If you ask those comic aficionado and they would answer, Bill Finger. Both answers are correct, but only one is officially credited as creating Batman!
In 1939, comics were still in their infancy. The Brightest star of the comics, was the guy in blue circus-tights and red cape, Superman. The success of Superman, was reportedly bringing in $10,000 a week for his creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster! And Bob Kane wanted in!
He drew a sketch for a character called Batman and showed it to a sometime collaborator, writer Bill Finger. Bill advised Bob Kane, he'd gotten it all wrong. Here is a cartoon that depicts Bob Kane's Batman, if Bill Finger hadn't intervened!
Bill told Bob, lose the wings, give him a cape. Instead of a mask, give him a cowl that covers his head, and add Bat-ears, to enhance the mystery. Use dark colors for the costume, not bright ones. Finally, he added, give him gloves, so he doesn't leave fingerprints!
Bill went on to write the first story of Batman that appeared in Detective Comics number #27.
It was a six page story called, The Case of the Chemical Syndicate. As usual, Bill provided pictures as reference material for the story. (Something he would continue to do, throughout his career!)
In this case, the reference pictures were taken from a Shadow Magazine story, that was nearly identical in content.
As you can see, Bob swiped a lot from that first story! Take a look!
Bill Finger would write stories for the Batman for over 25 years. So I leave you with a question; who really created the character of Batman?
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