I never mind when people tribute me, as long as they’re upfront about it. You can rip me off as much as you like, if you say, “Yeah, I got that from Neil.” Because I feel that the moment I’ve written something, the moment I put something out into the public domain, it belongs to the world.
Neil Gaiman, on the Wachowski Brothers and Kevin Smith borrowing from Sandman for their films, and being gracious about giving him credit