BOB KANE

'Bob Kane' (born 'Robert Kahn', October 24, 1915 – November 3, 1998) was an American comic book artist and writer credited as the creator of the DC Comics superhero Batman. In later years, Kane acknowledged his studio writer Bill Finger as "a contributing force" in the character's creation.^[1] Comics historian Ron Goulart, in ''Comic Book Encyclopedia'', refers to Batman as the "creation of artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger".^[2]

Contents

Biography

Early life and career

Batman

Robin

The Joker

Later life and career

Quotes

Footnotes

References

External links

Biography

Early life and career

A high school friend of fellow cartoonist and future The Spirit creator Will Eisner,^[3] Robert Kahn legally changed his name to Bob Kane at age 18.^[1] He entered comics in 1936, freelancing original material to editor Jerry Iger's comic book ''Wow, What A Magazine!''. The following year, Kane began working at Iger's subsequent studio, Eisner & Iger, one of the first comic book "packagers" that produced comics on demand for publishers entering the new medium during its late-1930s and 1940s Golden Age. Among his work there was the funny animal feature "Peter Pupp", published in the U.K. comic magazine ''Wags'' and later reprinted in Fiction House's ''Jumbo Comics''; and for two of the companies that would later merge to form DC Comics, the humor features "Ginger Snap" in ''More Fun Comics'', "Oscar the Gumshoe" for ''Detective Comics'', and "Professor Doolittle" for ''Adventure Comics''. For that last title he went to on to do his first adventure strip, "Rusty and his Pals".

Batman

In early 1939, DC's success with the seminal superhero Superman in ''Action Comics'' prompted editors to scramble for more such heroes. In response, Bob Kane conceived "the Bat-Man".^[5] Kane said his influences for the character included actor Douglas Fairbanks' movie portrayal of the swashbuckler Zorro, Leonardo Da Vinci's diagram of the ornithopter, a flying machine with huge bat-like wings; and the 1930 film ''The Bat Whispers'', based on Mary Rinehart's mystery novel ''The Circular Staircase''.^[6]
Bill Finger joined Bob Kane's nascent studio in 1938. An aspiring writer and part-time shoe salesperson, he had met Kane at a party, and Kane later offered him a job ghost writing the strips ''Rusty'' and ''Clip Carson''.^{[7] [8]} He recalled that Kane
Finger said he offered such suggestions as giving the character a cowl and scalloped cape instead of wings; adding gloves; leaving the mask's eyeholes blank to connote mystery; and removing the bright red sections of the original costume, suggesting instead a gray-and-black color scheme. Finger additionally said his suggestions were influenced by Lee Falk's popular ''The Phantom'', a syndicated newspaper comic strip character with which Kane was familiar as well. Finger, who said he also devised the character's civilian name, Bruce Wayne, wrote the first Batman story, while Kane provided art. Kane, who had already submitted the proposal for Batman at DC, and held a contract, is the only person given official company credit for Batman's creation.
According to Kane,
The character debuted in ''Detective Comics'' #27 (May 1939) and proved a breakout hit. Within a year, Kane hired art assistants Jerry Robinson (initially as an inker) and George Roussos. Shortly afterward, when DC wanted more Batman stories than Kane's studio could deliver, the company assigned Dick Sprang and other in-house pencilers as "ghost artists", drawing uncredited under Kane's supervision. Future ''Justice League'' writer Gardner Fox wrote some early scripts, including the two-part story "The Monk" that introduced some of The Batman's first "Bat-" equipment.^[9]
In 1943, Kane left the Batman comic books to focus on penciling the daily ''Batman'' newspaper comic strip. DC Comics artists ghosting the comic-book stories now included Jack Burnley and Win Mortimer, with Robinson moving up as penciler and Fred Ray contributing some covers. In 1946, Kane returned to the comic books but, unknown to DC, had hired his own personal ghosts: Lew S. Schwartz from 1946-1953^[10] and Sheldon Moldoff from 1953-1967.^[11]

Robin

Bill Finger recalled that,
Kane, who had previously created a sidekick for Peter Pupp, proposed adding a boy named Mercury who would have worn a "super-costume".^[12] Robinson suggested a normal human, along with the name "Robin", after Robin Hood books he had read during boyhood, and noting in a 2005 interview he had been inspired by one book's N.C. Wyeth illustrations.^[13] The new character, orphaned circus performer named Dick Grayson, came to live with Bruce Wayne as his young ward in ''Detective Comics'' #38 (April 1940) and would inspire many similar sidekicks throughout the Golden Age of comic books.

The Joker

Batman's archnemesis the Joker was introduced near that same time, in ''Batman'' #1 (Spring 1940). Credit for that character's creation is disputed. Robinson has said he created the character.^[14] Kane's position is that
Robinson, whose original Joker playing card was on public display in the exhibition "Masters of American Comics" at the Jewish Museum in New York City, New York, from Sept. 16, 2006 to Jan. 28, 2007, and the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum in Atlanta, Georgia from Oct. 24, 2004 to Aug. 28, 2005, has countered that:

Later life and career

As Kane's comic work tapered off in the 1960s, Kane parlayed his Batman status into minor celebrity. He enjoyed a post-comic book career in TV animation, creating the characters Courageous Cat and Cool McCool, and as a painter, showing his work in art galleries, although even some of these paintings were produced by ghost artists.^[15] In 1989, Kane published the autobiography ''Batman and Me'', with a second volume ''Batman and Me, The Saga Continues'', in 1996.
He was set to have a cameo in the 1989 movie ''Batman'' as the newspaper artist who prepares the drawing of the "Bat-man" for Alexander Knox, but scheduling conflicts prevented this. Kane's trademark square signature can still be seen clearly on the drawing. Kane died on November 3, 1998, leaving behind wife, Elizabeth Sanders (Kane), an actress who appeared in three Batman films, a daughter, and grandson. ^[16] Kane is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) in Los Angeles, California.

Quotes

★ 'Jerry Robinson': "A lot of people don't give him [Kane] as much credit for his art, but I thought he had a flair. It was rudimentary, but in a way that worked to his benefit in the strip. He didn't know much about perspective and anatomy, so he had to improvise."^[17]

★ 'George Roussos': "Jerry was an excellent, very meticulous inker, but slow. Bob and I got on very well during the years I worked on Batman. He was a mild-mannered individual who made no demands on Jerry and me, and in general, he was terrific to work for."^[18]

Footnotes

1. Batman & Me, , Bob, Kane, Eclipse Books, 1989, 1-56060-017-9
2. Goulart, Ron, ''Comic Book Encyclopedia'' (Harper Entertainment, New York, 2004) ISBN 0-06-053816-3
3. Up, Up, and Oy Vey!, , Simcha, Weinstein, Leviathan Press, 2006, ISBN 978-1-881927-32-7
4. Batman & Me, , Bob, Kane, Eclipse Books, 1989, 1-56060-017-9
5. Daniels, Les. ''Batman: The Complete History''. Chronicle Books, 1999. ISBN 0-8118-4232-0, pg. 18.
6. Daniels, Ibid., page 20
7. Walker, Brian. ''The Comics Since 1945'' (Harry N. Abrams), pp. 10-12
8. Steranko, Jim. ''The Steranko History of Comics'' (Supergraphics, Reading, Pa., 1970; ISBN 0-517-50188-0), p. 44
9. Kane, Andrae,page 103 Ibid., and Daniels, page 29
10. Lew Schwartz interview, ''Alter Ego'' #51 (Aug. 2005)
11. Moldoff, in a 1994 interview given while Kane was alive, described his clandestine arrangement in ''Alter Ego'' #59 (June 2006) p. 15): "I worked for Bob Kane as a ghost from ' 53 to ' 67. DC didn't know that I was involved; that was the handshake agreement I had with Bob: 'You do the work don't say anything, Shelly, and you've got steady work'. No, he didn't pay great, but it was steady work, it was security. I knew that we had to do a minimum of 350 to 260 pages a year. Also, I was doing other work at the same time for [editors] Jack Schiff and Murray Boltinoff at DC. They didn't know I was working on Batman for Bob. ... So I was busy. Between the two, I never had a dull year, which is the compensation I got for being Bob's ghost, for keeping myself anonymous".
12. ''Comic Book Interview Super Special: Batman'' (Fictioneer Press, 1989
13. Excerpt from Jerry Robinson interview in ''The Comics Journal'' #271 (Oct. 2005)
14. Per many sources, including ''The Comics Journal'' #271 (Oct. 2005): Jerry Robinson interview (online excerpts posted Oct. 15, 2005)
15. POV Online (column of March 15, 2007): "News from Me: Arnold", by Mark Evanier
16. Elizabeth Sanders (I)
17. ''The Comics Journal'', Ibid.
18. ''Dark Knight Archives'' Volume Two (DC Comics, 1995)

References

★ Goulart, Ron, ''Over 50 Years of American Comic Books'' (BDD Promotional Books Company, 1991) ISBN-10 0792454502; ISBN-13 978-0792454502

★ Batman: The Complete History, , Les, Daniels, Chronicle Books, 1999,

External links

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