Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if Bob Kane’s housekeeper actually somehow contributed more to Batman comics than he did

I used to write comic book reviews for an online ezine back in the mid-90s, long before Bill Finger got hs deserved recognition. I wrote, just the once, in a review of a Batman comic that Batman was created by Bill Finger with help from Bob Kane. We received threats to be sued from Kane's lawyers if anyone wrote something like that again. I have always believed that Bob Kane was not a man of good qualities.

It's just sad that Kane haven't lived to the day where everybody knows who he truly is and how Bill got attention he deserved. Rest in peace, Bill

In the Batman: Year One DVD, there is a feature that has a lot of writers and artists trying to pay tribute to him and wind up just inadvertently trashing him

I saw an interview with Mark Hamill where he described Bob Kane as the penguin pretending to be Bruce Wayne.

Frank Miller references the “Finger Memorial” in Batman: Year One. It was a lovely and snarky tribute to Batman’s true creator.

That original sketch Kane presented to Finger was just Flash Gordon with bat wings.

I like to imagine that whenever any of those girls asked Bob Kane to draw something in public for them, he secretly had a tiny person hidden under his sleeve making the drawing for him.

Well, what Bob Kane said was true from a certain point of view. He did create a character called Batman...just in name only.

The thing that kills me about Kane was how insistent he was that he created Batman. The way Stan would tell it, Kane couldn't so much as get a carton of milk without informing the sales clerk he created Batman. He created Batman in name, but not as we know him. He basically created Birdman with a bat-motif.

It's ironic in a sense; in the comics Bruce Wayne kept his identity a secret save from a select few, while Batman's "creator" apparently couldn't keep it to himself if his life depended on it!

Without Bob Kane, Batman wouldn't exist. But without Bill Finger, Batman wouldn't exist as we know him.

I met Jim Shooter Back in October at a convention. I told him a Friend Referred to him as the most under appreciated man in comics his Reply was I Will Never be as underappreciated as Bill Finger

I just wish Finger and the artists had had the guts to go on strike for a month and forced Bob to actually produce pages himself just so we could all laugh at how shitty they would have obviously turned out.

Ordered the Bob Kane Batman black and white sculpted figure from an Ebay seller last year, depicting our hero from the first origin story in Detective Comics #33. I was aware of what Kane did, or rather didn't do, but just liked the whole golden age look of the thing. When it arrived and I took it out of the box, I noticed there was a finger missing (these things are quite fragile). Was about to return my purchase when the irony of it hit me, and decided to keep it. God bless you Bill.

Him selling Seigel out and securing his own status in DC is one of the standout moments of this story. It’s already enough just betraying and stealing the creations of others, but backstabbing someone and effectively stifling the rights and progress of creators for years to come is truly something of note.

A genuine menace. The documentary that most people found out about this from (myself included) really didn't come close to capturing just how much of a cartoonishly evil villain this guy is.

The clown paintings bit was hilarious. Bob Kane had such a massive ego. Personally, I’ll always credit Bill Finger as the true creator of Batman.

He left out one detail. The name "Bat-Man" came from a Superman story of a race of Bat-Men (hyphen included) who lived underground. Kane even swiped the name.

The problem with habitual liars is that they eventually lack the capability of distinguishing truth from falsehood and end up believing in their own fantasies completely. I had personal experience of this condition when a girlfriend I was with for three years did the very same thing and once the reality had finally dawned on me about what had really been going on I was in total shock for quite some time. In fact, once the lying habit has gained a certain momentum it rapidly becomes a mental health issue.

What makes the whole evil situation hilarious is that Bob Kane got the idea for the contract from his father, who was a successful lawyer. So Kane did not even invent the idea of ripping the others off! He is the ultimate example of a talentless man having all the luck.

Fun story: this past Christmas I gave my dad a Batman figurine based on his debut appearance, and I wrote on the gift wrap: "To dad, from Bill Finger". Needless to say, he was stoked by it, both the gift and the pseudonym.

The clown paintings part is hilarious 😂 that tells you everything you need to know. He clearly got away with claiming something he didn’t create was his once, then thought he would do it again with the paintings of clowns 🤡

You gotta wonder, DC was able to sue Fawcett comics for what they called a plagiarism of Superman in regards to Captain Marvel(Shazam). They drained the company of funds through the lawsuit and DC purchased Fawcett in turn now owning Shazam. Their claims were based on the fact that he was a super hero with a cape and was strong. If that was the case,which i don't believe should've been reason to win the suit, then DC should have been sued by Street and Smith publications for literally shaping Batman into the Shadow clone he actually is. And had they been sued, would Bob Kane have been less willing to keep all credit for "creating" Batman.

Bill Finger added so much to the Batman mythos, it's incredible. Many of the concepts he thought up are still with the character today. I consider Bill Batman's TRUE creator.

I had always wondered if the villain Bane was named such as a nod to Bob Kane, now I believe that it maybe was, given information like this.

I like how, as Chris finishes telling the story of Bob Kane's clown drawings (quotations around Bob Kane), you can hear him stifling a laugh, as he reveals that Kane never painted the clowns in the first place.

Man, I knew Kane had ripped off Bill Finger but I didn't know how much of a crook he was. This was very informative. And that Steranko story... amazing.

Wow... I knew that Kane took more credit than what he deserved, but I didn't expect to be THIS bad! Basically, he was a very cunning entrepreneur, but no actual artist whatsoever.

Over 20 years ago I read the story "Batman: War on Crime" by Paul Dini with art by Alex Ross. At the foreword there was a dedication: "For Bill Finger, the REAL Bat-Man". At the time, I didn't know who Bill Finger was. So naturally, after reading that foreword, I started digging into to the name Bill Finger. What an eye opener THAT was...

Bob Kane the type of dude to take all the credit for a class presentation, despite doing fuck all.

There is something wrong with people who look upon life as a relentless pursuit of money, choosing to harm and abuse others who contribute so much to one's life as if the dollar in the pocket is worth more than friendship, loyalty, and respect. Money is cold comfort when you live your life as a fraud.

The Hulu documentary you mention, Batman and Bill, is an amazing story of the tenacity of the writer/ investigator who tracked down a descendant of Bill Finger and was able to force DC to finally give credit to Finger.

I visited the "National Periodic Publications" building in New York a long time ago. I had to use the restroom facilities there. Bob Kane took credit for my bowel movement there as well.🤣

I'm amazed that Julius Schwartz couldn't tell instantly that it was Murphy Anderson who redrew the page since everything Murphy Anderson even touched looked like he drew it from the pencils up.

Jim Steranko is awesome not only for being a talented artist but also for bitch slapping Bob Kane as well.

Kane's ego was such that he appeared on Stan lee's talk show and even Stan couldn't get a word in edgewise because Kane just bloviated about himself. In the end Kane seems the genuine villain that a lot of obsessive fans attempt to make Stan lee out to be. The difference is that Kane's collaborators such as Bill Finger and Dick Sprang, while known by hardcore fandom, do not have anything approaching the cult of fans that Jack Kirby and to a lesser extent Steve Ditko have. Plus Kane is only famous for Batman, while Lee, Kirby and Ditko have the entire Marvel Universe.

Kane’s rant about how he was the sole creator of Batman is very very reminiscent of chrischans meltdowns about him being the creator of sonichu

This was one of your best presentations. I had never heard the Steranko story, and I'm sure many modern readers had little clue as to the depths that Kane stooped to.

I legit just got done reading about how Bill Finger died in poverty while Bob Kane made millions off of this. Also Bob Kane’s swiping makes me physically sick the same way I get whenever I think of Greg Land.

I do like how after all these years it was the fans of Batman who uncovered Bill Finger as the character's main creator and who is now way more memorable

I remember reading (I think it was in "The Caped Crusade : Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture") that whenever Bob "drew" live the linework had already been done on the paper by another artist and he was just going over what they did. It worked especially well on TV due to the low resolution at the time.

Nice episode, Chris. Learned things I never knew, even from working at DC for 20 years. A well-considered examination…

Bob Kane was infamous for being late all the time too. I think Stan Lee had an anecdote about his dinners with Kane. On Kevin Smith's podcast, he told how Bob Kane and his wife were always an hour or two late to their dinners together, so Stan and Joan both decided to show up 2-3 hours late, yet somehow, they still managed to be there before Bob Kane.

SMH. WOW. Bob Kane was a POS. It's definitely important to share credit with those who've contributed to something and give credit where credit is due.

I'd heard that Bill Finger wasn't fairly credited but the details have me feeling astonished. This was a fair, informative, entertaining video.

I'm absolutely torn listening to that Steranko story. 😂 I was emotionally invested in his retribution the moment he said Kane cuffed him at the last moment of the elevator door closing, like some kid waiting til school is over to hit you and then run to get in their parents car before you can react; as if you won't see them again the next school day. When he said he was looking for him the next day I was rubbing my hands like, "Ooooh boy! He's gonna mess up Kane's hairline when he finds him!" And Steranko did not disappoint.

It's really sad how ego-maniacs like this can steal credit from others around them and yet suffer no consequences.

I had to pause and laugh at the bit where Bobs angry fanzine letter said "I, Bob Kane", it has has the same energy as when I'm doing a Starscream impression and go "I, Starscream! Am now Leader of the Decepticons!"

As a child growing up it always seemed like Bob Kane portrayed himself as if he was Bruce Wayne/ Batman, but we always saw him as the Joker!

I met Bob Kane in the 1980s at a Boston University event honoring him as a political cartoonist. Back then few knew about his connection to Batman but I persisted in asking him about it and he clearly wasn’t proud of it. In fact he even complained that he never thought he would provide work for Cesar Romero (who played the Joker on the 60s TV show.) I don’t know how it relates to the accusations in this story but he definitely wasn’t bragging when I met him. Strangely I met Adam West many years later but was too star struck to think about what Kane said.

I watched an interview with Bob Kane were he explained how he came up with Batman. At the time, I was really young and really in to reading Batman. Batman was and is still my favorite superhero. I looked up to Bob Kane for the longest time. Later on, when I found out the truth, I was extremely disappointed. More than disappointed to be honest. Now, every time I hear the story about Batman's creation, I get angry for Bill Finger and the rest of those who helped make Batman special.

I appreciate that Bill Finger finally got some credit. But Bill’s credit needs to be added to the older movies and animations. Bill should also get equal credit, not a lesser “with” credit.

I just wanted to say your channel is amazing man! I don't get the time to read comics enough to cover all the lore out there but your channel covers some really interesting topics as well as the coolest stories out there!

This is an important story that must be preserved. Thank you for doing your part.

Everytime I see Bob Kane's name as the sole credit behind Bat-Man, or honestly just in general, I wretch.

That McFarlane cover swipe... You gotta wonder if Todd was a combo of baffled, flattered and sore. It's extra hilarious because it looks so little like any other Kane Batman drawing. You'd think even after that much plagiarism you'd developed an imitation of "house style" and a little self awareness. Like "Okay, I'm only gunna rip off the dead and dying guys I built this house on so it looks like something from my era."

I was always under the impression that both Bob Kane and Bill Finger created Batman, because I first got into Batman and shortly afterwards comic books in general in the late 90s to early 2000s as a kid, where I believe Bill Finger would get credited most of the time.

I love your little biography stories on the people behind the comics.

I’m so glad more people are starting to realize how much of a pos he was. It’s unfortunate that out of the golden age creators to ever get credit for their creation, it was Bob Kane. Bill Finger was honestly robbed

OMG, That Arnold Drake story is one of the funniest story I've ever heard, it is hilarious. Bob Kane could take every credit but in the end people learned real stories. We appreciate behind the ones who really are. It is good to see Bill Finger gets more recognition recent years. For me Dennis O'Neil, Neil Adams, Steve Englehart, Marshall Rogers and all the later ones shaped Batman I love today.

I actually get why Jim Steranko would be so annoyed at Kane. Steranko was a friend of Walter B. Gibson, the main writer for the Shadow magazine (he wasn't technically the creator, since the Shadow debuted on the "Detective Story Hour", but he invented all of the things about the Shadow that people remember like the playboy identity and the dual pistols). While Will Murray and Anthony Tollin's research proving Kane ripped off the Shadow didn't come out until the late 2000s, there are quotes from Gibson that show he was aware of the plagiarism, and I have no doubt he would've told Steranko about it. The fact that he only slapped Bob Kane is actually pretty mild considering how much Bob Kane ripped-off the Shadow and didn't have an ounce of Gibson's creativity.

I thought this would rehash a lot of what I saw in the Bill finger Batman documentary, so it was really cool to see so much new information. Great job on this!

An important story to tell - and keep telling. For all the criticism Stan Lee gets, he at least could tell good stories and conceive great characters. And while he blew his own horn a bit too much at times, as you said he did give credit to the team around him. Kane could have been the Lee of DC Comics if he had been prepared to think of himself as a team leader like Lee, instead being so desperate to seem like a solitary genius, (The clown paintings killed me...). At least Bill Fingers got his credit in the eyes of history.

The OC is Kane's idea but everything else including the design, backstory, powers is "borrowed". Heck the only thing to credit is the name lol

Dude!!! I just discovered your channel. Been bingeing it last couple of days. You’re hilarious. Keep up the good work.

This is the first time I've seen any of your stuff and I must say this was fantastic you did a great job with this story. Thank you for your hard work in bringing this story to us. I had heard about Bob Kane and what he did, but your research and how you presented it actually gave me the ability to imagine the kind of man Bob was. Thanks again. Can't wait for your next story.

Fleischer Studios. That's interesting. I remember reading that Jack Kirby was originally an in-betweener for Fleischer's Popeye. The studio seemed to be a launching point for future comics artists.

Funny enough, it took me years to learn this, because when I started read Batman, the Brazilian edition had a lenghty article talking about how Bill Finger shaped the character's look. This was back in 1987/88 I think. So since I was 8 to 9 years old I knew about Finger and find odd people talking about Bill Finger as some kind of obscure author that was rediscovered.

This is reminds me of two other Creators "Who Created Star Trek?" Gene Roddenberry was not the sole creator of Star Trek in many ways. You can read in this script or that, how a series writer added things that stuck to Trek. Nimoy's Vulcan salute, for instance. Writers have added to the Trek legacy over the decades, but very few of them receive a credit. Roddenberry, I read took credit for several things he had very little to Nothing to do with. One of those was writing lyrics to the TOS theme. By doing this, Roddenberry received half of any royalties, taking away from Alexander Courage share. Courage would Not work for Gene after that in anyway. He was not the only one. On one script by Robert Black, I believe, Gene took complete credit for it. This of course led to a Giant rift between them. Black would come in to his office at the studio, do what his contract would call for and when it was quitting time, he was gone, he did not and would not contribute anything else to Trek. A good read is Harlan Ellison's The City on the Edge of Forever. To hear the Trek staff speak of it at that time...the late 1960's, Harlan barely had ANY thing to do with it. A good read. Now Gene DID write the pilot episodes, he did create the characters, but much has been added. He did pitch various Trek projects and such and he was not above taking credit for something he had Nothing to do with. And believe it or not...Roddenberry was probably BETTER that Bob Kane in almost every respect of 'his creation'. The world believes that Thomas Edison was a genius, maybe he was, He did take credit as inventing everything that came out of his labs, whether he had anything to do with them or not. Ask Tesla. Edison is credited with creating (inventing?) The Think Tank. He hired many smart, talented men who knowledge and ideas of their own. And yet..its Edison's name on the product. Like Bob Kane, Edison and Roddenberry did make it happen and were selfish with any credit that could have helped that person achieve more in those industries. Your video reminded me of Roddenberry's Trek through Hollywood and Edison. But yeah, I had heard only about Bill Finger, none of the others. What Bob Kane, Gene Roddenberry and Thomas Edison did and didn't do to was unforgivable.

I watched batman and bill, and its a tear jerker.

I find Batman's creation kind of fascinating. It started with one guy just being like "YO IT'S A GUY WITH BAT WINGS" and then everyone else just kept elaborating on that.

I had read somewhere that Kane’s dad had accompanied him and was instrumental in getting him such a good deal. Edging everyone else out.

Thank you. Just thank you for putting together this video. The truth is vital to the world. And many great artists have lived in the shadows of the Bat’s co-creator. Great analysis and great work.

At the 3:42 mark I had to pause to write this: Damn! It reminds me of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Jobs had ideas but Wozniak actually built the machines.

When Steranko slapped Kane, did the word balloons read "POW" or "OUCH"? I really love that story.

Comparing Stan Lee to Bob Kane is extremely unfair. While I do think people put Lee on a bit of a pedestal, I think it’s shockingly disingenuous to call him a crook as well. People have started saying that Lee didn’t do anything and just stole credit from Ditko and Kirby, which is just false. By most accounts Kirby and Ditko were rather hard to work with (especially Ditko) and more introverted. Stan was a likable extroverted writer and salesman. Furthermore, Stan spent all of his time at Marvel and never switched companies, so he was usually the one greeting fans and doing interviews naturally making people associate the characters more with him than with Kirby or Ditko. We also have to remember that both artists could be pretty bitter, with Ditko quitting tons of books just because people criticized objectivism, even in jest. And Kirby at one point claimed the he created Spider-Man even though literally everyone agreed that that’s one of the only characters he had nothing to do with. Finally, contrary to popular belief he did usually credit both artists. While there were some times he said less about them this was often times when they had split off from Marvel and were working with a different company. It would be bad business to talk about them, in depth, wether you think that’s right or wrong. To conclude a lot of the supposedly “pro” Kirby/Ditko side is less pro Kirby Ditko and more anti-Lee. I think one person who knew all three (although I can’t remember his name for the life of me) said it best: “I love Stan! Stan is a really good guy… he’s just not necessarily a great one.” Does Stan get a bit much credit? Yeah. But was he anything like Bob Kane? Absolutely not.

It's crazy that most people don't know this and that Finger wasn't given credit for so long. Finger made Batman the way he is, changed the design and character to the beginnings of what we know and love today. If it was Kane's vision that stuck he would have been in red spandex, blonde hair with cardboard wings! Also Kane got all royalties and his family still feed of it today.

@2:08 You mistakenly say Bob Kane worked for “Bob Iger Studio”. It was the Iger and Eisner Studio”, founded by Will Eisner and Jerry Iger (and not Fred Iger, no relation, who later co-owned DC). Bob Iger, nephew of Jerry Iger, was CEO of Walt Disney after Michael Eisner (no relation to Will). That was the “other” Eisner/Iger studio you may have heard of. Interestingly, according to CBR, Bob Iger read about the “Golden Age Eisner & Iger” in the paper one morning, and was amazed by the coincidence. He was had never heard of it before, and he wrote a friendly letter to Will Wisner: “Dear Mr. Eisner, My name is Robert Iger. I am the president of the Walt Disney Company. I just read about you in the Los Angeles Times and was intrigued that you were a partner of my great-uncle, Jerry Iger. It is very strange that there is an Eisner and Iger now - Michael Eisner, chairman of Walt Disney, and myself, and there was an Eisner and Iger then. What an interesting coincidence." The two later spoke over the phone and this sparked a cordial relationship; the two spoke on and off until Will Eisner’s death in 2005. On another tangent, the thing about Batman “not having superpowers” wasn’t really the selling point in the early days. Let’s face it, no hero ever really needs superpowers to begin with and it’s been this way since time immemorial. The heroes of old who did have godlike powers were usually cursed or marked by them in some way. Perhaps they were indebted to gods or hated by the gods for those powers. A hero beats the villains simply because the storyteller wants them to. So Batman was never unique in that sense. When Superman came around, the idea of a hero with “super” powers was revolutionary. It led to a seismic shift in what heroes could be. The idea that Batman is unique because “he doesn’t have powers” doesn’t strike me as unique. Neither did The Phantom or The Shadow or Doc Savage or Dick Tracy or Tarzan or Sherlock Holmes.

Bob Kanes real talent seems to be being on the hustle, pulling a fast one on DC like that.

I wish I could've been a fly on the wall when Steranko slapped Bob Kane. my god

This was very well done and the highlight of my day. Good job, Sir.

This story is INSANE. I had no idea about the history behind the name Bob Kane.

Jim is one hell of a fantastic artist. And I give him kudos for slapping Kane. That is epic.

I never knew this, I knew Bill Finger worked on Batman but I didn’t know he had that big of an impact. Looks like the dude created everything Batman is now known for

Been a while since I’ve watched comictropes but I’m happy I found this channel again

Honestly would love to see a movie about Bob Kane over the years with how he managed to steal everyone’s credit just for himself. One of those comedy’s where even though the character is a piece of shit it’s still fun to see how they try to weasel their way out of it

Really ironic how much this type of thing happens in an industry that writes about superheroes.

I’ve always enjoyed the Steranko anecdote, although he’s always been the author of his own legend so who knows to what extent that really went down.

This was awesome, cool to see you shine light on this

Best comic channel ever and that ever will be. Also one of the best hosts for any channel.

That pompous grave never fails to make me laugh. Even in death, the most important thing to him is making sure nobody, even for a minute, doubts that he created Batman.

Oh man Chris, this was a great video. I had no idea that Kane even swiped art in the Dec 27. This is almost a sad portrait of a man seeking glory above all else. Just great work as always Chris!

This is a really good dive into the mythos of the creation of Batman. Thanks. One thing, with the blurry video it made this hard to watch - pretty sure it's not down to my cataracts!

"You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." - Twoface (...of Kane...?!)

I saw the great documentary, " Batman and Bill." It was good and I was happy to see that Bill Finger get his deserved credit. Your video was a great addition to the whole story and cleared up many things that other sources have not. Well done and thanks for spreading the truth about Bob Kane.

You are so kind and charitable. I’m truly impressed at how you retain the capacity for understanding and giving credit to someone showing this level of comic book villainy. Keep talking comics, and I’ll keep reading ’em! Cheers

Just found your channel and I should thank the almighty algorithm for it! Now I have new videos to listen to while working :) subbed!

Very respectful and careful walkthrough of the history, but I love your title. Really perfect

Hence the saying in comic-book creating circles, “Don’t Get Finger’ed.” Love your videos , man!