Bob Kane his first adventure strip, "Rusty and his Pals". In early 1939, DC's success with the seminal superhero Superman in "Action Comics" prompted editors to scramble for more such heroes. In response, Bob Kane conceived "the Bat-Man." Kane said his influences for the character included actor Douglas Fairbanks' film portrayal of the swashbuckler Zorro; Leonardo da Vinci's diagram of the ornithopter, a flying machine with huge bat-like wings; and the 1930 film "The Bat Whispers", based on Mary Rinehart's mystery novel "The Circular Staircase" (1908). Bill Finger joined Bob Kane's nascent studio in 1938. An aspiring writer and part-time shoe salesperson,
Bob Paul Kane Bob Paul Kane Bob Paul Kane (1937 – 2013) was an American painter known for his gestural style, vibrant colors, and festive subject matter. Bob Paul Kane was born in Cleveland, Ohio. As a child he attended the Cleveland Museum School, where he received his initial exposure to drawing and painting, and later at the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1953-54. In 1955 he enrolled in Cornell University, but left after a year to pursue painting, heading to Provincetown, Massachusetts, where he met the sculptor Chaim Gross. The two developed a close relationship, and Kane returned with the Gross family