Comic nerd interlude

I never read J. Michael Straczynski's comic Rising Stars, but I understood that the show Heroes drew rather heavily from it. Indeed, the inimitable Kung Fu Monkey wrote "How Joe Straczynski hasn't gone on a shooting spree, however, I do not have a goddam clue."

I'm a fan of JMS's since Babylon 5, so I was actually mildly concerned that JMS would be upset at this obvious derivative of his work. Instead, he has exactly the reaction I wish more artists and corporations would take:

Having watched the show, heard from the fans, and spoken with some folks involved in the show, there's no question that Rising Stars provided a rather substantial degree of inspiration, but that's the nature of the beast, and it's a good thing. Everybody in the comics field or any aspect of the arts looks to what has come before and builds upon it. I take it as validation that the Rising Stars concept hit something in the public consciousness that is now bubbling up in this form.

Good for you, Joe. And thank you for assuaging my incredibly-lame nerd anxiety.