Jim Starlin

When I was a kid, there was this neighborhood beer and wine store that sold old comics for a nickel a piece. I'd load up on old books whenever we went on vacation. Yeah, I have a lot of fond memories of riding in the back of the ol' station wagon and reading 'Mystery in Space' and 'Strange Adventures' as we headed up to Torch Lake.

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!'

I found that the artist market was expanding in comics. Marvel was going from something like eight books a month to somewhere in the 20s. As a result of this expansion, Marvel, in particular, was hiring anyone who could hold a pencil. That's how I got my first job there.

The founding fathers of the U.S. were right when they erected that wall between church and state.

If you look back on my career with Marvel, you will see that I don't really return to the House of Ideas to do Captain Marvel, Adam Warlock, and Silver Surfer stories. I always come back to the fold to tell further adventures of everyone's favorite Mad Titan.

Back in my high school years, the Hulk was my favorite Marvel character, and I always enjoy drawing him.

Whenever I come back to Marvel, it's to do a Thanos story for one reason or another.

I had worked on Thanos, created him back even before I started working at Marvel.

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.

I didn't like characters that were one- or two-dimensional. I liked a guy to have a lot of different levels to him and layers, and I think I pretty well succeeded with Thanos.

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.

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.