Yesterday afternoon, Tim Kring was a participant in one of the many panel discussions that are part of the annual New Yorker Festival in NYC. He was joined by artists/writers Grant Morrison, Mike Mignola & Jonathan Lethem, with Ben Greenman moderating. The event took place at the Highline Ballroom in lower Manhattan.

The focus of the discussion was on superheroes and Mr. Kring's co-presenters were exclusively from the world of comics and graphic novels. What follows are some vary random direct quotes & paraphrasings of what came up during the nearly two hour event:

When asked about his first exposure to superheroes, his answer was George Reeves in the Superman tv show and Adam West's turn as Batman.

With Heroes, he wanted to explore the impact of powers not created by meteors, radiation, etc. It began with the idea of saving the world and large issues like that and then thought what characters and what powers would make the most impact dramatically in these situations. He wanted the characters to respond to a calling, or being drawn to something. Their powers came from who the characters are as much as established archetypes. He wanted it to be a post 9/11 show on American activity, but show how much the world has shrunk...that what happens 10,000 miles away can have an immediate and dire impact here at home.

He was asked what determines the limits of the powers of his characters and had three answers:
1) The characters do not have any agenda. They don't know where they're going.
2) He wants to show the audience their journey. The development of their powers is a long process of figuring them out.
3) The limited budget of the show forces powers to be displayed sparingly - they're not a $200 million movie, but several episodes and have to consider the financial implications as much as what might look really cool.

Sylar serves as a cautionary tale of what can go wrong with an evolutionary jump like what's going on in the series.

Q&A Video 1: http://uncutvideo.aol.com/users/nycerealov...d15a209?index=1

Q&A Video 2: http://uncutvideo.aol.com/users/nycerealov...00445fe?index=0