How many characters are there in one that were "inspired" by the other?
One thing I've been noticing a lot in DC is random X-Men style minor(relatively) characters.
You are looking for a long list my friend
I have a soft spot for rip off characters, sometimes they make a great and deep statement (Mark Milton aka Hyperion in Supreme Power made me fear Superman) and sometimes they just exist to get their head smashed in as disposable characters (think of the avengers style team in The Authority).
Flash = Quicksilver and just about any speedster in Marvel
Plasticman = Elongated man (and they both in DC)
Green Arrow = Hawkeye
Hulk = Doomsday (not 100% sure, but when I first saw DD I though that's the Hulk)
Batman + Catwoman = Catman ( :D )
There are more, but that's all that comes to mind right now.
hmm... here's a few quick ones.
Namor was apparently the inspiration for Aquaman
the nova corps might have been inspired by the Green Lantern corps.
I forget the name but there was some Superman villain who appeared to be inspired by Shehulk.
Quote from: marhawkman on June 05, 2009, 06:27:57 PM
hmm... here's a few quick ones.
I forget the name but there was some Superman villain who appeared to be inspired by Shehulk.
Rampage was her name
Lobo was an intentional parody of Wolverine, as I understand it.
I love analogue characters.
The Shiar Imperial Guard are Legion of Superheroes analogues, with Dave Cockrum forming a strong link between the two there.
The Extremists from the JLA "Bwah ha ha" era are analogues of Magneto, Dr Doom, Doc Ock, Sabretooth and Dormammu
And the hero team from their world, consisting of Wandjina the Thunderer, Silver Sorceress, BlueJay etc were obviously Thor, Scralet Witch, Ant Man analogues ie the Avengers.
Teen Titans by Wolfman and Perez featured the reCombatants, an obvious homage to the DNAgents. Not Marvel-DC but inter-company at least.
Who are the X-Men style characters you're thinking of in DC, by the way?
WildC.A.T.S and Gen13 were obvious X-Men homages/ripoffs
The Authority was a JLA analogue
The 4 from Planetary are an obvious Fantastic Four reference (as are most characters from Planetary)
I'd say that Teen Titans (especially Wolfman/Perez's New Teen Titans) played off of the successful Claremont X-Men. (more in terms of tone and style than characters)
Deadpool is a ripoff of Deathstroke, while Vigilante II is a ripoff of Punisher.
I'd say Vision is both an inspiration and homage to Red Tornado and Martian Manhunter.
Also, would the New Gods be derivatives of the Celestials and the Eternals? Or is it the other way around?
The original Original Doom Patrol is a... I don't want to call them a rip off, but... well, if you make Robotman The Thing, Negative Man The Human Torch, Elasti-Girl might not really match Invisible Girl, but The Chief is nearly as smart as Mr. Fantastic, and if you consider that the DP was a group of "freaks" that were outcast from humanity and protected those who feared them, and they were led by this guy in a wheel chair... well, the Doom Patrol was a lot like both The FF and The X-Men. The animated version I've seen from Brave & Bold they loook even MORE like The FF.
And stylistically, The DP seemed to be an attempt by DC to do a Marvel-like comic.
And, in one of the later issues of the DP, there was a panel that showed The Chief on a TV monitor, and he was BALD. So maybe he was wearing a wig... and if he was wearing a wig, then maybe he was wearing a false beard too, and how many bald guys in wheel chairs were in comic those days? So maybe Xavier wasn't preparing for the Z'nox, he was really running The Doom Patrol... ;)
But I'd dissagree with DetourneMe: the android Vision is a lot like the Golden Age Vision, with a little (very little) of The Specter thrown in. I'd have to look at publishing dates but I'd guess that Vis inspired The Tornado rather than the other way around.
I remember Johnny once musing that maybe he got his powers because he subconsiously admired the original Human Torch he read about in comics, and Reed replying that didn't say much for his own childhood reading (can you say "Plastic Man?). Don't give me any of the "four elements" hokum; the FF were old concepts that were done in what was pretty much a new manner.
The new gods were supposed to replace those of Asgard and Olympus (check out Thor's helmet on the battlefield in New God #1).
And there is the big one: Darkseid = Thanos
Even Thanos admits that.
When did Thanos admit that? <_<
The DC vs. Marvel crossover form the mid- 90s, I think.
Lies!!! Nothing but lies I say!!!!!!
'Way back a long time ago, before he even died, Thanos was describing himself, and he finished up by saying "I am the Dark Side". This was brought up in the LOC (or something), as I remember, a couple of months later, but was not commented much upon by the editors (where are my Starlin Captain Mar-Vells, anyway?). Now, you might think it was coincidence, despite Thanos being the wanna-be leader of a lot of new god-like beings, but I don't think so
Quote from: daglob on June 17, 2009, 06:57:48 PM
The original Original Doom Patrol is a... I don't want to call them a rip off, but... well, if you make Robotman The Thing, Negative Man The Human Torch, Elasti-Girl might not really match Invisible Girl, but The Chief is nearly as smart as Mr. Fantastic, and if you consider that the DP was a group of "freaks" that were outcast from humanity and protected those who feared them, and they were led by this guy in a wheel chair... well, the Doom Patrol was a lot like both The FF and The X-Men. The animated version I've seen from Brave & Bold they loook even MORE like The FF.
But remember, the Doom Patrol came out before the X-Men and I don't think they are a rip-off of the FF. The DP was certainly inspired by the FF, especially with the similar team set-up and the in-fighting, but their similarities are really superficial IMHO. I think the DP and the FF had enough differences in that Cliff is not a bulky pile of rocks (and had lost his real body and is forced to live in a robotic life-support system and is nowhere as durable as the Thing), Johnny didn't leave his body to become energy as Larry did (with Negative Man being the silent 5th member of the DP), the Chief rarely left his mansion and rarely played an active part in the field (unlike Mr. Fantastic), Rita was shown as being much more self-reliant and capable than Sue was (at the beginning, of course...Sue got better as time went on). I think with the DP appearing in the Teen Titans cartoon made them really look like the FF with Mento being the leader (since he is also supposed to be smart and an active leader), as opposed to showing the Chief as the mansion-bound leader. Throw in Mento and Beast Boy (with the original 4 DP members) and the team loses more of it's similarities to the FF.
Quote from: daglob on June 17, 2009, 06:57:48 PM
And stylistically, The DP seemed to be an attempt by DC to do a Marvel-like comic.
It definitely was.
Quote from: daglob on June 17, 2009, 06:57:48 PM
And, in one of the later issues of the DP, there was a panel that showed The Chief on a TV monitor, and he was BALD. So maybe he was wearing a wig... and if he was wearing a wig, then maybe he was wearing a false beard too, and how many bald guys in wheel chairs were in comic those days? So maybe Xavier wasn't preparing for the Z'nox, he was really running The Doom Patrol... ;)
Do you know which issue the Chief appears bald in, DG?
Quote from: daglob on June 17, 2009, 06:57:48 PM
But I'd disagree with DetourneMe: the android Vision is a lot like the Golden Age Vision, with a little (very little) of The Specter thrown in. I'd have to look at publishing dates but I'd guess that Vis inspired The Tornado rather than the other way around.
I remember Johnny once musing that maybe he got his powers because he subconsiously admired the original Human Torch he read about in comics, and Reed replying that didn't say much for his own childhood reading (can you say "Plastic Man?). Don't give me any of the "four elements" hokum; the FF were old concepts that were done in what was pretty much a new manner.
Yeah, I agree....I don't see the FF as the "4 elements"....It's too much work to make that comparison fit, IMO. I also agree with you about the Vision.
Dana
Quote from: JeyNyce on June 04, 2009, 09:20:36 PM
Flash = Quicksilver and just about any speedster in Marvel
I don't know about that, both Northstar and Aurora (as their powers were originally meant to be), are quite different than the Flash.
Quote from: JeyNyce on June 04, 2009, 09:20:36 PM
Plasticman = Elongated man (and they both in DC)
The Thin Man at Marvel came out before both of them, I believe...Which is pretty interesting.
Dana
Aww, I was thinking this was about another video from RandomGuy.
Which reminds me, I should go look...
Quote from: steamteck on June 16, 2009, 09:09:02 PM
Quote from: marhawkman on June 05, 2009, 06:27:57 PM
hmm... here's a few quick ones.
I forget the name but there was some Superman villain who appeared to be inspired by Shehulk.
Rampage was her name
Given that Namor premiered in 1939,and Aquaman did not show up until the early 60's, I think it's clear who did the ripping off here.
Actually, you're a few decades off there. Aquaman debuted in '41, but yeah, he was clearly following in Namor's footsteps, but he was a very different character, even in his first appearance, being a human who was given powers by his father rather than a hybrid.
In all truth if you remove the big two from the equation, look at the industry as a whole from the start of it to now...all of them. One character just works back to another and another. Though more superhero comics are less inspired by design and moreso trends, particularly the ones that are moving a lot of units. But yeah, you can trace everyone back to the Shadow and even Popeye somehow or another.
Well,Walter Gibson always said Batman was the clown version of The Shadow.
Fun Fact,story of Detective Comics #27 was pretty much lifted from a Shadow story from few months earlier.Not that Bob Kane ever admited any of that,thou.
One of the Shadow reprints from recent years has an article on the "similarities" between The Case of the Chemical Syndicate and Partners In Peril.
Have we mentioned Doc Savage's Fortress of Solitude? Yes, I now, that is pulp.
As I've wandered the vast wasteland of Golden Age comics, I've noticed a LOT of similarities between a LOT of characters. Everyone was hoping to come up with a version of Superman or Batman that wasn't grounds for a lawsuit.
Quote from: SickAlice on April 07, 2017, 03:04:26 PM
In all truth if you remove the big two from the equation, look at the industry as a whole from the start of it to now...all of them. One character just works back to another and another. Though more superhero comics are less inspired by design and moreso trends, particularly the ones that are moving a lot of units. But yeah, you can trace everyone back to the Shadow and even Popeye somehow or another.
I always thought that Aquaman was a Silver Age creation. Learn something every day.
Yep, Aquaman was actually the only DC character, other than the big two (and maybe Green Arrow, I can't remember if he shared Aquaman's book the whole time or not), to be continuously published from the Gold to the Silver-Age.
Quote from: BentonGrey on April 07, 2017, 11:35:22 PM
Yep, Aquaman was actually the only DC character, other than the big two (and maybe Green Arrow, I can't remember if he shared Aquaman's book the whole time or not), to be continuously published from the Gold to the Silver-Age.
Yeeup. Right with Aquaman, Green Arrow kept on keeping on. He even had a run by Jack Kirby!
Right, thanks Kk! :)
What about Wonder Woman? I don't know her publication timeline.
Quote from: SickAlice on April 07, 2017, 03:04:26 PM
In all truth if you remove the big two from the equation, look at the industry as a whole from the start of it to now...all of them. One character just works back to another and another.
Yeah, I always thought that was facinating. For instance, Batman was inspired by the Shadow. The Spider was inspired by the Shadow. Spider-Man was (according to one version of Stan Lee's story) inspired by the Spider. Daredevil was inspired by Spider-Man.
So we've got three popular characters whose roots all go back to the Shadow-- a character that most non-comic or non-pulp hero fans would probably not recognize. Pretty interesting.
Of course, the Shadow didn't wear skintight spandex or have lenses over his eyes, so maybe the Phantom deserves some credit as well?
Most adults have at least an idea of the meaning of the phrase "The Shadow Knows", and may have a vague knowledge that it concerns a detective on a radio show. It may be lost with the next generation.
90's kids might remember the movie. ;)
The interesting thing is The Shadow's creation was heavily based off of earlier, lesser known costumed pulp characters. So you have to go even further back on what influenced everything.
Yeah, my skin/scope for "The Shadow of Wall Street" is at Alex's place. And he was not the first.