Born Robert Kahn on October 24, 1915 in New York City, New York. In High School Bob was best friends with Will Eisner (creator of "The Spirit"). He changed his name to "Bob Kane" when he turned 18. In early 1939 he came up with the idea for the "Bat-man" and Bill Finger joined him at a later date. Although there is a large controversy that suggest Bob Kane actually came up with a "Bird-man" and Finger suggested it be a "Bat-man". When they first started out, Finger said that he suggested that he wanted to give Batman cowl, a scalloped cap instead of wings, gloves, and leaving the mask to just have a mouth and eye holes to conceal his identity and make him mysterious. Also Finger got rid of the original red color from the first idea for Batman and gave him the gray-and-black color scheme. Bob Kane was the artist while Bill Finger was the writer. Bob Kane and Bill Finger got the idea of Batman from Zorro and Lee Falk's The Phantom.

After a few issues of Bill Finger was tired of Batman always thinking and never really talking with people. Then Finger had a conversation with Kane to give them the idea of Batman having a sidekick. When they thought of the idea they at first did not no what to call him or what he would do, then Jerry Robinson gave them the idea of a normal human boy who's name would be Robin taking after Robin Hood. After they then created Robin they then would also make the Joker. One day Robinson came in to the room with a Joker card and then Kane and Finger knew that they had a new character. Kane got the look of the character from the actor Conrad Veidt, the man who played the main character in the 1928 movie "The Man Who Laughs" based of the novel by Victor Hugo. Jerry Robinson takes the credit for coming up with the idea of the Joker because he was the one who had brought in the joker playing card. After many years Kane was not as known as he used to be. Kane wrote a book called Batman and Me. Then he was supposed to have a cameo in the 1989 Batman movie but never got the chance because of scheduling problems.

Throughout the first 12+ years of Batman Bob Kane was credited as the sole artist. This is not true either--many artists contributed work to Batman but never got any credit. Instead the issue would be credited as art by: Bob Kane. Sheldon "Shelly" Moldoff (uncredited as co-creator of Mr. Freeze) and Dick Sprang (co-creator of The Riddler) are just two examples of artists who were "Ghosting" for Bob Kane. They were working as Bob Kane but didn't get credit for their work til' decades later. Bob Kane's favorite ghost, which he admitted in an interview, was Dick Sprang.

Kane continually swiped (intentional copying from a cover, panel or page) from 20th century illustrator Henry Vallely as well as Todd McFarlane (creator of Spawn and fan-favorite artist of Spider-Man).

Characters Created by Bob Kane

(***Alphabetically listed by last name where applicable)

• Edward Arvin
• Batman
• Batwoman
• Alfred Beagle
• Catwoman
• Cavalier
• C.C. Haly
• Mister Cipher
• Henry Claridge
• Clayface (Basil Carlo)
• Conjurer
• Harriet Cooper
• Oswald Copplepot
• Joseph Coyne
• Jonathan Crane
• Crime Doctor
• Deadshot
• Doctor Death
• Mortimer Drake
• George Dyke
• Timothy Flagg
• Glass Man
• Flying Graysons
• Victor Frankenstein
• Frankenstein
• Mister Haley
• Spotswood Hartley
• Karl Hellfern
• Joker (technical credit however belongs to Jerry Robinson)
• Jokester
• Mr. Freeze
• Dick Grayson (Robin) (technical credit belongs to Bill Finger and Jerry Robinson)
• James Gordon
• Bette Kane (Batgirl)
• Catherine Kane (Batwoman)
• Mad Hatter
• Roh Kar
• Harvey Kent
• Julie Madison
• Sal Maroni
• Monk
• Monster Men
• Oscar the Gumshoe
• Linda Page
• Penguin
• Alfred Pennyworth
• Scarecrow
• Doctor Schivel
• Paul Sloane
• Hugo Strange
• Bradford Thorne
• Tweedle Dee
• Tweedle Dum
• Two Face
• Vicki Vale
• Martha Wayne
• Thomas Wayne
• Wingman
• Wong
• Wright
• Tony Zucco

Bob Kane Ghost Artists

Many Artists "ghosted" as Bob Kane in Batman and Detective Comics. It was common in the Golden-Age for artists to receive no credit for their work in comics. The original creators would get credit and the artists who actually did the work would mimic the style of the original creator (in this case: Bob Kane).

The Following is a FULL LIST of the "Ghost Artists" who did not get credit for their work and contributions to the Batman universe when the issues were originally published. (*please note: all of the following artists have since been recognized for their work in their previously uncredited issues (but it was years before that took place) And some unknown/unidentified artists still remain uncredited to this day!

Ghost Artists

• Jack Burnley
• Ray Burnley (Penciled the cover to Detective # 117)
• Dick Dillin
• Joe Giella (worked on the Batman Comic Strip for the newspaper--took over for Sheldon Moldoff as penciler)
• Jack Kirby (Penciled the cover to Detective Comics #65)
• Sheldon Moldoff
• Jim Mooney
• Win Mortimer
• Charles Paris
• Jerry Robinson
• George Roussos
• Lew Sayre Schwartz
• Howard Sherman
• Joe Simon (Cover to Detective Comics #65)
• Dick Sprang
• Frank Springer
• Chic Stone
• Curt Swan