Comics legend Bob Kane was born in New York City in 1915 to Eastern European Jewish parents who had always been interested in art. He was a friend of Spirit creator Will Eisner in high school before winning a scholarship at the Commercial Art Studio to study art.
Kane started his comics work in 1936 as a freelancer on Wow, What a Magazine!, where he drew Hiram Hick. He continued on humor comics, including Ginger Snap for More Fun Comics, Professor Doolittle in New Adventure Comics and Oscar the Gumshoe in Detective Comics.
After Superman's amazing success, the editors at DC Comics were looking for the next big superhero, and they asked Kane to design a new character. It was then that Kane conceived of "the Bat-Man." (He would lose the hyphen and become "Batman" four months later.)
 |
|
| Art by Bob Kane from Batman #59 | |
Kane had his friend Bill Finger script the first Batman story, "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate." It was published in Detective Comics #27, which hit newsstands on March 30, 1939, and it was an immediate success. Much of the Batman mythos we know today was created within the next few years, including the alter ego of Bruce Wayne, the origin story of his parents being gunned down, the city of Gotham, his teenaged sidekick, Robin (spawning a rash of teen sidekicks for nearly every other hero of the time), villains the Joker, Catwoman, the Penguin, Clayface, Two-Face and the Scarecrow, along with various bat-themed vehicles and weapons. During this time, Kane had the help of many other writers and artists, including Jerry Robinson, George Roussos, Dick Sprang, Jack Burnley, Gardner Fox, Sheldon Moldoff and Carmine Infantino.
Even after he left DC Comics in 1966, Bob Kane cast a long shadow as the original creator of the Batman mythos. For a very long time, he was the face of Batman, in much the same way Stan Lee is the face of Marvel Comics. He consulted on the first three Batman movies, and was recognized as a comic book giant, most notably by being inducted into both the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame and the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame.
DC Entertainment co-publisher Jim Lee can't recall what he and Kane talked about when they met backstage on Bob Newhart's TV show Bob. He says he probably "fanboyed out" while they talked. "Oh my Gosh, oh my Gosh, I'm talking to Bob Kane" is all he can remember thinking. --A.J.