 Spiegelman has stated he does not see himself primarily as a visual artist , one who instinctively sketches or doodles . He has said he approaches his work as a writer as he lacks confidence in his graphic skills . He subjects his dialogue and visuals to constant revision — he reworked some dialogue balloons in Maus up to forty times . A critic in The New Republic compared Spiegelman 's dialogue writing to a young Philip Roth in his ability " to make the Jewish speech of several generations sound fresh and convincing " . 
