Plagiarism Accusations Levied Against Would-Be Comic Book Writer/Artist

It seems that the son of famous KISS member Gene Simmons is finding himself in some controversy. Nick Simmons, set out to make a name for himself in the realm of comic books, as an artist and writer of a manga-influenced series called Incarnate, which depicts the lives of immortal creatures and figures. Radical Publishing, the company that was about to produced a collected volume of issues of Incarnate, suddenly ceased production of that project when rumors and accusations of plagiarism began to surface against Simmons. Message boards began suspecting Simmons of plagiarism, citing manga such as Hellsing and Bleach, and accused him of copying layouts, dialogue and even character designs. The accusations came to a head this past Thursday, but today, Simmons released a statement responding to the accusations, which read : "Like most artists I am inspired by work I admire. There are certain similarities between some of my work and the work of others. This was simply meant as an homage to artists I respect, and I definitely want to apologize to any Manga fans or fellow Manga artists who feel I went to far. My inspirations reflect the fact that certain fundamental imagery is common to all Manga." Response to the statement has been mixed thus far. For a view of the artwork, magnetic-rose.net has produced some side-by-side comparisons. Thanks to them for the link, which you can view here!