Search Results

Kane traces Batman's creation to influences including Leonardo da Vinci's bat-winged flying machine, Zorro's dual identity, and the film The Bat Whispers, and credits Bill Finger with refining the character's look and writing the early stories. He disputes Jerry Robinson's claims to have created the Joker and Robin, asserting the Joker originated from a Conrad Veidt photograph and that Robin came from Robin Hood — his own ideas. Kane discusses his lifetime royalty contract with DC, his fine-art Batman paintings, his work on the Courageous Cat animated series, and his current role as creative consultant on the Batman feature film in Hollywood.

Batman's creator shares his role as movie consultant, his submissions of costume sketches and a story bible, and his reactions to Tim Burton's casting choices. He defends Michael Keaton as better suited than expected, praises Jack Nicholson's Joker, disputes the killing of Robin, and credits (and eulogizes) Bill Finger's unsung contributions to the character. He also discusses his ongoing fine-art career and forthcoming autobiography.

A career retrospective from one of the longest-tenured people in comics, starting with his 1939 job lettering for Ripley's Believe It or Not in Spanish. Shares vivid stories from Bob Kane's BATMAN studio in the early 1940s — being one of 60 applicants, creating the heavy shadow look with Jerry Robinson, hiding pages under the newspaper from Kane's father, and Kane refusing to pay after 5 PM on Fridays for religious reasons. Traces his path through decades of work at National/DC and Marvel, explains how he became Marvel's cover colorist after Marie Severin moved to penciling, and shares Stan Lee's color philosophy: "I don't want to see grays... something simple, powerful, and direct."

Fred Finger, son of Batman co-writer Bill Finger, recounts how his father co-created Batman with Bob Kane, developing the costume, the origin story, the Batcave, the Batmobile, and iconic villains such as the Joker, Penguin, Two-Face, and Catwoman. He describes Bill as a brilliant but tragically undervalued writer who died penniless in the early 1970s, and expresses ongoing bitterness toward DC Comics for denying royalties and coldly dismissing the Finger family. Fred reveals his unsuccessful attempts to have DC acknowledge his father's files and contributions, and warns he may pursue legal action ahead of the upcoming Batman film.

Roussos recalls working at Bob Kane's studio alongside Jerry Robinson, erasing Kane's rough background pencils and replacing them with his own dramatic big-moon, heavy-shadow style that defined the early Batman's visual atmosphere. He describes the chaotic freelance environment, Kane's strict Friday paycheck rituals, and National/DC's eventual offer to bring Robinson and Roussos in-house to prevent their work on rival titles from competing with Batman. Now a longtime Marvel staff colorist, he reflects on 30 years with National and his later collaborations with Robinson on Harvey Comics and the Green Hornet newspaper strip.

E. Nelson Bridwell of DC Comics writes in at length responding to the magazine's recent Batman history interviews, clarifying the disputed origins of the Joker (crediting Jerry Robinson for the concept), Two-Face (Bob Kane), Robin's costume, and Batman's gauntlets, drawing on personal conversations with Bill Finger.

Hollywood veterans Bill Mumy (Lost in Space child star and musician) and Miguel Ferrer (actor and drummer) discuss their lifelong passion for comics and their six-issue limited series Comet Man for Marvel, a psychological science-fiction family drama with guest appearances by the Fantastic Four and the Hulk. They recount how Jim Shooter approached them at San Diego after learning they had written a Twilight Zone script, and how Marvel's mini-series freeze and the Challenger disaster delayed the book from March to October. The interview also covers a historic dinner party at Mumy's home bringing together Jack Kirby, Jerry Siegel, and Bob Kane for the first time in over thirty years, alongside Mark Hamill and the Ferrers.

A photo feature and short narrative account of a dinner party at Bill and Eileen Mumy's home at which Jack Kirby, Jerry Siegel, and Bob Kane gathered together for the first time in more than thirty years, alongside Mark Hamill and others; includes anecdotes about Lois Lane being modeled on Joanne Siegel and Roz Kirby inking early Challengers of the Unknown pages.

Part one of a three-part interview tracing Robinson's career from his accidental 1939 meeting with Bob Kane at a country resort through his rapid rise from background inker and letterer to full Batman penciller and cover artist. Robinson recounts creating the Joker — designing the character from a joker playing card one night, only to have Bill Finger write the actual story — and his role in naming Robin. He also discusses his later career curating major comic-art exhibitions, co-founding the Cartoonist's and Writer's Syndicate, and advocating for the legitimacy of comic art as a fine-art form.

Part two of a three-part retrospective on Robinson's Golden Age career, covering his time working with Bob Kane and Bill Finger on Batman, his friendship and artistic partnership with Mort Meskin on features like Johnny Quick and the Vigilante, and his recollections of working conditions and pay rates at DC, Fox, and MLJ. Robinson discusses the visual innovations he and his peers made — full-page splashes, varied panel shapes, extreme chiaroscuro — and the influence of Milton Caniff and Orson Welles' Citizen Kane on their storytelling.

Rude discusses his upcoming DC World's Finest three-issue mini-series, written by Dave Gibbons, in which he aims to return Superman and Batman to their original Joe Shuster/Bob Kane roots and exploit the contrast between the two characters. He speaks candidly about creative burnout while drawing Nexus, the importance of mental health for working artists, and his admiration for Jack Kirby, whose influence he channelled in the Mr. Miracle Special. He also covers the recent major status-quo change in Nexus (Horatio Hellpop replaced as Nexus), his ongoing frustrations with creator compensation at First Comics, and his aspirations to produce a Nexus animated series in the style of Jonny Quest.