've been influenced by so many different writers along the way - from Charles Dickens, Roger Zelazny, Michael Moorcock, John D. McDonald, and so many others - that it would take a page or two to list them all.
