Joseph Michael Straczynski (; born July 17, 1954 ), known professionally as J. Michael Straczynski and informally as Joe Straczynski or JMS, is an American writer and television producer.

Straczynski is a long-time participant in Usenet and other early computer networks, interacting with fans through various online forums ( including GEnie, CompuServe, and America Online ) since 1984.

Straczynski is a graduate of San Diego State University ( SDSU ), having earned a BA with a double major in psychology and sociology ( with minors in philosophy and literature ).

Straczynski is the son of Charles Straczynski, a manual laborer, and Evelyn Straczynski ( née Pate ).

Straczynski is the author of three horror novels — Demon Night, Othersyde, and Tribulations — and nearly twenty short stories, many of which are collected in two compilations — Tales from the New Twilight Zone and Straczynski Unplugged.

Writer J. Michael Straczynski is overseeing the current effort, which carries the logo of Red Circle Comics.

Developed by Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski and executive produced by Straczynski and Sam Egan, the series is loosely based on Belgian writer Hermann Huppen's comic book series, Jeremiah.

It was Straczynski who made her an instructor in writing and criminology, and is widely held to have most emphasized her role as a working writer, with all the deadlines and problems involved in that profession.

* J. Michael Straczynski on Corwin: Who is Norman Corwin ?, JMS on Corwin 1, JMS on Corwin 2, JMS on Corwin 3, JMS on how he met Corwin

It is also noted for featuring early script-writing work from J. Michael Straczynski, later the creator of Babylon 5 ; Paul Dini and Brynne Stephens, both of whom who would go on to write acclaimed episodes of Batman: The Animated Series ; Beast Wars story editor Larry DiTillio ; and David Wise, later the head-writer of the TV version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

* According to writer J. Michael Straczynski, the Rush Act featured in this episode is named for conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh.

* The Zima reference is considered by Executive Producer Straczynski a joke, not a product placement.

It was written by science fiction and fantasy author Neil Gaiman, and is the only episode after the second season not written by J. Michael Straczynski.

* This episode is the only one of the series which was directed by the creator of Babylon 5 ( J. Michael Straczynski ), in which he also made a cameo appearance ( as the maintenance tech who shuts down the lights on the station ).

In the words of series creator J. Michael Straczynski, he is " overweight, prone to gambling constantly ( null-pool is his favorite ) and fond of women and drinks.

It is also noted for featuring early script-writing work from Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski, and Paul Dini of Batman: The Animated Series fame One episode, " Battle Cat ," was written by Star Treks D. C. Fontana.

Gary Frank ( born 1969 ) is a British comic book artist, notable for pencilling on Midnight Nation and Supreme Power, both written by J. Michael Straczynski.

Straczynski had long participated in many online forums since the 1980s, and is widely credited as being the first notable artist and celebrity to interact with fans online, even before the advent of the world wide web.

DIC head Jean Chalopin asked Straczynski to take on the task of story editing the entire 78-episode block as well as writing his own scripts.

Straczynski left at this point and Janson and Menville took on the story editing job for the second network season.

Straczynski was then offered the position of story editor on the syndicated live-action science fiction series Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future.

They hired Straczynski as executive story editor to fill in the remaining number of needed episodes.

Initially wary, Straczynski finally did and was hired on as story editor under Jeri Taylor and David Moessinger.

Straczynski and Netter hired many of the people from Captain Power, as well as hiring Ellison as a consultant and DiTillio as a story editor.

In 2006, Straczynski was hired to write a feature film based on the story of King David for Universal by producers Erwin Stoff and Akiva Goldsman.

Like Babylon 5, Crusade was intended to have a five-year story arc, although as Straczynski notes in the DVD commentary for A Call To Arms, it was intended to resolve the Drakh plague after a season or two and move onto other arcs.

However, Straczynski wrote a short story set far in the future of the series called " Space, Time & the Incurable Romantic " which was published in Amazing Stories # 602.

Straczynski returned to the Soul Hunters ' story in the post-series TV movie, Babylon 5: The River of Souls.

Unlike most writers, for whom Straczynski revised scripts himself, revisions of Drennan's script went through story editor Larry DiTillio instead.

* According to series creator, primary writer, and executive producer J. Michael Straczynski, "... the rail story was fairly self-contained, not much in the way of arc related stuff there.

* With reference to the series ' five-year story arc, this episode was originally intended by Straczynski to end Season Four.

Series creator J. Michael Straczynski cites the mystery surrounding the Battle of the Line as a key aspect of introducing Babylon 5 to the audience: " The Battle of the Line and the hole in Sinclair's mind was always intended as the entry point or trigger to the story.

Straczynski decided not to recast the Franklin character, and rewrote the script to remove the character from the story.

Straczynski had previously said of Lennier's death ( in his commentary for " Sleeping in Light "): " That's a very sad story, and maybe I'll tell it some day.

According to the DVD commentary for the final episode of Babylon 5, " Sleeping in Light ," Straczynski decided not to have David Sheridan appear in that episode, partly because he hadn't figured out how he wanted David to look, and partly because he feared that debuting an important character would detract from the story he wanted to tell in that episode.

Unlike He-Man, no backstory was given with the toys for the Lightning League and the Monster Minds doing battle, and so distinct characters were created by DIC and Straczynski to allow for a structured story ( seen below ).

When the program moved to the TNT cable network for its fifth season, a set of television movies were ordered to promote it, and Straczynski chose to use the first of these to tell the story of the war he had so often alluded to in previous episodes.

They also hired J. Michael Straczynski as story editor and, later, co-producer.

The story was not put back into the production pipeline until Straczynski could obtain a signed legal release from the fan.

But DiTillio, a first season staff writer who became story editor when J. Michael Straczynski ( Starlog # 111 ) left the position for a similar post with the revived Twilight Zone, claimed that ramrodding the script side of Captain Power hasn't been easy.

In addition to using pastiches of Cthulhu, the Deep Ones, and R ' lyeh, writer J. Michael Straczynski also wrote the story in a distinctly Lovecraftian style.