Der bekannte Drehbuch- und Comic-Autor J. Michael Straczynski ("Rising Stars", "Superman Earth One", "Spider-Man" u.a.) hat in einem Interview via Newsarama die Gründe für seinen abrupten Abschied von der Comic Book Industrie benannt.
Er leidet seit etwa zehn Jahren an einer "Hornhautdystrophie", die ihn im Laufe der Jahre immer mehr von seinem Augenlicht raubte.
Diese Erkrankung hatte große Auswirkungen auf seinen Lebenswandel (wie etwa die Gefahr von Stürzen auf Grund schlechten sehens). Natürlich wirkt sich das auch auf seine Arbeit am PC aus...
"...Where I had once been able to turn out three or four comics per month in addition to whatever else I was writing, now I struggled to write even one comic per month, and sometimes failed to get even that much done," so Straczynski auf newsarama.
"...Some who followed my work assumed that the slowdown was due to a sloppy work ethic, or getting bored and waddling off. But the truth was that I simply couldn’t see the computer screen. As it was, the only way I could read what I was writing was to use huge white type on a black screen ... I literally could only work with about a dozen words on screen at a time, rather than a hundred or more per screen...."
Vor einigen Jahren vertraute er sich schließlich Joe Quesada an, Marvel's damaligen editor-in-chief; daran anschließend sprach er auch mit DC Comics damaligen editor-in-chief Dan DiDio über seinen Gesundheitszustand: "I’m ashamed to admit that I broke down in tears over the phone. I was openly afraid," so Straczynski weiter.
"'I can’t see,' I told him, 'I can’t see.' Though Quesada and I grew apart due to creative issues, it is to his credit that as far as I know he never told anyone about my situation then or afterward."
"Seven days after my first surgery, I was seeing 20/25. The next surgery had similar results, with no side-effects or complications... as I write these words, I’m seeing better than I’ve seen in my entire life: 20/25 in both eyes. I can read license plates, see the leaves on trees … every day I’m astonished by the new-found beauty of the world."
sein Opus BABYLON 5 beendete JMS einst höchstpersönlich -
er spielt hier den Techniker, der der Raumstation das Licht ausknipst
(im Clip ab ca. 30. Sekunde zu sehen) !
