Known and acknowledged influences on the creation of Batman include the Zorro movies, with Bob Kane citing the 1920 Douglas Fairbanks silent film, though the 1937 version was much closer in time to the genesis of the comic book hero. Also, the 1937 Broadway revival of Mary Roberts Rinehart’s 1920 play “The Bat” aka “The Bat Whispers.” (There are great photos of various iterations of this character at bing.com’s image site.) The Joker, present from the beginning, was based, at least visually, on Conrad Veidt’s bizarre makeup in “The Man Who Laughs.” (Photos of this are absolutely worth looking up online.) All this is acknowledged by DC Comics and was cited by Bob Kane himself. The one great influence, sadly unacknowledged until recently, was the co-creative input of Bill Finger. After over 75 years, though, the DC credit line has been changed to read, “Batman created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger.”
Known and acknowledged influences on the creation of Batman include the Zorro movies, with Bob Kane citing the 1920 Douglas Fairbanks silent film, though the 1937 version was much closer in time to the genesis of the comic book hero. Also, the 1937 Broadway revival of Mary Roberts Rinehart’s 1920 play “The Bat” aka “The Bat Whispers.” (There are great photos of various iterations of this character at bing.com’s image site.) The Joker, present from the beginning, was based, at least visually, on Conrad Veidt’s bizarre makeup in “The Man Who Laughs.” (Photos of this are absolutely worth looking up online.) All this is acknowledged by DC Comics and was cited by Bob Kane himself. The one great influence, sadly unacknowledged until recently, was the co-creative input of Bill Finger. After over 75 years, though, the DC credit line has been changed to read, “Batman created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger.”