"People are stupid, I guess": The Seattle Times also chats with Harvey Pekar, who has his own thoughts on the state of graphic novels, and why comics haven't blossomed:

"Well, I don't know what all this stuff about graphic novels is all about. First of all, I'm kind of separated from the comic-book world. You know, I don't have much contact with people who are involved with comics. So I don't know if they're selling that great or not. I imagine a few of them are selling good and most of them are selling bad. ...

"... There's some good stuff. I'm not going to disparage what some people are doing. It's just that comics haven't caught on like I thought they were gonna. I mean, once in a while, some comic book gets people excited or something like that. That's not enough. I mean, comics are as good an art form as any that exists, as far as I'm concerned. They haven't really been used right. They've been used in a real limited kind of way. They've been aimed mainly at kids.

"I thought when the underground movement of the '60s started, there would be no looking back — that gradually there would be all sorts of comic books published like they deserved to be published, as much of a variety in comics as there is in prose. But that hasn't happened."