Well, it's a humor strip, so my first responsibility has always been to entertain the reader... But if, in addition, I can help move readers to thought and judgment about issues that concern me, so much the better.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I always like to entertain, first of all, and if the readers take anything away from it that helps them with their own lives, well then, that is a bonus.
All writers want to know that someone is reading their work, taking them seriously. It provides a kind of moral support.
But I care about the reader, and I'm trying to keep the reader's attention for as long as I can.
My primary responsibility is to be funny.
Without humor, I cannot go on and I doubt many of my readers would go on either. Humor is so important. I am here to have fun here with my work.
I don't have a disregard for my reader in humor pieces.
My purpose is to entertain and please myself. I feel that if I am entertained, then there will be enough other readers who will be entertained, too.
The fact of the matter is I always have a really high sense of responsibility to the reader, whether it's a few readers that I get or a lot of readers, which I was lucky enough to get with 'Olive.' I feel responsible to them, to deliver something as truthful and straight as I can.
I think humor is a very serious thing. I use it as a way of weakening the reader's defenses so that I can more easily take him to something more.
It's not my job to tell people what to think. If I can actually in some way help the readers' own creative thinking, then that's got to be to everybody's benefit.