A: When the American Splendor film was made, I had just retired from 37 years as a federal government file clerk, so you know my life was going to change. Since then I have made a living mainly as a comic book/graphic novel writer. The success of the film brought me many more writing assignments.

Q: How has American Splendor, the graphic novel, changed since its inception when Robert Crumb was the illustrator?

A: First - Robert Crumb, great artist that he is, was never the only American Splendor illustrator. Also - American Splendor began in 1976 as a self-published comic book, not a graphic novel. I don't know if American Splendor has evolved that much. It remains a series whose focus is on quotidian life.

Q: What is the collaborative process with artists like? What was it like to collaborate with your wife Joyce on Our Cancer Year?

A: I give artists a storyboard version of my stories including captions, word and thought balloons and instructions on what images to use. I have long conversations with them in which details of the story are clarified by me. Collaborating with Joyce was not easy, but I am very proud of the work with Joyce in Our Cancer Year.

Q: How has jazz music influenced your life and your art?

A: Jazz was once very important to me, beginning in the late 1950s -2000. I sort of burned out on it, though. Jazz music has not influenced my comic book writing, though I often use jazz slang.

Q: What can you tell us about your graphic history of Students for a Democratic Society and your upcoming graphic history of the Beats?

A: Both books were the brain child of editor Paul Buhle, who I then collaborated with. In both books, I tried to include a concise history of their subjects. In the SDS book, the history section was followed by the individual stories of group members. I told the history of the Beats mainly with biographical articles on Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William Burroughs. After that came shorter articles on a wide variety of subjects.

Interview Date: 2008