People writing about me have said that I've influenced a lot of people, and there are some artists who have credited me with influencing them.

I came up with American Splendor. Some people think it's American Squalor.

Ordinary life is pretty complex stuff.

I was influenced by autobiographical writers like Henry Miller, and I had actually done some autobiographical prose. But I just thought that comics were like virgin territory. There was so much to be done. It excited me. I couldn't draw very well. I could write scripts and storyboard style using stick figures and balloons and captions.

I was sort of on a mission with 'American Splendor.' I wanted to try to prove that comics could do things. I wanted to expand them beyond superheroes and talking animals. And I knew that was going to take a long time. But I just started writing an autobiography about my quotidian life.

Misery loves company. There's a lot to that.