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Originally Posted by ZodWallop
There was Kolchak the Night Stalker (1972) and Marvel Comics' Blade (1973). There's also Shadowrun (though with its science fiction elements, maybe urban fantasy fans don't consider it to be the same).
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Oh, I was a big Kolchak fan, (not that abysmal "remake") but I would never put that in the same arena as AB. Kolchak was a laughingstock at his newspaper, always chasing that elusive proof, etc. And half the time he was running in terror for his life. His "alternative universe" was
our universe, with secrets--AB's alternative universe was a completely different world--a world in which a supernatural detective agency took on jobs publicly, populated by a mystery guy, an elf, etc. The AB character was licensed to take out Vamps. AND, let's not forget, the Vampire Executioner (the irony, again, it BURNS) was
a petite woman who carried arms (rah!) and other weapons. Unique at the time. I'm pretty sure that I hadn't read a female character--certainly not in fantasy--that knew what an Uncle Mike's Inner-Pants Holster was!
Blade...again, that's mostly "our world with secrets," rather than an alternative universe in which the supernatural is everyday.
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But there's no doubt that the Anita Blake books are what really started the urban fantasy boom.
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Oh, yeah. As
eternally irritated with her as I am, over her throwing over her kickass female character to turn her into a supernatural-frat-boy blow-up F*ck Doll, I'll give her that. She definitely kickstarted the Dresdens etc. of the world. In Butcher's case,
literally.
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You could wait and if it becomes an established market then that's good news for you.
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Nah. When two plotlines are too similar, it's best to just toss the ms.
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Cases of extremely similar moves aren't always plagiarism. In the '70's, one studio was working on a movie about a high rise on fire adapted from the novel The Tower. Another studio was working on a movie about a high rise on fire based on the book The Glass Inferno. Just a coincidence. In their case, they combined their movies into The Towering Inferno.
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I'm not saying that they're plagiarism at
all. I'm saying that Joe Bloggs starts schlepping around Hollywood with his script, or his script idea, gives the High Concept (pitch line) and Jane Doe producer mentions it to John Smith actor who mentions it to...it's the telephone game and the next thing you know, Joe Bloggs is screwed and at least two studios are making some variant on it. (Kung Fu and Bruce Lee, anybody?) Those involved may very innocently think that they came up with the ideas themselves. {shrug}.
Hitch