Dude. You totally stole that...

[Shalla Bal]

^^^^
Yes, there were a whole slew of "adventurer-explorer quartets" back then, with many published by DC, including these guys below--the Sea Devils (who debuted in 1960, a year before the FF). The Sea Devils quartet included a brainy leader, his blonde girlfriend, her blond kid brother and the leader's brawny buddy. Sound familiar?

above, Sea Devils....below, FF #1



One likely inspiration for the popularity/proliferation of adventurer-quartets was the 1954 TV show Rocky Jones, Space Ranger, which featured--you guessed it--a quartet. There was even a Rocky Jones comic, published by Charlton, in 1955.

[PaulBullion]

Harry Potter reminds me an awful lot of Timothy Hunter.

From Wikipedia:

Hunter: Age of Magic author Dylan Horrocks has pointed out that neither Hunter nor Potter was truly an original idea, with another boy wizard preceding Hunter in comics, and they should be considered more as part of a genre:

The superficial similarities are striking - but no more so than any number of other stories in the genre. As Gaiman has repeatedly said, he and Rowling were merely drinking from the same well. In fact, there was even a story in 2000AD (called the 'Journals of Luke Kirby') which came out a few years before The Books of Magic, which was extremely similar to both the BoM and Harry Potter. This is a genre - and Gaiman and Rowling are both playing with the conventions of the genre, to different ends.[41]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timoth...o_Harry_Potter

[K7P5V]

"Man these guys are a bunch of Squadron Supreme rip offs" - Hawkeye, JLAvengers.

One of my all-time favorite scenes in comic book history (LOL):

[Jack Dracula]

From Wikipedia:



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timoth...o_Harry_Potter

I may seek out the issue of 2000AD referred to in the wiki. Thanks Paul.

[wjowski]

Harry Potter reminds me an awful lot of Timothy Hunter.

Actually I was going to say Harry Potter kinda reminded me of this book series. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle...donald_novels)

[Electricmastro]

The Comet from Pep Comics likely inspired Cyclops.

[williamtheday]

The Top came first in The Flash; a few years later, Hank Pym is up against The Human Top!

[Güicho]

Rick Jones ("just a kid") transforming to Captain Marvel.


Marvel having already secured the name Captain Marvel, although their first version didn't quite take off.
So Marvel went even further pretty shamelessly trying to blur the lines and co-opt even more aspects of the original character.
With Rick Jones now "transforming" / being replaced by the adult Captain Marvel.
And while switching places Even found a round about way for him to invoke lightning! LOL!

[Electricmastro]

It was pointed out to me by Comic Book Historians that Flash Gordon wore an outfit in 1940 that's similar to Barry Allen's 1956 outfit:



https://comicbookhistorians.com/from...o-comic-books/

[CaptCleghorn]

^^^^
Yes, there were a whole slew of "adventurer-explorer quartets" back then, with many published by DC, including these guys below--the Sea Devils (who debuted in 1960, a year before the FF). The Sea Devils quartet included a brainy leader, his blonde girlfriend, her blond kid brother and the leader's brawny buddy. Sound familiar?


One likely inspiration for the popularity/proliferation of adventurer-quartets was the 1954 TV show Rocky Jones, Space Ranger, which featured--you guessed it--a quartet. There was even a Rocky Jones comic, published by Charlton, in 1955.

Don't forget Rip Hunter's crew with the exact same cast relations. One could throw Cave Carson in there as well, but the GF and pesky kid weren't related. The challs were far from what the FF ripped off.

[CaptCleghorn]

^^^^
Yes, there were a whole slew of "adventurer-explorer quartets" back then, with many published by DC, including these guys below--the Sea Devils (who debuted in 1960, a year before the FF). The Sea Devils quartet included a brainy leader, his blonde girlfriend, her blond kid brother and the leader's brawny buddy. Sound familiar?



One likely inspiration for the popularity/proliferation of adventurer-quartets was the 1954 TV show Rocky Jones, Space Ranger, which featured--you guessed it--a quartet. There was even a Rocky Jones comic, published by Charlton, in 1955.

Rip Hunter also had the scientist, GF, her little brother, and brawny buddy cast. Cave carson was close byt the kid and GF weren't related to each other. Seems silly to assume Challs were the complete inspiration for FF, especially the cast.

And I'm guessing this arc was a kind of homage to Rocky Jones.

[PaulBullion]

Begone, begone Prince Valiant.

Rise the demon, Etrigan!




Kirby's inspiration from a 1930s comic strip.

[CaptCleghorn]

I didn't know this for a long time, but The Hellfire Club from the X-Men were basically a rip-off of a similar group from the 60's spy TV show "The Avengers".

( I'm at work so I can't be googling images of women in bustiers even if they were from old tv shows...)

There actually was a real Hellfire Club which was the original. But I do suspect Claremont and Byrne got a lot of inspiration (let's call it that to be respectable, shall we?).

[CaptCleghorn]

One of my all-time favorite scenes in comic book history:
Attachment 84850

I'm sure there are many easter Egg lines is this series, but this was my favorite...

[DrNewGod]

...Seems silly to assume Challs were the complete inspiration for FF, especially the cast...

Given that Kirby created both, not really that much of a stretch. The thing the Challengers and FF had that were particularly close was the 4-elements theme. I will grant you the point about the GF and annoying kid brother.