An adaptation is a work derived from an identified earlier work. Influence is a broader relationship that requires evidence of transmission, not merely resemblance between characters or scenes.
Direct relationships
Adaptation credits establish a documented connection. The three published War Against the Mafia comic parts from 1993 and the 1996 Death Squad graphic novel have identified source works and adaptation credits.
That connection does not imply identical execution. The adapter selects how material is represented in another format. Characters, events and equipment can be retained, condensed or changed while the work remains an adaptation.
David Morrell’s account of First Blood identifies changes to location, characterization and ending in the film. A confirmed relationship between works therefore does not make their details interchangeable.
Creator testimony and resemblance
A creator’s statement about an influence supplies a different kind of evidence. It records an acknowledged relationship, with a scope determined by what the speaker actually identifies.
The John Wick editing account attributes a Hong Kong influence to Chad Stahelski’s approach. That statement supports the named relationship. It does not establish an additional line of descent from every earlier action-paperback hero.
Resemblance is weaker evidence. Two works can share a solitary protagonist, recognizable weapons or revenge motivation because those elements are available within a wider genre. Chronological precedence makes influence possible; it does not make transmission demonstrated.
Proposals and completed works
A proposed adaptation has a development history but is not automatically a released film, comic or recording. The fourth Innovation War Against the Mafia part was unpublished. Counting an intended four-part project as four released issues would distort the adaptation record.
Scope of an influence claim
A claim of influence should name the earlier work, later work, feature transmitted and evidence connecting them. Rights, credits and specific testimony support different parts of that account.
Without a demonstrated connection, similarity remains a comparison. That comparison can explain a shared convention without being presented as a causal history of who borrowed from whom.