I do think that many Americans have a limited view of what constitutes Japanese cartooning based on what gets translated, so it's great to see an increase in diversity.

The type of cartooning that I think is generally referred to as 'alternative' or 'underground' is usually - the distinction is usually in terms of whether it's made by one person, the entire thing is done by one hand or more of a production line process, which is how the comics that we grew up reading were made.

The story entitled 'Good-Bye' is probably Tatsumi's most well-known work, and I think it's a good representation of many of Tatsumi's skills and stylistic tendencies.

Readers often bring a different set of criteria to the work based on the format.

What was a very private childhood hobby turned into a very a public, professional job, and I think that there's a lot of inhibition that can grow from that.

I never really thought of myself as an Asian-American cartoonist, any more than I thought of myself as a cartoonist who wears glasses.