Bob Kane and the Creation of Batman - Essay Example

Robert Kahn, who later changed his name to Bob Kane was born on 24 October 1915 in New York and is the imaginative creator of Batman, a publication of Detective Comics. Kane notes who is an artist notes that writer Bill Finger played a contributing role in the creation of the superhuman icon. As an artist, Kane had before the creation of Batman taken part in humorous drawings like Jest Laffs and Peter Pupp for the Eiser/Iger studio and later on created Side Streets of New York and Van Bragger for Circus Comics.

It is this drawing prowess, especially in adventure strips that he depended on to create Batman (Duncan and Smith 383). Vin Sullivan who was the editor of Detective Comics at the time when Kane was just starting his artistic career, was impressed with the popularity superman had achieved in a short period since it debuted in 1938. To increase the audience for his magazine, the editor wanted to include a new superhuman character that would further capture the imagination of children in America, just as Superman had.

The publishing boom at the time meant that the editor’s seasoned artists were busy with their different projects. Sullivan approached the eager and much younger Kane, with the proposal to design a new comical character that would capitalize on the success of costumed heroes that superman had achieved since it was released a year before. It is the suggestion that motivated Kane to develop the idea of a costumed hero he named Batman. To have his ideas become a reality, Kane consulted a friend, Bill Finger, who was a writer with whom Kane had in 1938 and early 1939 collaborated on several comic series.

The two spend the following days piecing together what they perceive the personality and appearance of Batman should be (Reinhart 1). In making their character unique, Kane and Finger relied on different sources they could find. For Batman’s, scalloped cape, the creators chose the ornithopter, which is an adaptation of Leonardo da Vinci’s drawing of a glider, fitted with bat-like wings. The idea of a superhero dressed in a dark and sinister-looking costume suitable for villains came from characters in magazines such as Johnston McCulley’s Zorro and Walter Gibson’s The shadow.

It was also the character of Zorro, which contributed to the concept of the superhero idle socialite in the daytime but a masked vigilante at night. According to Kane, Zorro played a big influence on his ideas drawing inspiration from the first film adaptation of The Mark of Zorro, which had Douglas Fairbanks in the leading role. The Bat Whisperers was also important in Kane’s creation as they contributed to the bat motif for his superhero character. The director of The Bat Whisperers based his film on the 1920 play The Bat where the character wore a black cloak and mask and then stalked his victims. Kane further borrowed the concept of bat shadows present in the bat film. Since the majority of comic fans were children, Kane decided to pick on a character that will resonate with this young audience.