Ellis describes the creation of Simon Spector as a cross between Doc Savage, The Shadow, and The Spider. "These were the guys who didn't screw around. And did they turn the bad guys over to the cops? Did they hell. They shredded the bad guys with hails of bullets, often from machine pistols they designed themselves to kill the bad guys more quickly and more messily. At best they abducted the bad guys and performed back room brain surgery on them to make them better citizens. And then they'd go home to play the violin badly, shag their secret mistresses and, in Doc Savage's case, play with a little box of vials that even as a kid I was convinced contained drugs of some kind. For those of us who loved the pulp heroes, but thought that back then things were a little too coy and way too white, I give you Simon Spector: superhuman detective adventurer who is also, frankly, here to take drugs and kill people."
