johncomic | a cartoonist is born

I dunno what made me think of this now, but I just remembered one of the most important turning points in my life happened at my kitchen table when I was eight:

I was reading the funnies in the newspaper -- I read all the gag strips that our paper carried, none of the adventure or soap strips though -- and one day I was looking at Morty Meekle by Dick Cavalli. (This was before the strip's name was changed to Winthrop.) And at that moment I suddenly said to myself, “Being able to draw comics is so cool! I am gonna learn how to draw comics, I don't care if it takes twenty years!”

And from that point on, I began teaching myself how to draw comics. Of course, since then I've learned that it takes longer than twenty years -- it never ends! Why that moment, why Cavalli -- I have no idea. It's not like he was my special fave or anything. I respected and admired him, but back then I admired and respected anyone who was a comic artist. (I hadn't developed any taste or discernment back then, I was simply an indiscriminate fan! :D )

Still, I had no idea how much that 8-year-old's snap decision would shape the rest of my life...