Yep, forcing them to make the shield round, is one of the better things that could have happened to the character.
Exactly! Looking at you Man-Thing and Swamp Thing.
Even though swamp creatures anbound in fiction, Sturgeon's "It" and can be traced to all kinds of legends and folklore
Last edited by Güicho; 03-03-2020 at 07:59 AM.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UOz...youtu.be&t=984
Pretty decent breakdown above^ link should jump ahead to comparisons.
Where do people stand on Elric the White Wolf of Melnibone vs Geralt the White Wolf of Rivia?
They also add:
Originally Posted by The Necrolibriatas
Last edited by Güicho; 03-04-2020 at 05:27 AM.
There was a Doll Man villain who hid his scarred face in an iron mask.
Revisited again in Racer X
While it was likely more just parallel creative vision, the characters have absolutely nothing in common, but Cyclops and the later Racer X with the similar goggles, cowl, prominent X theme, (the black and yellow car color scheme) always struck me as potentially more than coincidence.
Either way a great look!
The times single lens racing goggles still tended to look like - https://i.imgur.com/xnSDFiX.jpg
Last edited by Güicho; 11-14-2020 at 08:40 PM.
I think Kirby and Stan Lee got a lot from the popular monster movies at the time. THE THING, THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN, THE FLY and THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. If you go back to the original Captain Marvel series (drawn by Gene Colon using Kirby's style, I believe), Mar Vell is essentially a superhero version of Klaatu the alien from The Day The Earth stood still. He's sent to Earth because the FF defeated one of their nigh-invincible Sentry Robots which are essentially their version of GORT. He appears and then takes on an Earthman identity to observe the human race and determine what sort of threat it may pose to the Kree empire.
In the Amazing Colossal Man, the hero of that story is caught by a blast from a new type of nuclear weapon when he leaves the trench to save the passengers of a plane that accidentally flew into the test area. He grows into a giant monster and becomes angry that the doctors can't cure his condition and goes on a rampage through nearby Las Vegas (which really was close enough to above-ground nuclear test sites that casino hotel guests could watch them from the outdoor bars by the swimming pools). That is a pretty obvious influence on The Hulk.
Ka-Zar wasn't so much of a rip-off as a resurrection of the 1930's Ka-Zar, David Rand, the child of millionaires who is lost in an archaic jungle in Africa. No dinosaurs in this jungle like when he is republished in Marvel comics in the 60's in the Savage Land. Obviously, he was a rip-off of Tarzan. Naturally, it's easy to see how Danny Rand the Iron Fist's origin was inspired by David Rand, but with the influence of Kung Fu and Shangri-La instead of Tarzan.
Everyone can point to Hercules, John Carter of Mars, Doc Savage and Philip Wylie's Gladiator as influences on Superman. However, the Superman as we know him was really fleshed out more by the radio show and Mort Weisinger's work on the character in the Silver Age. Doc Savage himself was likely inspired by another Wylie novel called The Savage Gentleman.
However, I think the connection between the Pulp Heroes, Universal monsters of the 40's and the 50's and 60's B-Movie monsters and Marvel's superheroes could fill a nice documentary.
The Hulk = Mr Hyde + Frankenstein's Monster + The Amazing Colossal Man
Spider-Man = The Fly + Teenage Werewolf + Superboy
Captain Marvel = The Day The Earth Stood Still + This Island Earth + Flash Gordon
Fantastic Four has a whole lot of B-Movie and Pulp SF influences
What's interesting about the X-Men is that there was a whole sub-genre of Mutant Science Fiction in the pulp magazines at the time with John W. Campbell the editor of Astounding Science Fiction (later Analog) insisting that Mutants always be portrayed as benevolent while other writers like Philip K Dick wanted to portray mutants as just as dangerous and emotionally deranged as people. PK Dick's Psi-Man, Heal My Child, A World of Talent, The Golden Man as well as Theodore Sturgeon's More Than Human and AE Van Vogt's Slan must've influenced the X-Men.
Last edited by A Small Talent For War; 04-24-2020 at 06:45 AM.