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Batman History | |
BATMAN HISTORY Batman made his first appearance as a comic book superhero in DC Comics “Detective Comics No. 27, May 1939”. Bob Kane has been credited with the original creation of Batman. Kane was a twenty-two year old comic book artist creating fill-in cartoons about dogs and cats for DC Comics when he was selected to create a hero as powerful and appealing as Superman, DC Comic’s year old phenomenal success. Kane’s inspiration for Batman reportedly came from three sources—a Leonardo da Vinci sketch of a man trying to fly with attached bat-like wings, a 1930’s silent mystery movie titled “The Bat Whisperer” about a bat faced villain, and the masked heroes from “The Shadow and Zorro”. Although Kane had skills as both a cartoon artist and writer, Kane indicated that he “didn’t have the time to literally write and draw the (Batman) strip at the same time.” As a result, Kane worked with writer Bill Finger, who wrote the scripts from ideas Kane and Finger collaborated on. For those unfamiliar with the Batman story, Batman is Bruce Wayne. Teenager Bruce Wayne was traumatized by witnessing his parent’s murder and vowed to avenge their deaths by bringing the criminals to justice. Bruce Wayne used his vast fortune to study criminology, to train his body to athletic perfection, and to acquire high tech vehicles and weapons to fight crime in his hometown of Gotham. One night Bruce Wayne was startled by a bat outside his window and decided to dress himself as a “bat man” to strike fear in the “cowardly and superstitious” hearts of criminals. From that moment forward, Bruce Wayne became “Batman” in his altered state. Kane introduced Batman’s young sidekick, Robin the Boy Wonder in 1940 to give Batman someone to talk to. Together, Batman and Robin hit new highs in popularity ratings. Kane also created several of Batman’s arch enemies, including the Joker, the Riddler, the Penguin, Two-Face and Catwoman. The Joker was inspired by a 1928 movie “The Man Who Laughs” and a playing card, the Penguin from the advertising mascot of Kool cigarettes, and Two-Face was inspired by characters in the movie classic, “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”. Batman was an immediate hit, not only in comic books but also in every medium he appeared. Batman moved from comic books and his own newspaper strip-- on to radio in 1943, and to a hit live-action television show in 1966. The live-action “Batman” show was aired by ABC Network in 1966. ABC was in last place in the ratings and needed a boost. ABC producer, William Dozier, liked the idea of a hero with comic book origins since most adults in the 60’s had recollections of reading comic books in their youth. At the time, Batman was third in comic book popularity, behind Superman and Dick Tracy. Since the latter were not available, ABC bought the television rights to Batman. ABC spent huge sums of money producing the show. One report quotes $800,000 to build the Batcave set alone. Unfortunately, the show went over budget by over a million dollars a year and ABC did not realize any profit during the original production of Batman. After three seasons and 120 episodes, ABC ended production of the show and put the show into syndication. After ABC canceled the Batman show, NBC showed an interest in purchasing the rights to the show. Unfortunately, the Batman set had already been torn down to regain needed space at ABC’s studio lot. When NBC found out they would have to rebuild the costly set, they declined the offer to buy the show. Batman made his next appearance on television as a member of the animated “Superfriends” series in the 1970’s. In 1986, a new Batman series called “The Dark Knight Returns” aired. Set in the future, the story depicts an older Bruce Wayne and a Batman who had become a “God of Vengeance”. Batman made his first movie debut in the 1989 movie “Batman”, which fueled renewed popularity. By year 2000, Batman had provided Warner Brothers with four top grossing feature films as well as an several ongoing children’s animation series, namely “The New Batman/Superman” and “Batman Beyond” on Kids Warner Brothers and “Batman” on Cartoon Network. Batman also continued to star in DC comics throughout the years. Along with Superman and Wonder Woman, Batman is the only other character in continuous publication since 1940. Batman has gained popularity across the world and has appeared in almost every country in print, television, film and every form of merchandising known. Some say Batman is one of the seven fictional characters known globally, along with Superman, Mickey Mouse, Robin Hood, King Arthur, Tarzan, and Sherlock Holmes. Other Interesting Batman Trivia:
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