342 KANE, GIL
though concerned by the dark nature, accepted it. In May 1939, Batman debuted in
“Th e Case of the Chemical Syndicate,” in Detective Comics #27.
Because Kane sold Batman as his own creation, he received the only by-line. During
much of the fi rst year of Batman, Kane and Finger did all the work, Finger writing,
Kane drawing, coloring, and lettering. Together, they developed and refi ned the core
characters within Batman’s world, including Robin, Catwoman , and the Joker. Th e in-
creasing success of the series created escalating demand, and Kane began to hire “ghosts,”
un-credited writers and artists who would add their own unique twists to the Gotham
City microcosm.
In 1943, Kane gave up comic book work to focus on a syndicated Batman comic strip,
during which time Jerry Robinson’s more illustrative and ornate drawing style began
to replace Kane’s admittedly simplistic style. Twenty years later, Batman’s “New Look,”
as penciled by Carmine Infantino, debuted in the fi rst Batman title without Kane’s
unique boxed signature. In 1967, Kane retired from penciling Batman to devote himself
full-time to painting and lithographing fi ne art versions of the Batman characters.
Selected Bibliography: Daniels, Les. Batman: Th e Complete History. San Francisco:
Chronicle Books, 1999; Kane, Bob. Batman and Me. Forestville, CA: Eclipse Books,
1989; Kane, Bob. Interview. Fresh Air from WHYY. NPR (March 23, 1990). NPR.
org. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92448501.
Jason S. Todd
KANE, GIL (1926–2000). Born Eli Katz in Riga, Latvia, Gil Kane had a career in
comics that ran from 1941 until his death. His career included work at nearly every
major comic publisher, including MLJ (which later became Archie Comics), where he
got his fi rst job in comics at the age of 15, Quality , Fox, Fawcett, Tower, King, Dell, DC ,
and Marvel. Perhaps best known as one of the key Silver Age artists at DC Comics,
co-creating the Silver Age Green Lantern and Atom, Kane also pioneered the graphic
novel with His Name Is... Savage (1968) and Blackmark (1971). In addition, he be-
came a key artist at Marvel during the 1970s, co-creating Iron Fist, Adam Warlock, and
Morbius the Living Vampire, and contributing to the revival of the company’s Captain
Marvel character.
After working in production at MLJ, Kane worked as an assistant to Joe Simon and
Jack Kirby and to Bernard Baily, while also freelancing for several short-lived comic com-
panies in the early years of World War II. Kane was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1944;
upon his return from the war, he began doing freelance work in the variety of genres that
became popular in the postwar comics industry: humor, war/ military, We s t e r n , crime ,
and romance. After 1949, he was working almost exclusively for DC/National, working
under editors Julius Schwartz and Robert Kanigher. After the successful reinvention
of Th e Flash that launched the Silver Age, Schwartz gave Kane assignments on the
new Green Lantern and Atom series, and Kane then became one of the most signifi cant
Silver Age creators at DC, until he left to work at Marvel in the late 1960s.
