"There's nothing wrong with stealing," John Lennon infamously argued, "providing you steal from the best." Marvel Comics' new Uncanny X-Men spinoff Generation Hope has learned that lesson well, lifting the psionic mutant god Tetsuo from Katsuhiro Otomo's timeless anime Akira for its apocalyptic yarn of survival.
Issue 1 of the new series arrived Wednesday, but the gallery above shows off Generation Hope's second issue, which hammers home the Akira kinship like a cyborg tentacle to the skull. Like the Wachwoski Brothers – who lifted from Akira at will for The Matrix – Generation Hope writer Kieron Gillen and artist Salva Espin don't really seem interested in covering the tracks of their iconic influences.
In fact, it seems as if they're openly celebrating them, which makes sense in our era of rampant pop-cult reboots and remixes. Issue 2, due Dec. 1, even takes place in Akira's post-apocalyptic Tokyo.
Is imitation the finest form of flattery? Is copyright an antiquated concept, given that everyone from Shakespeare to The Beatles stole from the "best" sources? School us on the new-to-you normal in the comments section below.
Images courtesy Marvel Comics. Follow us on Twitter: @morphizm and @theunderwire.
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