Bob Kane, Part Three: The Glory-Hog ~~ A “Comical Wednesday” Post

In case you can't read the above inscription, here it is:

ROBERT KANE aka BOB KANE -- GOD bestowed a dream upon Bob Kane, Blessed with divine inspiration and a rich imagination, Bob created a legacy known as BATMAN.

Introduced in a May 1939 comic book, Batman grew from a tiny acorn into an American Icon.

A ‘Hand of God’ creation, Batman and his world personify the eternal struggle of good versus evil, with GOD's laws prevailing in the end.

Bob Kane, Bruce Wayne, Batman -- they are one and the same. Bob infused his dual identity character with his own attributes: goodness, kindness, compassion, sensitivity, generosity, intelligence, integrity, courage, purity of spirit, a love of all mankind.

Batman is known as the "Dark Knight," but through his deeds he walks in the Light of a Higher Power, as did his creator -- Bob Kane!

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Well! What can I add to something like that?!?

Plenty.

Remember my saying (in Part One of this Bob Kane trilogy) that I read all of those "Bob Kane" stories as a youth? What I didn't know at the time was that most of the Batman adventures during 1953 to 1967 were drawn by an artist named Sheldon "Shelly" Moldoff. (Shelly died in 2012. My tribute post to him may be found here.)

Sheldon Moldoff

Well, as it turns out, Moldoff had been the very first artist to assist Kane on the Batman feature in Detective Comics #30, Batman's fourth appearance. Shelly drew backgrounds and lettered that story.

The second artist to assist Kane on the feature was Jerry Robinson (my 2011 tribute is here). He, too, began by doing backgrounds and lettering on a Batman story, which appeared in Detective Comics #36. Before long, Robinson progressed to full pencils.

Jerry Robinson

When Bob Kane and Bill Finger began talking about giving Batman a partner, Robinson came up with the name Robin. Some assumed that "Robin" came from "Robinson," but the name was actually based on that of Robin Hood.

Robin's first appearance. The cover was penciled by Kane and inked by Robinson.

Robinson also claims to have come up with the concept of The Joker, and claimed that he, Kane, and Finger all had a hand in developing the character. But in 1994 Kane said that he and Bill Finger created the character, one of the few times that Kane actually included Finger in crediting anything. In Kane's story, Finger provided an image of Conrad Veidt in 1928's The Man Who Laughs and Kane based the look of the Joker on that.

Anyway, in relatively short order, there were several "ghosts" drawing Batman's appearances in many of DC's titles. Some worked directly for Bob Kane, and others worked for DC. Among the earliest pencillers and inkers were George Roussos, Jack Burnley (also known for his incredibly-drawn Starman feature), Dick Sprang, and Charles Paris. All of them approximated Kane's style.

George Roussos

Jack Burnley

Dick Sprang

Charles Paris

Kane almost never gave any credit to these men throughout the years, since his contract ensured that only the name "Bob Kane" would appear on the feature.

Interestingly enough, Kane persisted in calling every Batman artist a "ghost" even though artists stopped drawing the character in Kane's style during the 1960s. This applied to such varied artists as Carmine Infantino, Neal Adams, Irv Novick, Jim Aparo, Don Newton, Marshall Rogers, Frank Miller, Brian Bolland, and so many more!

As the 1960s progressed, the earliest comic book fans -- I'm talking about "organized" fandom, rather than just the average readers comics had had for decades -- started researching the histories of the characters, creators, publishers, etc. Before long, names like Bill Finger, Gardner Fox, Jerry Robinson, and the rest became known. Finger in particular was singled out as having had one hell of a lot more to do with the development of Batman and the Batman mythos than anyone had seen fit to mention earlier.

Evidently, Kane was not yet ready to give up any credit if he could help it. When Bill Finger himself was interviewed about his role in Batman's creation, Kane was livid. Here are excerpts from a 1965 letter Kane sent to the fanzine Batmania, edited by Biljo White (This letter was reprinted in full in Comic Book Artist #3, 1999.):

I, Bob Kane, am the sole creator of "Batman."

The fact is that I conceived the ''Batman`' figure and costume entirely by myself' even before I called Bill in to help me write the "Batman.'' I created the title, masthead, the format and concept, as well as the Batman figure and costume. Robin, the boy wonder, was also my idea, . . . not Bill's.

The only proof I need to back my statement is that if Bill co-authored and conceived the idea, either with me or before me, then he would most certainly have a by-line on the strip along with my name, the same as Siegel and Schuster had as creators of Superman. However, it remains obvious that my name appears on the strip alone, proving that I created the idea first and then called Bill in later, after my publisher okayed my original creation.

(Attention Jerry G. Bails; the self-appointed authority on Batman. If Bill Finger created Batman, as you wrote, where is Bill Finger 's byline on my strip' It is conspicuous by its absence. So?)

I do know one thing though, that in the "Golden Age" of Batman, I penciled, inked, and lettered my strip by myself.

My favorite part of the letter is where Kane says that the lack of Bill Finger's name on the Batman feature is "proof" that Bill didn't have a hand in Batman's creation! All that means is that the one who wasn't in DC's offices when the contracts were signed was screwed!

There's much more bragging in the full letter, believe me! And notice how no one that ever worked on the strip is referred to, other than Kane and Finger.

As I said in Part One, Bill Finger died in 1974.

As years passed, Kane mellowed a bit. A bit. In Batman and Me, Kane wrote the following:

Yeah, well, there was nothing stopping Kane from negotiating with DC to put Finger's name on the strip from that point on, was there? As years passed, a lot of people, DC Comics included, were giving unofficial credit to Finger for co-creating Batman, but it wasn't until 2015 that DC came to an agreement with Finger's family and Batman began being credited as "Batman created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger."

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Now, for my final comments on Kane's tendency to swipe, here's my not-so-humble opinion: I believe that one of the reasons Kane swiped so much for the Batman stories -- not that this in any way excuses him for doing so -- is that he was more comfortable doing cartoonier (is that a word?) stuff like Peter Pupp, and had to "borrow" when he did adventure strips, which required more realistic drawing. I suspect that if his Rusty and His Pals and Clip Carson stories were as readily available as his Batman stories to today's readers and historians, we'd find lots of swipes in those as well.

(Now, let me say this: In all fairness to Bob Kane and his penchant for swiping, I should mention that the very first Batman story, “The Case of the Chemical Syndicate,” was written by Bill Finger, but Finger himself admittedly based it on a 1936 story from Street & Smith's The Shadow magazine called “Partners of Peril!”)

But here, from Batman and Me, are two images that I thought would show that Kane could actually draw better than his earliest Batman work when he put his mind to it!

However, I have it on good authority that the first illustration was done by -- you guessed it -- another "ghost," and the painting in the photo? Well, after all that I've discovered over the years, I just can't trust Bob Kane when he says that he actually did it!

That's it for this lengthy three-parter, fellow babies! Thanks for your time, and persistence!

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In a series of articles discussing creative theft, I feel that I absolutely must include the following acknowledgements and disclaimers in each chapter: I could not have written this three-parter without availing myself of the research and/or “borrowed” photos and illustrations of many others, including (but not limited to) Marc Tyler Nobleman and Ty Templeton (Bill the Boy Wonder), Arlen Schumer, Steven Thompson (Four-Color Shadows and Days of Adventure), and yes, even Bob Kane himself (Batman and Me)! And I especially want to single out Kirk Kimball (aka “Robby Reed”) of Dial B for Blog, the incredible and highly-recommended blog which supplied me with much information and the composite sketch of Bob Kane swipes.

Batman, Robin, Clip Carson, Adventure Comics, the Joker, Bruce Wayne, Real Fact Comics, "The True Story of Batman and Robin," Green Lantern, Detective Comics, Rusty and his Pals, plus almost anything else I've forgotten are copyright © DC Comics, and are used for historical purposes only!