In 1939, comic book artist Bob Kane decided to branch out from humor comics to superhero comic books after seeing the success Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel enjoyed with their creation, Superman. While looking for inspiration, Kane remembered seeing a Leonardo da Vinci design for a flying machine based on the wings of a bat. To Kane, the simple yet menacing look of the wings provided the memorable image he needed for his new superhero, Batman.
Influences for the Batman Costume and Superhero Story
From this start, Kane added aspects of characters from his favorite classic movies. The idea of a wealthy man and his acrobatic alter ego came from The Mark of Zorro (1920), starring Douglas Fairbanks. But where the character in the Zorro movies was a charmer, Batman was a creature of the night – and here Kane drew inspiration from Bela Lugosi’s Dracula (1931).
Less known, but equally significant, is the influence of a forgotten movie from 1930, The Bat Whispers. According to a February 24, 2004 Images movie review by Gary Johnson, The Bat Whispers was based on a mystery play by Mary Roberts Rinehart and featured a criminal who wore a bat costume and announced his upcoming crimes to the police. Although Kane’s creation is a hero, Batman’s status as a hunted outlaw – best shown in Batman movies like The Dark Knight (2008) – shows strong influences from this early film.
An Unsung Superhero Creator
Kane took his early sketches to comic book writer Bill Finger who wrote many of the early Batman comic books. While Finger was uncredited in these comic books, he helped develop many iconic aspects of Batman comic book art. Chief among these was the idea to trade the stiff bat-like wings on the original Batman costume (taken directly from da Vinci’s drawings) for a flowing cape with scalloped edges.
Finger also suggested making Batman’s eyes blank white spaces instead of showing the eyes behind the mask, adding to Batman’s frightening mystique. The name of Batman’s alter ego Bruce Wayne was also Finger’s idea – although the look of Bruce Wayne was initially based on Kane’s own appearance.
Together, Kane and Finger introduced the public to the first of many Batman comic books with Detective Comics #27, dated May 1939 and published by the comic book publisher known today as DC Comics.
Batman Origin in Retrospect
Amazingly, Batman’s comic book origin did not appear until November 1939 in Detective Comics #33, many months after his first appearance. Kane suggested Batman be made an orphan so readers could sympathize with him. Subsequent discussions with Finger led to the idea of a young Bruce Wayne seeing his parents murdered in front of him, giving him the trauma needed to become Batman.
While it would be tempting to believe that Kane and Finger crafted an epic superhero story to introduce readers to Batman’s beginnings, in truth the origin was presented in a short, two-page story. All the essential aspects of Batman’s origin – from his parents’ murder, to his years of training, to his decision to become Batman – are covered in an astonishingly brief twelve panels.
Since this debut, Batman’s origin has been re-told and re-interpreted in many subsequent Batman animated series, movies, comic books, and other publishing mediums. Yet in 1939, the elements fans believe constitute the core of the character were considered little more than an afterthought.
Sources:
Daniels, Les. DC Comics: Sixty Years of the World’s Favorite Comic Book Heroes. NY: Little, Brown and Company, 1995.
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