Siegel and Shuster's...Bat-man!

[BR-migration]

Hi all-

 

I just wrote a post over on my blog that I thought some of you might be interested in. It's about the fact that Siegel and Shuster published a character called "Bat-man" -- a year before Kane and Finger!

 

 

It is, of course, not that cut and dry (and a bit of a stretch, really -- I'm being dramatic....maybe...), but there are still some interesting coincidences around dates and editorial that make it at least interesting to think about. I wrote about it in my book "Super Boys," but wanted to post it now to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Mark Millar's (in)famous Bat-Hoax -- remember that??

 

The post is here:

 

http://brad-ricca.com/?page_id=508

 

 

-Brad

 

[VintageComics]

Amazing.

 

There is nothing truly new under the sun.

 

'grats on the find!

[conditionfreak]

Very interesting. My personal guess though, is that BatMan was inspired by the Black Bat circa 1933/34, a pulp hero.

 

Excerps from wiki:

 

"The first Black Bat. He appeared in Black Bat Detective Mysteries, a short-lived pulp which saw six issues, all written by Murray Leinster (a pen-name of William Fitzgerald Jenkins), between 1933 and 1934. He was a man called Black Bat in the way Simon Templar was called the Saint; unlike the Simon Templar books, however, none of the Black Bat stories ever mentioned the character's real name."

 

and

 

"The Black Bat and Batman. Both the Black Bat and Batman hit the newsstands around the same time, and both claimed that the other was a copy. The threat of lawsuits ended when DC editor Whitney Ellsworth intervened. Ellsworth had once worked for the Black Bat's publishers and brokered a deal that allowed both characters to co-exist peacefully. It is probable that the costumes of both characters were copied from the 1933/34 Black Bat series which featured costumed illustrations of the Black Bat inside the pulps though actually the "Black Bat" in the stories was indistinguishable from any other man in his choice of clothing. Batman creator Bob Kane always contended that the only bat-like man he had seen was the villain from the 1930 film, The Bat Whispers. However, the Black Bat did have a permanent influence on the Batman: chief Batman scribe Bill Finger called Kane's attention to the unique gauntlets the rival character wore. Subsequently, similar "fins" were added to Batman's gloves which remain to this day."

 

 

[BR-migration]

I think you're right -- the Black Bat was definitely an influence...but his name wasn't "Bat-man."

 

So apparently some people think I photoshopped this! Anyone out there willing to look at their More Fun #28 and act as an independent judge?

 

http://comicsbeat.com/did-bob-kane-swipe-batman-from-siegel-and-shuster/

 

 

BR

[BOOT]

Springheeled Jack

[ComicConnoisseur]

Amazing information!

Vin Sullivan seems to be the key.

[bluechip]

Hi all-

 

I just wrote a post over on my blog that I thought some of you might be interested in. It's about the fact that Siegel and Shuster published a character called "Bat-man" -- a year before Kane and Finger!

 

 

It is, of course, not that cut and dry (and a bit of a stretch, really -- I'm being dramatic....maybe...), but there are still some interesting coincidences around dates and editorial that make it at least interesting to think about. I wrote about it in my book "Super Boys," but wanted to post it now to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Mark Millar's (in)famous Bat-Hoax -- remember that??

 

The post is here:

 

http://brad-ricca.com/?page_id=508

 

 

-Brad

 

 

I had heard years ago that when Siegel and Shuster sued DC over Superman, Siegel claimed they had also created Batman. But I had never heard about this, in partricular.