Steve Dillon

"I aim to find time in my schedule for a decent nights sleep without cutting into my drinking time."

"Superheroes, the best superheroes, tend to be more soap opera-ish -- like the X-Men, and the old Spiderman stuff. But, thats for a continuing-forever sort of series. Weve got a definite [Preacher] story thats got a definite finish, so soap opera is a bit of a disjointed term. But we do have the character subplot stuff going on."

"[Creator-owned projects] give you the chance to do your own ideas. But theres a lot of fun to be had working on characters that somebody else owns. I mean, before I die, Id love to do a Batman [story]. I wont get as much money for it, unless it sells really really well. But its something Id like to do."

"I think a lot of mainstream comics dont appeal to women, because thats the male fantasy of superheroes. [...] Preachers more character-driven than it is action-driven."

"[I]ve got so much workload that [I] work about 12 hours a day. The last thing [I] want to do when [I] finish is read comics. Its like what Garth was saying. [I] work and then do something completely different. [...] Its part of the job really to keep aware of what other people are doing. But I just really havent had the time to do anything else, anything else rather than the comic."

"The acting side of comics is quite important to me. The facial expressions, how they interact and all that sort of thing. [...] I can [draw big fight scenes] if I need to, but not as good as some, because some people have a love for it, so that love shows through. I have a love for drawing people sitting in the pub talking. My specialised subject!"

"I was more than happy to do [Hellblazer] as I ended up not being that happy on Animal Man, as it wasnt the book for me. Because I hate drawing animals, so it was rather silly of me in the first place to say yes. But it was the first offer of a regular (ongoing) comic book, which, for me, was a big thing."

"When I start work with a new writer, they often ask "What do you like to draw?" and my pat answer is always, "A good story". Im not one of these artists into drawing giant robots or soldiers or big-titted women. Because for me, its all about the story."

"I havent re-read [Preacher] yet. [...] Occasionally I see pages from it, and probably like most comic artists, the moment you see a drawing you did – no matter how many years ago – you can remember exactly how you did it, what the situation was when you were doing it, what time of night it was, whether you were drinking coffee or whether you were half-pissed! It all comes flooding back, just like smells or music bring back memories."

"Ive changed my technique a few times in my career. [...] Sometimes you just change to challenge yourself. But also over the six years of Preacher, [my] style [changed] a bit. Its unusual to have a run thats so long that you can actually notice how the characters change. If Id only done it for a year it wouldnt have changed that much. The characters just evolved naturally."

"Paul was a great help to me. He saved me a lot of time because one of the problems I had was that I used to draw comics when I fancied it, and suddenly now I had to draw comics when I had to. So I had to do three pages a week whether I wanted to or not. Thatd be a luxury now, just doing three pages a week. But at the time it was a bit much for me to handle and Paul helped me make a quantum leap which would have taken me months longer if Id been doing it myself."

"[Preacher is] funny, dirty, a little bit frightening, but, ultimately, very satisfying—a bit like losing your virginity."