I don't think there's any independent cartoonist whose stuff I don't like or respect in at least some way or another. We're all marginal laborers - we're practically medical oddities - so I don't see why we can't all be nice to each other.
Ragtime has about the same amount of respect as comics. And in a way they're...
Sometime they don't let you know that they know that they don't know...
I would have changed my last name if being famous were my goal.