Originally announced back in November 2008, the adaptation of Moore's novel about a gay teenager struggling with both the onset of his superpowers and the secret of his sexuality was optioned by cable network Showtime and Stan Lee's POW Entertainment for development as television series. In the initial report of his death on WTKR, the project was mentioned as one of several he was working on at the time of his death — though cable network Starz appeared to be the new home for the project.

"It's still in development," a spokesperson for Starz told MTV News of the project's status in the wake of Moore's death.

A rep for Starz could not confirm the current involvement of POW Entertainment in the project, and requests for comment/confirmation from POW did not receive a response at press time. Starz listed the current "Hero" producers as Moore, his creative partner Hunter Hill, and "300" producer Mark Canton.

"I have always been enthralled with comic books and superheroes, and I've always believed there should be a gay superhero. Not as a joke, not as a supporting character, not as a victim, not as a token, but as a real front-and-center hero," Moore wrote of the impetus for "Hero" on his website. "I've always been surprised by how few gay heroes there are in comic books, and I decided I would write the definitive coming-of-age story of the world's first gay teen superhero."

"I was very surprised by the low number of gay characters in comic books," he continued. "Every other barrier has been broken in comics: race, gender, class, physical challenges. But gay characters remain few and far between."

Keep it locked to Splash Page for more information on "Hero" as it's available.

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