Shadowy Origins, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love Plagiarism.

I'm going to come out and say something:

Stealing is okay.

I mean, don't get me wrong, you shouldn't steal money or really cool shoes, but ideas are up for grabs. The fantastic thing about the idea ether that we all seem magically connected to is that we are all connected to it. The upside is that we can all take a crack at ideas. The downside is that our attempt may pale in comparison to another's. When Rob Liefeld departed Marvel and created (among other "original" works) his rip-off of the Hulk called "Smash" (No, really), no one cared. Making a purple Hulk does not improve upon the idea of the Hulk (but three female Hulks, a red one, and a barbarian version does -- oh, just Wiki it).

When Bill Finger and Bob Kane took all of the Shadow stories they had loved and put the lead character in a more ridiculous costume, rechristening him "The Batman," they were introducing the world to an improved, or at least more contemporary and marketable, version of the dark vigilante concept. Whether their success owes more to the fact that you could see, rather than only read, Batman's adventures, or to the changing public perception of escapism and entertainment (likely, a bit of both), one concept was embraced and another was allowed to slowly disappear.

Of course, the Shadow is not gone. He was allowed his own godawful movie adaptation (but isn't Alec Baldwin great now?) and he has sporadically appeared in comic books of his own. If rumors are to be believed, we will get to watch a new crack at the character as directed by Sam Raimi in a few years. Maybe this new version will stick and the character will make a come back, and maybe it won't. While we all owe the Shadow, his creator, and his defining writers credit for inspiring Batman, we long ago made our choice of preferred nighttime crusader.

Besides, trying to spot the inspirations behind every popular idea would drive anyone crazy...