Dave Coverly is creator of Speed Bump. This is Part 4, and here are Part 3, Part 2 and Part 1. And an Intro.
Who tried to talk you out of becoming something crazy like a cartoonist?
No one! I've been very lucky in that respect. My 
fifth-grade teacher told my parents at a conference that she believed I'd be a cartoonist when I grew up, and they laughed. At which point she told them that she was serious, and they kinda went, "Oh...OK." So they've never done anything but support me, even when I was getting an undergrad degree in philosophy, just because I wanted to and enjoyed it.
I also had a teacher in high school, a journalism teacher named Kenny Zelnis that I've remained close to, who pushed and prodded and got me taking myself seriously. He was tremendously influential. Teachers, man, they have so much bearing. Good ones really do change lives.
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