Bob Kane

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Bob Kane, 1966

Bob Kane , actually Robert Kahn (born October 24, 1915 in New York , † November 3, 1998 in Los Angeles ) was an American comic artist, author and editor. Together with author Bill Finger , he created the well-known classic superhero Batman for DC Comics in 1939 . In 1994 he was inducted into the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame for his work , and in 1996 into the Hall of Fame of the Eisner Award .

Life

Kane was the son of Hermann Kahn, engraver at the New York Daily News printer , and Augusta Kahn. The child of Jewish immigrants grew up in the Bronx and showed an early interest in drawing. With the help of his father, he graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School and then went to the Commercial Art Studio in Manhattan. In his school days he made friends with Will Eisner . In 1933, at the age of 18, Kahn changed his name to Bob Kane. After a year he dropped out of the Art Studio to support his family.

After working for a while in a textile factory, Kane went to Fleischer Studios in 1934 and drew there for the animated film series Betty Boop . He then drew comic strips and one-page comic strips for Will Eisner and Jerry Igers Eisner & Iger Studio , the first of which was the series Hiram Hick . He then went to National Publishing, later DC Comics , and initially worked for them on the Rusty and His Pals comic strip . After the success of Superman , Kane and Bill Finger were tasked with inventing another superhero. As a result, the first comic book with Batman appeared in the Detective Comics series in May 1939 . Over time, the stories about the superhero were supplemented by other characters, initially Robin (1940) and many antagonists. By 1943, he drew the majority of the Batman comics that appeared in the magazines of DC.

From 1943 onwards, Kane drew for the three-year Batman comic strip series. In the notebooks, even if he was still on the cover as the creator, he was replaced by Dick Sprang as the main draftsman. In the 1940s, Kane married his first wife, with whom he had a daughter, before they separated in the late 1950s. When the popularity of Batman increased again through the television series Batman from 1966, Kane traveled through the United States and drew the characters he created during performances.

In 1986, Kane married a second time. In 1989 he was involved in an advisory role in the filming of Batman .

Created characters

Kane created Batman in 1939 inspired by an early film version of the masked Zorro , played by Douglas Fairbanks , an ornithopter design by Leonardo da Vinci and the mysterious supervillain The Bat writer Mary Roberts Rinehart . The figure was initially designed as an antihero who chases and kills criminals with the motive of revenge - his parents were shot in a robbery. Batman himself is being followed by the police. The first story appeared in Detective Comics No. 27 in May. Commissioner Gordon also made his first appearance in this issue, and from then on he appears frequently in stories with Batman.

With the invention of Robin, who has a similar fate to Batman and becomes a partner, the stories become less gloomy. The content is moderate and Batman is also recognized by the police as a fighter against the crime. After Kane and Finger put Batman to one side, Robin came up with a series of antagonists that the two of them would face over and over again. The most important of these creations are Clayface , Catwoman , the Penguin and the Joker .

Reviews of the work

According to Richard Reynolds, Kane “ brought a new atmosphere to the comic with his dramatic use of light and shadow and cinematic narration” in Batman . While Kane is praised for the gloomy atmosphere he creates with his stories, Jim Steranko criticizes Kane's style for having “structural defects” and his characters appearing “stiff and unrealistic” . But this is more conducive to the stories than detrimental, as it goes well with the dark romance of the series. American illustrator Jerry Robinson said in an interview that Kane's drawing skills were not recognized by many. His special flair is that his drawings are simple, but still work within the comic. Also, “he wasn't very familiar with perspective and anatomy, so he had to improvise” . According to Andreas C. Knigge , Kane creates the atmosphere of the stories with his "dense drawings whose perspectives and shadow effects are reminiscent of the expressionism of German silent films."

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ According to information on the tombstone and Britannica.com . Deviating from this, the year of birth 1916 is often mentioned.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h Salvatore Mondello: Bob Kane , in American National Biography: Supplement 2 , Oxford University Press, 2005, via Google , p. 302 f.
  3. ↑ Simcha Weinstein: Up, Up, and Oy Vey! (1st edition). Leviathan Press, 2006. ISBN 978-1-881927-32-7 .
  4. ↑ Chris Ryall, Scott Tipton: Comic Books 101: The History, Methods and Madness . Impact Books, 2009. ISBN 978-1-60061-187-2
  5. ↑ Joe Desris: Biography. Batman Archives, Volume 3 . DC Comics, 1994. p. 223. ISBN 1-56389-099-2 .
  6. ↑ Les Daniels: Batman: The Complete History . Chronicle Books, 1999. ISBN 0-8118-4232-0 , pp. 18-20.
  7. ↑ a b c Andreas C. Knigge: Comics - From mass paper to multimedia adventure. Rowohlt, 1996 p. 118-120.
  8. ↑ a b Paul Gravett (eds.) And Andreas C. Knigge (transl.): 1001 comics that you should read before life is over . Zurich 2012, Edition Olms, p. 111.
  9. ↑ Interview with Jerry Robinson, The Comics Journal # 271

literature

  • Bob Kane, Tom Andrae: Batman and Me! . Forestville, California: Eclipse Books. p. 44. ISBN 1-56060-017-9 .
  • Les Daniels: Batman: The Complete History . Chronicle Books, 1999. ISBN 0-8118-4232-0 , pp. 18-20.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Kane, Bob
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kahn, Robert (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American comic book artist, writer and editor
DATE OF BIRTH October 24, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH November 3, 1998
Place of death los Angeles