Martin Goodman was well-known as a publisher that followed trends. Stan Lee was getting tired of the game when Goodman asked him to give Marvel (before it was actually "Marvel") a superhero team like the JL of A. On his wife's suggestion, Stan Lee decided to write a superhero comic the way he wanted to, that he thought he would enjoy reading, himself.

So, while Goodman was wanting to follow what he saw as a new trend (superhero comics coming back in vogue), Stan Lee took that assignment, and with Jack Kirby's help, created a unique concept of the superhero team. Hardly a rip-off of the JLA, though without the JLA, there would have been no Fantastic Four.

Then again, without Superman, there would have been no comic book superheroes.

Without Gladiator, Doc Savage, and Greek mythology there wouldn't have been Superman.

And so on...

Even though the Challengers of the Unknown are SF adventurers in the FF mode, Doom Patrol and the FF are certainly more similar in every way, right down to the cosmic storylines and the external melodrama of the supporting cast. DP is DC's response to Marvel's success, and credit should probably be given for their quick reaction, considering DP came out in 1963, a year after FF debuted. I mean, DC must have been shaken to the core by what Marvel was doing, and how they were selling.

I think the X-Men comparison is Marvel fanboy fellatio. Isn't the original X-Men sort of the teenage version of FF, anyway? Utilitarian uniforms, staunch leader, a brute, a majestic flying guy/younger pratical joker, a useless cheesecake hottie, and their own Doc Doom? Strengthening the FF/DP, and the Challs for that matter, is the catalyst of an accident or accidents that transform them. They "die" and return to help the world. The X-Men are genetic outcasts who have to choose between moral codes. Not a problem of DP, the Challs, or the FF.

Chad wrote: ...DP came out in 1963, a year after FF debuted...

"The Fantastic Four" was first published in 1961.

Chad wrote: ... Isn't the original X-Men sort of the teenage version of FF, anyway?...

Pretty much. Even the cover of "X-Men" #1 notes that the book is in "The Fantastic Four style."

Chad wrote: ...DP came out in 1963, a year after FF debuted...

"The Fantastic Four" was first published in 1961

The END of 1961. November to be exact.

Either way, something strikes me wrong about mocking someone at a public event, even if they are not there, in front of that person's peers.  Especially someone who seems as nice as Stan.

Plus, besides the superficial resemblance, the X-men went their own way, and became far more popular later than before. It isn't like Doom Patrol would have had that success, if not  for those blasted X-men.

It's a funny thing about "creating" stuff.  When I was a little kid, I read a lot of comics from Disney, and a few issues of Spider-Man.  Then I didn't read comics at all until I was 14 or so.

In the interim, I thought it would be so fun  to write for comics, and I "created" a team of heroes lead by a guy who had mind powers that hurt him physically everytime he used them.  His condition had deteriorated so much that he was confined to a wheelchair.

The team was called "The Agents of Change" and their leader was ... so help me:  The Chairman.  Basically, these guys fought crime and righted wrongs and even traveled through time. 

Of course, I was about 11 years old at the time.  I had never read an X-men book, or Doom Patrol either.  I had heard of the Fantastic Four.  But I did watch a lot of TV.  So what did I "create"?

Chad wrote: ...The END of 1961. November to be exact....

Which, going by how the dates were put on comics at that time, meant the book was probably actually published in August of 1961. Usually, the cover dates were about four months ahead of the actual month the book was published.