QUOTES by J. Michael Straczynski
Find most favourite and famour Authors from A.A Milne to Zoe Kravitz.
On a purely personal level, it's very strange, because as a kid, Superman informed my personality. Now I've been given the job of forming Superman's personality and, in some ways, drawing on my own background.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
When you're writing a story in bits and pieces, month in and month out, there really isn't time or space for reflection, no room to learn what those scripts had to teach you.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
I don't need to write comics for a living. I have movies and TV for that. I write comics for one reason and one reason only: I love comics. I love the form, the structure, the storytelling process, I love everything about it.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
As kids, we spontaneously sing and dance and tell stories, and along the way, someone comes and says, 'No. You shouldn't be doing that.' And we slowly begin to unlearn our passions. I think you have to hold on to those things.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
I am a huge zombie fan. I have probably seen the George Romero movies 100 times each, without exaggeration.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
There's a lot of comics writers out there whose work I appreciate and who are nice guys. I really want to work with guys I really respect and enjoy.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
The only thing that I discovered very early on is that, even though we might change schools and cities and towns and states, the books in the library were the same. They had the same covers. They had the same characters. I could go and visit those people in the library as if I knew them.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
Stage-persona notwithstanding, I'm extremely shy and quiet. Almost painfully shy. People misinterpret that as being above it all or not interested.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
The American Way is an amalgam of our compassion, our strengths, our failings and our attempts to build a better world, a more perfect union.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
For a lot of people, Superman is and has always been America's hero. He stands for what we believe is the best within us: limitless strength tempered by compassion, that can bear adversity and emerge stronger on the other side. He stands for what we all feel we would like to be able to stand for, when standing is hardest.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
Here's the miracle: I grew up thinking, 'Wouldn't it be great to write 'Superman' someday? Wouldn't it be great to create my own show, or work on 'Lensman,' or 'Forbidden Planet?' Those were very literally the goals I set for myself, the dreams that I thought I didn't have a chance in hell of ever actually achieving. But it's happened.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
Everyone in the entertainment business gets crappy contracts when we start out, and into the middle of our careers. It's the nature of the business.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
Life isn't about the final moments, it's about the journey, it's about process. What makes 'Rocky' work as a movie is seeing him working his way up from the streets to the arena and the fight of his life. You could just show that fight, and it would be great, but seeing that journey illuminates that fight and adds profound meaning to it.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
A movie is a movie and a book is a book, and they have different rules.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
I can easily come up with ten really iconic stories/trade paperbacks for Superman, Batman, others... name me ten equally big, iconic Wonder Woman stories. Much harder. That ain't the character's fault, that isn't sexism, that's just not servicing the character.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
When I saw Wonder Woman being constantly put in positions where she'd get tied up with her own rope, or held hostage, even as a kid, my reaction was 'C'mon, she's too smart for that.'
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
Whenever you can bring your chops in as a reporter to unearth a cool story, that's always a good thing.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
I've always been kind of a mutt creatively. I started off in journalism, and I've actually done more police and procedural shows than I've ever done science fiction shows. I was on 'Murder She Wrote,' I was on 'Walker, Texas Ranger,' I was on 'Jake and the Fat Man.'
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
To me, science fiction is about the sense of mystery, the sense of awe. Not 'shock and awe', just 'awe.'
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
In every other science fiction series, humans are at the top of the food chain. In the 'Babylon 5' universe, they're in the bottom third.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
When writers don't know what to do with a character, they build up the supporting cast and universe to kind of hide that fact. After a while, you can no longer see the character for the underbrush. When that happens, you need to bring out the weed-whacker to clear some of that away so you can focus on the main character.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
There was a point when comics were considered to be mainly of interest to kids, and it was decided that kids could relate more to someone their own age than an adult. So suddenly all these previously grownup comics were lousy with sidekicks: Aquagirl, Aqualad, Robin, Kid Flash, Speedy, Stripesy... the list goes on.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
Whenever you write for someone else, you're always aware - sometimes overtly, other times at an almost cellular, subliminal level - of the rules about what you can and can't do.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
Superhero stories are kind of in my DNA from childhood on, so I think I'm genetically drawn to playing in the genre when the opportunity presents itself.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
When it comes down to it, the reason that science fiction endures is that it is, at its core, an optimistic genre. What it says at the end of the day is that there is a tomorrow, we do go on, we don't extinguish ourselves and leave the planet to the cockroaches.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
I've always been a science fiction fan since I had understood the conception of what a story was.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
To have someone like Clint Eastwood come along and shoot your first draft as written is just any screenwriter's dream. And Clint is very straightforward. If it's good enough to get his attention, it's good enough to produce.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
The whole point of having great characters is the opportunity to explore them more deeply with time, re-interpreting them for each new age.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
When a book of mine comes out, I instantly go hunting the net, not for praise, but for criticism, because that's how you learn, from people who don't have to be polite to you.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
There are those who seem to feel they have no choice about being jerks in the present because they had a crappy childhood. Well, that's the definition of childhood; nobody gets out alive. You either get stronger from what you experience, or you turn it into a crutch, an excuse, a dodge.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
I'm a big believer in the idea that while we are the sum of our tears, we are also the product of our choices in how we deal with those tears.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
I sometimes find reality far more fantastical and unlikely than what I could just make up.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
You should do what you enjoy doing, what brings you passion. As kids, we spontaneously sing and dance and tell stories, and along the way, someone comes and says, 'No. You shouldn't be doing that.' And we slowly begin to unlearn our passions. I think you have to hold on to those things.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
My house looks like it was decorated by a 14-year old with a platinum American Express card.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
A story is a story is a story. The only difference is in the techniques you bring to bear. There are always limitations on what you can and can't do. But I enjoy that. Just like when you write a sonnet or haiku, there are rules you have to abide by. And to me, playing within the rules is the fun part. It keeps the brain fresh.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
I wake up every morning knowing how ridiculously lucky I am to be able to do what I love for a living, and that sense of wonder never, ever wears off.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
The problem with writing a monthly book is that you're going through your work like a man running for a bus, red-faced and out of breath. There isn't time for reflection or critical self-examination.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
For me, growing up in a ridiculously poor family living in dead-end neighborhoods, Superman was a deeply personal icon, one that said you can do anything if you put your mind to it. What he stood for formed the core of who I wanted to be as I grew up, and informed how I view the world and my responsibilities to other people.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
I like writing. It's partly control freak, and partly I really like what I do for a living. I have the luckiest job in the world. I can get up every day and do what I love for a living.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
Again, one of the problems I have with television, as I mentioned before, is it's trivial in many ways, and I think that a lot of folks out there are looking for new metaphors and new ways of thinking about things.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
I also like to look at the dynamic that takes place between religion and science because, in a way, both are asking the same questions: Who are we? Where do we come from? Why are we here? Where are we going? The methodologies are diametrically opposed, but their motivation is the same; the wellspring is the same in both cases.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
We know that if memory is destroyed in one part of the brain, it can be sometimes re-created on a different part of the brain. And once we can unravel that amino chain of chemicals that is responsible for memory, I see no reason why we can't unlock it and, essentially, wipe out what's there.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
I think that we are already making steps toward mapping out the brain so we can identify the chemical patterns that create and store memory.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
I was very clear that I wanted to keep 'Thor' out of the rest of the Marvel universe for no less than the first six issues. And the success of the book, I think, speaks well to that decision.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski
Every time I got 'Amazing Spider-Man' or 'Fantastic Four' or another book firmly on the rails, we got pulled into some big event book or crossover and it cost momentum and messed badly with the pacing and structure of the book.
Quote by -J. Michael Straczynski