Maurice Sendak, author of Where the Wild Things Are wrote about childhood, saying:

People say “Oh Mr Sendak! I wish I were in touch with my childhood self, like you” as if it were all quaint and succulent, like Peter Pan. Childhood is cannibals and psychopaths vomiting in your mouth.

I don’t really know if it has much to do with Gary Larson’s childhood, but I just love finding an opportunity to bring up that quote.