There's really not anyone who is trying. The best artists in comics often can't hit a schedule, or leave to more lucrative fields. The best writers end up in the purgatory of endless good reviews, and can just go in circles for their entire career. Most publishers worry more about hitting a schedule than about making sure a good book comes out. And if you want to have the creative freedom to make your best work, you best believe that you'll find it hard to get paid to do that. So mediocrity is what is rewarded.



I don't know if i'm approaching it with more intensity or thought than anyone else, but i don't worry about anyone else. Sometimes people mistake my braggadocio for reality, but its just a put on. I feel like shit a lot of the time (personally, professionally, psychologically), and making believe that i'm the best comics artist in the game, makes me have enough faith in myself to keep drawing and just be an okay artist.



But i think any artist benefits from throwing away all the baggage of not feeling good enough or smart enough or talented enough. If you can't throw it away, you can at least sit on it for awhile and draw.