I loved fantasy but I particularly loved the stories in which somebody got out of where they were and into somewhere better - as in the 'Chronicles Of Narnia ' 'The Wizard Of Oz ' 'The Phantom Tollbooth ' the 'Dungeons & Dragons' cartoon on Saturday morning in the '80s.

My mom was a big 'Smurfs' fan so she would force me to watch every Saturday morning. I had no choice in the matter. I would jump downstairs on Saturday morning 'Hurray cartoons!' and she would say 'Smurfs! That's what you're watching.'

My mom thought I might be good for voiceover. She thought I had a cute voice so maybe I could do a cartoon or something. And while we were looking into that we also thought I should get into theater acting so I tried it and the first audition I went on I booked it. And it kind of just snowballed from there.

I don't think there's any independent cartoonist whose stuff I don't like or respect in at least some way or another. We're all marginal laborers - we're practically medical oddities - so I don't see why we can't all be nice to each other.

I did this within a philosophical framework and a moral and legal framework. And I have been turned into a cartoon of the greatest villain in the history of lobbying.

The Gorillaz cartoons seem more real to me than the actual people on TV. Because at least you know that there's some intelligence behind the cartoons and there's a lot of work that's gone into it so it can't all be just a lie.

Joe Barbera's s always complaining that he can't get humor into cartoons anymore. Just do it. You've got your money. Why do they let the networks run their lives?

The humor section is the last place an author wants to be. They put your stuff next to collections of Cathy cartoons.

In live action movies you just hope that everything works. Because the actor may had a bad morning and doesn't play good or accidents happen continuously. Many things contradict what you are trying to say. But in cartoons nothing contradict what you want to say.

I was from such a large family that when I first met my wife I told her: 'You can go work outside of the house and I'll stay home and continue making my cartoon strips. Maybe I'll make some commercials nearby you know I'll do anything locally but I would love to just stay at home and raise the kids like I did when I was growing up.'