Tributes - 1998

Bob Kane

Comic book artist, co-creator of Batman. Born New York City, October 24, 1915. Died Los Angeles, November 3, 1998, aged 83.

Technically, Bob Kane was not a great artist. His early drawings were crude, even for a comic book. Nonetheless, they effectively turned Batman, the so-called "dark night detective", into a cultural icon. "Batman's world took control of the reader," cartoonist Jules Feiffer once wrote. "Kane's was an authentic fantasy, a genuine vision, so that however one might nit-pick the components, the end result remained an impregnable whole; gripping and original."

Batman was a success from his first appearance in 1939, striking fear into the hearts of evil-doers with his bat-like costume. He went on to be one of the most popular and enduring comic-book characters, fighting villains in comics, books, a memorable TV series and an equally popular series of films.

Born Robert Kahn in the Bronx, Kane was somewhat familiar with the rough neighbourhood often frequented by Batman. Fortunately, his ambitions lay elsewhere and he trained as an artist. In 1936, he did a humorous filler for a short-lived magazine called Wow!, edited by Sam Iger.

The next year, Kane was invited to contribute to Jumbo Comics, a new comic book published by Iger with an old schoolmate of Kane's, artist Will Eisner. For Jumbo, Kane provided more silliness: Pluto, Jest Laffs, and most famously, Peter Pupp, an imaginative mixture of funny animals and sci-fi adventure, in which the hero would go up in a fighter plane to battle a satanic, one-eyed villain.

Iger once suggested that Kane "could have been one of the finest humorists of our time if he'd stayed with it". In 1938, however, he began working for National Comics (now DC Comics) and was soon drawing adventure comics, written by another schoolmate, Bill Finger.

Kane and Finger were asked to create another costumed hero to follow the enormously popular Superman, created by two 17-year-olds, Jerry Siegel and Jerome Shuster. Initially, Kane was dubious, preferring to draw humorous strips. When told that Siegel and Shuster were making $US800 a week, however, he quickly changed his mind.

The costume, designed by Kane, was inspired by a number of things, including Zorro films, Leonardo da Vinci's flying machine sketches and the Superman figure itself. Batman, however, was a very different character. While Superman fought for "truth, justice and the American way", Batman was driven by revenge, having witnessed the murder of his parents, and would gladly shoot villains.

At the same time, Kane's art had a lighter side, betraying his background in humour. In 1940, Batman was given a sidekick, Robin the Boy Wonder, whose colourful costume and sprightly manner were a reassuring antidote to the darkness. Their most persistent foe was the Joker, whose crazy laughter and permanent smile made him an ideal opposing force to the grim, unsmiling superhero.

Kane could easily have retired on the proceeds of Batman. Unlike Siegel and Shuster, who had sold Superman for a pittance, he had been wisely advised by a relative to retain some copyright in his creation. It was a lucrative move, as Batman became the hero of a newspaper comic strip and two movie serials during the forties.

His comic-book adventures increased with his popularity. Kane gave up most of the drawing in the early forties, in favour of more technically proficient artists. Over the next two decades, Batman would fight crime in several comics, including The Brave and the Bold, Justice League of America, and from 1953, World's Finest Comics, in which he would join forces with Superman. (The comic would be cancelled 33 years later, when the two heroes decided that they were incompatible.)

For all this, Kane later admitted that he would have been happier had he followed his preference for humour. In 1960, he created the television cartoon Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse, a simple piece of self-parody, with Courageous Cat pulling an array of special guns from his costume as easily as Batman would pull weapons from his utility belt. This was followed in 1966 by Cool McCool, about a bumbling secret agent.

His love of comedy was most lucrative, however, in developing the Batman TV series. This was corny and ridiculous, lampooning everything from Batman's colourful group of "arch-enemies" to his brooding soliloquies, with wonderfully wooden acting by Adam West. Its success was overwhelming.

"Batman became the biggest bit of merchandising the world has seen," Kane recalled. "That first year - you wouldn't believe it! - they sold 100 million dollars worth of Batman novelties. It made everybody happy. The public loved the show. It brought money to us."

In the comics, Batman easily became the top-selling superhero. American Airlines even used Kane to promote New York City to children. In an advertising strip, two young Batman fans met the artist himself, who revealed that Gotham City, Batman's fictitious abode, was actually New York in disguise.

Kane's serious paintings, influenced by the pop art movement, have been exhibited at several venues since the late sixties, including New York's Gallerie Internationale. He relocated to Hollywood during the seventies, and published his autobiography, Batman and Me, in 1984.

He was also involved with the 1989 Batman blockbuster, starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson. With the success of this film, Batman once again became the top-selling (and most heavily merchandised) comic-book hero.

By then, Batman had reverted to his original, dark persona that has made him one of the few archetypal comic book heroes. Kane rarely tried to explain the success of his star character, simply saying, "Who would have dreamed that Batman would go as far as he did?