This week is Ben 10 Week on Cartoon Network, which means they've been showing brand new episodes every night this week and it all culminating with the season finale Friday night. But, with all this fanfare I have to say something that needs to be said. Ladies and gentlemen of the court! I put it to you that Ben 10's true impetus came from, of all places, not a little boy-but a little girl! I will reveal to you my collection of circumstantial evidence. I only ask that you listen to my ideas about how Ben 10 was created-spreading joy to millions of kids and (and adults) around the world-and consider their merit. So WHY this reveal? Well, for several years now I've been sitting back hoping the TV show's creators, a mysterious group of men called "Man of Action," would step up and admit to the fans where they got the idea. But it has become clear as we now head towards the release of a second live-action film of the cartoon character Ben 10 that MOA is keeping MUM about where the character came from.
Follow along and allow me to share my theory. The first thing you need to know is that the group of guys called Man of Action are comic book writers. And in the world of comic books it's not uncommon to poach character looks, story ideas, etc.,. Well let's be honest; in EVERY field it's not uncommon to "borrow" ideas, but it's much easier to see when it happens in comic books because going back to the original source is just a matter of flipping through a few pages and spotting the incriminating evidence and yelling "Ah ha!" But with TV shows people tend not to notice it as much, unless both shows are on TV at the same time (Addams Family/Munsters). But in the case of Ben 10, the show creators (Duncan Rouleau, Joe Casey, Joe Kelly and Steven T. Seagle) went back 20 years for one idea to borrow and 30 years for another.
The character of Ben 10 I would say is primarily based on a obscure, minor DC comics character named Lori Morning. And when I say "obscure" I mean REALLY obscure. First of all you need to know who the Legion of Superheroes are. They are a group of teenaged super powered kids from all over the universe who fight crime on earth-in the 30th century. Got that? If it helps to digest this, just know that they come to the 20th century and create a friendship with Superman as a boy (aka Superboy). And today the Legion isn't really as popular a series as it once was. Don't get me wrong, to comic book readers, they're considered both vital and historical-but to the general public they're not really on the radar. Although this season the Legion did make an appearance on the TV show Smallville in an episode written by a comic book writer.
But Lori Morning was a TEN year old GIRL who wore an athletic shirt with a number on it (like Ben 10). She accidentally made her way to the 31st century (a story line also featured in Ben 10 when he became Ben 10,000). And once she gets to the future she stumbles on a device called the Hero Dial. Guess what? The device allows her to turn into adult sized aliens. Guess what else? She fights crime in her transformed state. And guess what else? She can't control which alien she'll become. Now in print my argument might not look particularly strong. So I urge you to visit my little blog. I've taken the liberty to put a few side by side images and the case is made for itself. You'll need very little convincing once you see the aliens that Lori uses and then compare those to the ones Ben uses. The gender switch from girl to boy makes sense if you want to have a successful TV show, but they kept the female element by just giving Ben a cousin named Gwen; 2 birds with one stone.
I could go on and one about how Man of Action also went back 30 years to the TV show Shazam and commandeered the idea of a young boy who transformed into an adult superhero and spends the summer traveling around with a senior citizen in a Winnebago, but why don't you just look for a clip from YouTube about Shazam TV show. I actually have side by side images where you can see which concepts they used. And, as a fan of the Ben 10 shows, I'm glad they took a few ideas from characters I enjoy because ultimately they created a brand new thing that's entertaining to me and tons of people around the world.
David Rosenthal writes for the internet. And you can see the Ben 10 side by side evidence and look through Ben 10 DVD's at his blog.
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