Robert Kane, or Bob Kane, was an American comic book writer, animator, and artist who co-created Batman with Bill Finger and most early related characters for DC Comics. He was inducted into the comic book industry's Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1993 and into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1996.
Batman, or Bruce Wayne, is a wealthy businessman and philanthropist who witnessed the murder of his parents as a child. Driven by a desire for justice, Bruce Wayne dedicates his life to fighting crime in the crime-ridden city of Gotham. Using his intellect, physical prowess, and an array of gadgets and vehicles, Batman fights against criminals and strikes fear into the hearts of evildoers. He operates from his secret Batcave beneath Wayne Manor and is known for his iconic bat-themed costume and his commitment to never taking a life.
Bob Kane was born in New York City, New York. His parents, Augusta and Herman, were of Ashkenazi Jewish descent. Kane graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School and studied art at Cooper Union before joining the Max Fleischer Studio as a trainee animator in the year of 1934. He entered the comics field two years later, in 1936, freelancing original material to editor Jerry Iger's comic book Wow, What a Magazine!, including his first pencil and ink work on the serial Hiram Hick.
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. Kane said his influences for the character included actor Douglas Fairbanks's film 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 from 1908. Bill Finger joined Bob Kane's nascent studio in 1938.
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 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 an official company credit for Batman's creation. Comics historian Ron Goulart, in Comic Book Encyclopedia, refers to Batman as the creation of artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger.
The character debuted in Detective Comics #27 in May 1939 and proved a breakout hit. Within a year, Kane hired art assistants Jerry Robinson and George Roussos. Though Robinson and Roussos worked out of Kane's art studio in the New York Times building, Kane himself did all his drawing at home.
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 of The Monk, that introduced some of The Batman's first Bat- equipment.
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