Gru, central character in Despicable Me has evolved from other comic strips.,

Forums: Comics, Grimly Feendish, Len Baxendale, Ken Reid
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When Gru first appeared on screen a lot of people remarked on his similarity with Uncle Fester from the Addams Family.

https://img.sharetv.com/shows/characters/large/the_addams_family.uncle_fester.jpg

There is a strong similarity between the two characters.

https://www.pngitem.com/pimgs/m/181-1811030_how-to-draw-gru-despicable-me-easy-drawing.png

The physical resemblance is all they really have in common, Gru has minions and is an international criminal, Fester is just weird.

There is a missing link and that is Grimly Feendish.

https://2000ad.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Screenshot-2020-04-02-00.04.44.png

Grimly Feendish is "the rottenest crook in the world" and he has minions and a scarf.

Uncle Fester inspired Grimly Feendish and Grimly Feendish inspired Gru. That's the theory anyway, and it's not mine.

Grimly Feendish is the only one that the Damned have written a song about although they changed the spelling to avoid copyright problems.

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Grimly Feendish first started out as the villain in the comic strip Eagle Eye Junior Spy.

http://www.brokenfrontier.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Bax1_0517.jpg

This appeared in the comic Wham. Grimly was so popular he had his own strip in Smash comic that ran from 1966-1969, later reappearing in Shiver and Shake 1973-74.

https://i0.wp.com/downthetubes.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Grimly-Feendish-Strip.jpg

In 2005 Alan Moore reimagined him in his six part series Albion where we learn his name is Grymleigh Gartside Fiendstein.

https://i0.wp.com/downthetubes.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/img_0103-819x1024.jpg?resize=700%2C875

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@izzythepush,

According to IMDb, Despicable Me is based on a story from Sergio Pablos. Did he borrow or steal certain aspects from older characters? Don't know. Is it legally actionable to challenge if plagiarism is in order? Doesn't look close enough to me.

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@tsarstepan,

Do you have to be so litigious minded?

Art in inspired by other sources, West Side Story was inspired by Romeo and Juliet, but nobody was up in arms about.

I never said it's an exact copy at all, and for that matter no proof Len Baxendale ever saw the Addams family.

If you can't see the similarites I can't make you.

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@izzythepush,

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@roger,

So has Len Baxendale.

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@roger,

Even if it hadn't there wouldn't be grounds to sue, Shakespeare copied it as well.

And it's different enough.

All I'm saying, and it's not just me, is that if you draw a line from Uncle Fester to Gru you have to go through Grimly Feendish.

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Gru, central character in Despicable Me has evolved from other comic strips.,

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