The first criticism I can remember, that nearly devastated me, was from
Neal Adams. ‘Cause Neal is blunt up front, very intimidating. A real pussycat deep down, he is a man that because of his reputation – and particularly at the time – is a little hard to know, but he really does want people to succeed. After I became pro, and I met Neal at a convention, there was no man I’ve ever met who was as happy to see me succeed as Neal was. Neal remembered me, remembered the criticism, and
Dick Giordano was also there that day, and Neal comes off as the rough, tough guy, while Dick comes off as a pussycat. But Neal remembered my work and was really happy that I succeeded. I took a lot of the stuff he told me – as a child, which I was – I took a lot of criticism harshly, and didn’t know what to do with it. A lot of technical terms he used, I didn’t know what the hell he meant. (
Laughter). But a lot of the stuff, in hindsight, I utilized later, sometimes subconsciously. And Neal was the very first harsh professional criticism I ever received, and I was devastated. I’d be devastated every other time I got criticism, including after I turned pro.
Marv Wolfman was also a harsh critic of my work. I was trying things I wasn’t equipped to do, wanted to do, but didn’t know how. And because of that, that was better than any art training I could have had.