Pulp Rip-offs in Comics

[alschroeder3]

Got a question: I know of at least three times where comic writers directly ripped off a pulp story: PARTNERS IN PERIL, a Shadow story became "The Case of the Chemical Syndiate", the first Batman story. SATAN'S MURDER MACHINES, a Spider story became "The Bandit Raiders of Metropolis" in the Superman Sunday comic strip. Doc Savage's HE COULD STOP THE WORLD got converted into the first story in Superman #8. Anybody know of any others?

This is distinct from being vaguely inspired by the pulps. Obviously Batman owes a huge debt to The Shadow, and Superman is derived from both Doc Savage and Philip Wylie's GLADIATOR. But I'm talking about stories where the plot was directly lifted from a pulp story.

For instance, in the story in Superman #8, scientifically-changed giants are rampaging and are controlled from a volcano location on the West Coast. In HE COULD STOP THE WORLD, scientifically-changed giants are rampaging and controlled from Mt. Shasta in California. In both stories, the two females captured are seemingly slowly being changed into giants--but oddly seem unfazed by the changes...because, in both stories...it's a magnificaton-illusion, at last as far as the females are concerned.

In the Spider story, giant robots (amusingly called "The Iron Man") are rampaging through Manhattan, have a headquarters underneath the bay, the hero takes the place of a human in the giant robot suits (we know Stan Lee read the Spider--it's possible a memory of this was behind Iron Man's creation) --but Siegal slavinshly followed the Spider story, to the point that DC sheepishly gave a check to Popular Productions, the publisher of the Spider and to Norvell Page, the writer who posed as Grant Stockbridge.

Bill Finger admitted to lifting the story of the first Batman story from a Shadow story, and research has found it's Theodore Tinsley's first Shadow story, PARTNERS IN PERIL.

Any others?

Comments

[riddler13]

Hm, interesting. Never knew that entire plots were lifted, although it makes sense when one considers comics were still in their infancy and the rules and inspirations for the medium were forming