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.