On May 1939, Detective Comics Number 27 was released, and on the cover was a man swingin from a line while holding what appearedto be a frigtened crook under his arm. The pointed ear mask, scalloped cape, and dark colors told the reeaders this was no hapy-go-lucky hero. This weird figure of the night was a grim man of action, this was the debut of The Batman.
The upcoming release of Detective Comics, Issue number 1,000, 80 years after the Dark Knight’s debut is an amazing mile stone for this charater. From borrowing fro the pulps, creator slight of hand, cartoons, campy tv and even Hollywood, The Batman had been with his fans for an incredible amount of time. For his 80th, let’s look at some of the most pivotal indiduals the long, crazy history of The Batman.
Bob Kane- A cartoonist, idea man, and a bit of a scoundrel, according to who you listen to, Kane came up with the initial idea for the Bat-Man, as he was then known, and took the credit for virtually al ofthe work in detective Comics and then Batman by adding his signature to the artwork on the page. Having bena part of the Burton Batman movie in 1989 as artist and consultant , Mr. Kane helped give the Gotham Guardian an easy transition in to modern Hollywood.
Bill Finger-According to most, Mr. Finger came up with the final look of Kane’a original Bat-suit, the Batcave, Robin, The Joker, and most Batman lore. Whether Finger got the shaft from the comic industry or old memories and hyperbole. BUt, one thing is for sure without the contributions of Bill Finger, The Bat would not be where he is today.
Carmine Infantino/Murphy Anderson, artists, Julius Schwartz, editor-This team took what was happening in the 1960’s and ran with . This was the first appearance of the yellow oval on the bat-suit.
Adam West/Burt Ward/ABC Television-Cementing Batman into pop culture, this creative force took the camp of the superhero world and cranked it to at least 9. Fun, exciting, and colorful, this set the tone for the Batman for many years.
Denny O’Neil, writer/Neal Adams and Dick Giordano, artitst-this team brought Batman back to his dark detective roots. Raising the stakes and adding clean , realistioc art to the Batman’s adventure this era steered the characteer to wrds our current era,
Frank Miller-love him or hate him, Mr. Miller brought the Batman an even grimmer purpose and set a standard fro Batman story telling that is embeded to this day.
Tim Burton/Michael Keaton/Jack Nicholson-The 1989 Batman movie set a new bar for comic book movies and started an avalnche of comic baased properties coing to the big screen.
Although there are many more artists, writers, actors, and others who have been part of the Batman legacy, thses are the folks that brought Batman frop his start to the modern era. Let’s hope there are plenty of Bat foam extunguishe pellets in the old Bat-belt for his birthday.