American cartoonist (1916-1998). He was born in New York City and got started in cartooning after winning second prize in a drawing contest when he was 15 years old. He broke into the comic book industry with some work in a comic called "Wow, What A Magazine" in 1936, and drew a number of popular characters for the Eisner-Iger studio.

After graduating from high school, Kane met Bill Finger, a former classmate (though their age difference meant that they'd never met in school). Both enjoyed comics, and when National Publications asked Kane to come up with a new superhero to complement the newly-created and very popular Superman, Kane and Finger collaborated to create the Batman, with Kane coming up with the basic concept of the character and Finger refining the idea. (Finger probably contributed more toward the character, but Kane tends to get sole credit for the Dark Knight's creation, mainly because he was a whiz at self-promotion)

Kane illustrated the Batman comics only rarely, mainly because there were lots of guys out there who were better artists than he was, but he remained a presence in the Bat-world clear into the late '60s. Unlike many of his contemporaries, like Jack Kirby, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and Finger, Kane owned a copyrighted interest in Batman and continued to receive financial compensation throughout his career.

After leaving comics, Kane exhibited a number of paintings and worked on some animated cartoons, and did a little development work on the cheesy Batman TV show in the 1960s with Adam West.

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