Jeff Lemire Quotes

When I approached 'Animal Man,' I approached it as if it wasn't a reboot, as if the Grant Morrison and Jamie Delano stuff happened. I mean, as much as I could make it all make sense, it still all happened. ~ Jeff Lemire

I feel like if you really know the ending right from the beginning, you can add so many subtleties and little things later that will pay off and be more consistent and more rewarding for the reader. ~ Jeff Lemire

Sony is looking at 'Descender' as a franchise of films rather than just one movie. ~ Jeff Lemire

You can write a script, but that's just a starting point as a cartoonist. The heart of the process comes when you start to draw it, and you work out how to lay the page out, how best to tell the story. ~ Jeff Lemire

Letting a project sit and coming back to it is just as important as working on it all the time. You need to come back to it with fresh eyes. ~ Jeff Lemire

Everyone finds my work super sad. I never do. I always find it uplifting in a weird way. ~ Jeff Lemire

I started in comics in 2005, ten years ago, and at that time, I didn't have a cell phone. I don't even think I had a computer myself, you know. And just in those ten years, how much technology has changed. ~ Jeff Lemire

For some reason, I have always had a really good ability to write children in a way that's realistic but not annoying. The key to that is underwriting them: peel back the dialogue and keep it simple. ~ Jeff Lemire

There's only two ways to be completely alone in this world, lost in a crowd or in total isolation ... ~ Jeff Lemire

The thing about Canada is that it's a very large country, and the population's very spread out among different regions. Each region in the country really has its own personality and its own culture, you know? From West Coast to East Coast - wherever you go, it's almost like it's its own country. ~ Jeff Lemire

You spend so much time writing a character the way I did with Buddy Baker and then Green Arrow that you start to care about them. And you almost think of them as people, you know? ~ Jeff Lemire

It's not hard to look at our own world and draw parallels between 9/11, for example, and how Muslims are viewed or treated by North American culture since then. Just to see the way fear can breed hatred and intolerance for people who aren't the same as us - and that's certainly part of what's at the heart of 'Descender.' ~ Jeff Lemire

The Green Arrow stuff that I've responded to from the past is the Mike Grell stuff. I've liked a lot of other stuff, but I think for me, the direction and the mood and the tone that I really want is something much darker and more aggressive and really fast-paced action. ~ Jeff Lemire

It's hard to look back on your life and point to one event–one moment–that changed everything and set you on the path that made you…you. That only happens in movies. Most people's lives are a series of millions of messy little moments strung together adding up to a messy little life. But sometimes, you can look back and see a pattern forming… see a clear path cutting through the mess.
It makes you wonder, do we even have a choice at all? Or was that path going to form no matter what we did?
Yeah, it's easy to look back and see the pattern. It's easy to second-guess every decision you made and figure out what you would've done differently. But none of that much matters now. It's all in the past. Can't waste time thinking about who i was, who i could've been. All that matters now is who i am. ~ Jeff Lemire

I've been reading comics since I was four. I used to get them when I would go grocery shopping with my mom. I remember getting the digest versions of old DC comics. The one that I remember reading first was Paul Levitz' 'Justice Society of America' stuff that he was doing in the '70s. ~ Jeff Lemire

I have a lot of great fans. A lot of fans have cosplayed as Sweet Tooth, which I thought was really cool. ~ Jeff Lemire

There's something so arrogant about us creating robots that are more and more human-looking or acting. It's like we're playing God. Let's create something that's a reflection of us, but it's inferior. ~ Jeff Lemire

And this is the result. Millions of small sins, billions of tiny evils--twisting, twining, groping, consuming...Till they become a great serpent...a blight on humanity...that rises from the collective unconscious towering over the world...Blocking out the light. It is so convenient to blame it all on some sneering, arrogant Satan--sitting on a fiery throne, plotting to corrupt our souls. But if there is a devil--he's just another projection of our own sins. ~ Jeff Lemire

When you're a kid, you're not as corrupted by the world at large. You're not corrupted by prejudices. You're much more open-minded. Much more interested in the world around you. 'Sweet Tooth' is about the world returning to that kind of place. ~ Jeff Lemire

People like Superman, The Flash - they just feel limited in who they are and what you can do with them because everyone knows who they are and what they do. Someone like Animal Man feels very open to interpretation. ~ Jeff Lemire

'Plutona' is the story of five kids who find the body of the world's greatest superhero in the woods after school one day. It's about how this discovery, and the decisions they make, affect them as a group and individually. ~ Jeff Lemire

I started off doing indie comics that I wrote and drew myself. I was doing those for ten years before I started to work for DC. The first book that I wrote for DC was for another artist. I did some backups in 'Adventure Comics' years ago starring The Atom. That's the first time that I ever wrote for another artist. ~ Jeff Lemire

If you read the whole Vertigo 'Animal Man' series of 89 issues or whatever, each writer has a completely different take on his origin. If you try to put them all together, they contradict one another. I had to pick and choose to make up a new origin that makes sense to new readers. ~ Jeff Lemire

I can handle a lot of work. I've always been able to. I'm a very focused individual. I come to my studio at about 7:30 in the morning and exit almost 5:00 P.M. In that time, those eight or nine hours, it's kind of laser focus on whatever I'm working on. There aren't really any distractions or anything. ~ Jeff Lemire

I think when science fiction is at its worst, it's just spaceships flying around shooting at each other. There has to be a lot more going on than that ... science fiction is about exploring new worlds and new ideas, not about ray guns and action, necessarily. ~ Jeff Lemire

Why not take a science fiction comic and put the characters in a small town to gain their particular perspective? A lot of that comes from me growing up in a small town on a farm, so that's what I know and what I'm comfortable with. My drawing style is also very sparse and minimalist, so a rural setting complements that. ~ Jeff Lemire

I look at my son and his relationship to technology, and I think back to when I was six and how wildly different the world is in that regard. I see him using an iPhone and all this stuff, and then I think back to when I was six. We didn't even have computers in our houses at all yet. This is a huge gap between our experiences as children. ~ Jeff Lemire

I write and draw from the gut. I often don't know what my stories are about until they're done. ~ Jeff Lemire

In general, I feel so much of pop culture is set in the generic big city, particularly comics. I feel like there are so many other stories to tell. ~ Jeff Lemire

The waves are high and the sunset's red.
So now it's time to go to bed.
The tide is up and the wind does rip.
But this old ship'll never tip.
We're far at sea, days from land.
But if you're scared just take my hand.
Just hold on tight Boy-o-mine.
In my arms you'll be just fine.
The moon is full and the sea is deep.
And we rock and rock and rock to sleep. ~ Jeff Lemire

If I'm not invested emotionally, the artwork doesn't feel emotional. ~ Jeff Lemire

Have you read this, Tim? It's my favorite book. Trinket Tocket and his Tin Rocket!'
'I am not familiar with it, Andy. But I can easily access the data network and download all the volumes if you'd like?'
'Nah. My mom still gets them for me in hard copy. I love reading them like this. The drawings look better. ~ Jeff Lemire

I don't enjoy putting my characters through hell unless there's a reason. I don't use violence or anything just for shock value. They're always a means to an end. ~ Jeff Lemire

The scrape of the skates on the ice. The smell of musty old equipment. The black puck stains on the boards. To the uninitiated they're nothing, but to a hockey player they're home. ~ Jeff Lemire

When I write Superboy and other DC characters, it's about boiling them down to core concepts. ~ Jeff Lemire

We want to take our time with 'Descender' and let the story unfold at its own pace. But we have carefully planned each world and worked to give each its own look and feel. And each of the 9 core worlds will play a role in the series. ~ Jeff Lemire

I think America's obsession with guns and with violence in media and society is a horrible sickness. ~ Jeff Lemire

In the case of 'Sweet Tooth,' and in the case of a lot of stuff I do, it all starts with the image. It may be something I sketch in my sketchbooks - something that reoccurs in the sketchbooks. Eventually, a character or story line starts to grow out of that. ~ Jeff Lemire

When I was offered 'Hawkeye,' it was very intimidating at first because that book is so loved and so successful, commercially and critically. The worst thing you could do is try to imitate what they did because, in the end, you're just going to get a watered-down version of what they did. ~ Jeff Lemire

I feel like there are comic book artists who are comic book artists, and then there's comic book artists who are cartoonists. ~ Jeff Lemire

Truth is, I've been scared to leave this place. Scared of what I'd find if I did. Or maybe I was scared of what I wouldn't find. Should have just took off and never looked back. ~ Jeff Lemire

I'm never one to care too much if my work becomes adapted; I make comic books. ~ Jeff Lemire

They say the city gets in your blood, but that's crap. The city doesn't become part of you... you become part of it. It soaks you up bit by bit, year after year. Until you're just a tiny part of its system... Pumping through its veins, lost in its arteries. ~ Jeff Lemire

I've always enjoyed teen characters, and kids as well. For whatever reason, I seem to have an ability to do it sort of well, and I enjoy doing it. ~ Jeff Lemire

I never - when I go into a project, I don't think too much about if there's a lot of other sci-fi books out there or horror books or whatever. I just tell the stories I want to tell, and I think that is evident on the page. ~ Jeff Lemire

It's my job to write the best book I can each month and hand my scripts in. Everything else is beyond my control. ~ Jeff Lemire

Art should walk a tightrope. That's what art should be. Art should be dangerous. You can't be scared to say something with it. People love to talk about how comics are real art and real literature, so why not use these characters to talk about real things, even if it is dangerous? ~ Jeff Lemire

People say you can always count on family. But I think that's a lie. I'm starting to think that the only one we can really count on is ourselves. Maybe in the end, we're all on our own. ~ Jeff Lemire

There is definitely a thematic lineage between 'Descender' and my previous work, like 'Sweet Tooth' and 'Trillium.' ~ Jeff Lemire

I don't play video games because I know that if I ever started, I'd never be able to maintain a career again. ~ Jeff Lemire

I know a lot of people who read 'Sweet Tooth' are the kind of people who don't read a lot of other comics. Whatever it was, I'm just glad it happened. ~ Jeff Lemire

I grew up reading a lot of superhero comics, so it's really fun to take a shot at one myself and see what happens. ~ Jeff Lemire

One of my favorite things about the DC Universe, growing up as a reader, was just how big it was and just how many characters and superheroes there were. And how many odd characters there were. ~ Jeff Lemire

'Animal Man' and 'Swamp Thing' have so many commonalities in tone and mood. ~ Jeff Lemire

A lot of cinematic influences on 'Descender' - Kubrick for sure. '2001: A Space Odyssey' is my favorite movie. It has been since I was 12. I just love that film. ~ Jeff Lemire

But before you can become something new, you must remember who you have already been... ~ Jeff Lemire

I've found I sometimes have the best success working on characters I didn't really connect to right away. ~ Jeff Lemire

I never thought I would work in mainstream superhero comics or Valiant or Marvel. I just set out to make the kinds of stories I wanted to make, which at the beginning was small personal stuff like 'Essex County.' ~ Jeff Lemire

I had long ago stopped believing in promises. Biological imperatives, yes. Environmental factors, yes. Promises, no. ~ Jeff VanderMeer

I've always liked to run. I did it from a conditioning standpoint, you know. I really enjoyed running, and I do it to stay in shape. ~ Jeff Fisher

Too young to hold on and too old to just break free and run ~ Jeff Buckley

I believe consciousness is simply what it feels like to have a neocortex. ~ Jeff Hawkins

My wife is like, You finally get your own TV show, you can have any kind of car you want and you get a darned truck. But my brother and I have the same kind of truck now. ~ Jeff Foxworthy

Not since the days of George W. Bush's 'Clear Skies' and 'Healthy Forests' initiatives has America been presented with a project as cravenly corporate and backward-looking as the Keystone XL pipeline. ~ Jeff Goodell

Do I have a long-term plan? Kind of. I have a general direction, I think. But it's funny what comes down the pike. ~ Jeff Bridges

At the end of the day I have to please myself. And I've made a record to please myself. ~ Jeff Lynne

Jeff: The drive from the valley?
Peanut: Was bad as hell!
Jeff: Traffic?
Peanut: Sucked like hell!
Jeff: Drivers?
Peanut: Angry as hell!
Jeff: And you?
Peanut: Were scared as hell!
Jeff: Parking?
Peanut: Sucked more like hell!
Jeff: So?
Peanut: We're in hell! ~ Jeff Dunham

In real estate, you make 10% of your money because you're a genius and 90% because you catch a great wave. ~ Jeff Greene

Drill everything, mine everything, roll back regulations, tweak the science, expedite permits. Sound familiar? The Republicans offer up more 19th-Century solutions to our 21st-Century energy problems. ~ Jeff Goodell

Where lies the strangling fruit that came from the hand of the sinner I shall bring forth the seeds of the dead to share with the worms that gather in the darkness and surround the world with the power of their lives while from the dimlit halls of other places forms that never were and never could be writhe for the impatience of the few who never saw what could have been. In the black water with the sun shining at midnight, those fruit shall come ripe and in the darkness of that which is golden shall split open to reveal the revelation of the fatal softness in the earth. The shadows of the abyss are like the petals of a monstrous flower that shall blossom within the skull and expand the mind beyond what any man can bear, but whether it decays under the earth or above on green fields, or out to sea or in the very air, all shall come to revelation, and to revel, in the knowledge of the strangling fruit - and the hand of the sinner shall rejoice, for there is no sin in shadow or in light that the seeds of the dead cannot forgive. And there shall be in the planting in the shadows a grace and a mercy from which shall blossom dark flowers, and their teeth shall devour and sustain and herald the passing of an age. That which dies shall still know life in death for all that decays is not forgotten and reanimated it shall walk the world in the bliss of not-knowing. And then there shall be a fire that knows the naming of you, and in the presence of the strangling fruit, its dark flame ~ Jeff VanderMeer

Human beings are not inevitable, and our brief existence is not preordained to be extended into the distant future. If Homo sapiens is to have a continued presence on earth, humankind will reevaluate its sense of place in the world and modify its strong species-centric stewardship of the planet. Our collective concepts of morality and ethics have a direct impact on our species' ultimate fate. ~ Jeff Schweitzer

For many people, extended reading sessions on an LCD display cause eyestrain. ~ Jeff Bezos

I thought I would call myself a pig before the viewer could, so they could only think more of me. ~ Jeff Koons

I was always an artist. I was a broker to earn a living, but I was always thinking about my art. ~ Jeff Koons

You might be a redneck if you need one more hole punched in your card to get a freebie at the House of Tattoos. ~ Jeff Foxworthy

Every path is a journey to God. We just have to remember to open our heart again and again... ~ Jeff Brown

Jeff knew full well what he was walking away from. Again, he needed to deal with this right away. ~ Kenneth Lay

In those few seconds Bonnie screamed, a high shrill wail that haunted the men about to kill her for the rest of their lives. ~ Jeff Guinn

And that was when Finley Declan Holliday lost his mind and unleashed hell on Brandon Wannamaker, Jeff Schultz and Troy Piggott. ~ Kristen Ashley

I also write plays, so I understand the writers mind, and how obsessed you can get writing. ~ Jeff Daniels

Another dream. Another long-distance call on my phantom party line. No wonder i had steadfastly refused to have dreams for most of my life. So stupid; such pointless, obvious symbols. Totally uncontrollable anxiety soup, hateful, blatant nonsense. ~ Jeff Lindsay

We don't run out of stories, because of the characters. But also every year, the NFL, like a crazy rich uncle we never see, just drops some stories off at our door. ~ Jeff Schaffer

. . . Mrs. Lambchop sighed and shook her head. "You're at the office all day, having fun," she said. "You don't realize what I go through with the boys. They're very difficult."
Kids are like that," Mr. Lambchop said. "Phases. Be patient, dear. ~ Jeff Brown

Rita sighed and smiled happily. "Anyway," she said again, and I had to agree. ~ Jeff Lindsay

Jeff had learned the wisdom of perversity and made his lonely secret into art. ~ Rafael Yglesias

Our fans would never waste good beer by pouring it on us, ~ Jeff Gordon

Conner looking at the text he sent Jeff the night before:

8:42pm..Reed:Need you to go to Denver w me.
8:46pm..Jeff: in meeting. give me 1 hr.
8:53pm..Reed: no can do. want wife back. going now. think i cn talk her into it wth sperm.

Hell.Please don't let him have called her.

8:53pm..Jeff: R U drinking?
8:55pm..Reed: have wht she wants. solllid plan. better than hers.
8:56pm..Jeff: leaving now. wait 4 me.
9:02pm..Reed: don't worry botu it.
9:02pm..Jeff: WAIT 4 ME.
9:04pm..Jeff: PICKUP YOU PHONE
9:57pm..Jeff: you should stop for drink @ that bar in terminal with the big olives b4 flight.
10:22pm..Reed: hey, UR at the bar. you look pissed. ~ Mira Lyn Kelly

I talked to Larry the Cable Guy the other day. Larry's made more money than 10 people should ever make in a lifetime. He was excited because he'd gone over to the livestock auction and bought 20 new feeder pigs. ~ Jeff Foxworthy

Congress has the responsibility to ensure that any international trade agreement entered into by the United States must serve the national interest, not merely the interests of those crafting the proposal in secret. ~ Jeff Sessions

Let's not forget we created that ideal middle class by destroying all of our industrial competitors during World War II. ~ Jeff Greene