Inspiration for THE BLOB?

It struck me while watching this on Svengoolie that THE MONOLITH MONSTERS have a lot of elements in common with how THE BLOB, which was released a year later, unfolded. A meteor-delivered threat, it in one way or another absorbs its victims, common, every substances (salt solutions in one, CO2 in another) neutralize it, the threat can be taken apart and multiply, etc. In fact, the titular monsters are just physical opposites of one another -- one's a solid mass, the other is amorphous.