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,
The Ultimates (comic book) The Ultimates (comic book) The Ultimates is a thirteen-issue comic book limited series written by Mark Millar with art by Bryan Hitch. The series introduces the superhero team the Ultimates and was published by the Ultimate Marvel imprint of Marvel Comics. "The Ultimates" debuted in February 2002 (cover date March 2002), and ran for thirteen issues. Bryan Hitch describes his Ultimates work as "widescreen, cinematic compositions" and has expressed his interest of translating his work for movies. This miniseries was affected by delays and the artist admits to having to work hard to recover from reputation as a slow artist