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Horaldo Sanchez Mrs. Bell English IV 3 September 2013 When Batman Began The art of hoarding comics or collecting comics is a growing hobby that is recently becoming popular. Collecting comics takes a lot of research on the comic(s) like when it was released, how many of that issue where printed, and the history of the comic i.e. Batman comics. The history of comics seems to be more interesting than the actual comic. 1. The History of Comic Books Many people believe comics originated in the United States Pre-World War II, but they are wrong. In 1837, The Adventures of Obadiah Old Buck was published by Rudolphe Tpffer, of Switzerland, and it is considered the earliest known comic book (Mary Bellis, The History of Comic Books, inventors.about.com). The first actual comic published in the mid1800s came to a surprise. The first comic I thought was published sometime in the early to mid1900s by an American. For many years the comic book was organized with the pictures on top and the text on bottom. It wasnt until 1895 when the balloon was used to show what the character was saying. Richard Outcault was the first artist to use the balloon, an outlined space on the page where what the characters spoke was written (Mary Bellis, The History of Comic Books, inventors.about.com). The terms "comics" and "comic strip" came into common use in the United States in the early 1900s. The strips of pictures being printed in magazines and newspapers at that time were

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all funny or comic. At first newspaper comic strips were called "the funnies" and later the term comics became more popular (Mary Bellis, The History of Comic Books, inventors.about.com). 2. The History of Batman Batman was first seen in Detective Comics #27 in May 1939. It was a typical pulp murder mystery, but with all the excess verbiage (Les Daniels, Batman: The Complete History, legionsofgotham.org). With the excess use of words Bob Kane had to cram as many as eleven panels per page, with his hesitant style the true Batman has yet to come. Of course the first sketches were very crude, but my drawing developed. Within six issues I elongated [Batmans] jaw, and I made the ears longer, said Kane. I really improved fast. About a year later he was almost the full figure, my mature Batman (Les Daniels, Batman: The Complete History, legionsofgotham.org). Before television, movie serials were the TV series of the day, a weekly chapter of less than a half hour was shown at local cinemas. They were intended for children but were not made well, especially by Columbia, which ended up with rights to both Batman and Superman. Considering that the war ended when the U.S. dropped an atom bomb on Japan, its perhaps lucky that Batman and Robin were around, but theres something unpleasant about the films attitude toward Japanese-Americans, and the narrators smug announcement that a wise government rounded up the shift-eyed Japs (Les Daniels, Batman: The Complete History, legionsofgotham.org). There was a war on, but that wasnt an excuse for Lewis Wilsons portrayal of Batman as an upper-class d-bag, nor for the smug performance that turns Robin into a kid you have to hate. This is what made Batman a dark hero with not intent of saving people or solving crimes. 3. The Writer who got all the credit

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Bob Kane, creator of Batman, was born Robert Kahn on October 24, 1916. He legally changed his name to the familiar Kane at age 18. An eager young artist, Kane came to the burgeoning comics world in 1936 with his own book that led to various assignments in the following years - until the character "Superman" burst onto the scene and generated enormous sales numbers (Bob Kane Biography, biographybase.com). With Supermans enormous sales numbers, Kane along with writer Bill Finger developed the Bat-Man. Bob Kane, proposed the idea to his editors, so he was the only one of the pair who received credit. Bill Finger is the man primarily responsible for Batman and his success, and the tragedy of it all is that he will never get the credit he deserves for it, ever (Reclaiming History: Bill Finger, the Real Creator of Batman, comicscube.com). If not for Bill Finger, Kanes original concept of Batman looks more like a man with bird wings, Batman would have never been let alone look like the Caped Crusader we see fighting crime. Bill Finger named Gotham City, Nobleman says. He named Bruce Wayne. Finger, who was mainly a writer, was responsible for designing Batman's iconic cape and cowl costume, Nobleman says. In fact, he says, some people believe that Kane didn't even come up with the idea of Batman on his own (NPR STAFF, Batmans Biggest Secret (No, Its Not Bruce Wayne), npr.org). Batman was a revolutionary character in the early superhero comic scene. He had no superhuman powers, and he wasnt an alien or a mutant. He was a regular human who had a good reason to become a vigilant crime fighter. 4. Summary of the Comic Batman: Legends of The Dark Knight issue #1 came out in November of 1989. The comic starts off with Bruce Wayne and a Mr. Doggett, a tracker and bounty hunter by trade, climbing the face of a mountain close to the Artic Circle on the search for Thomas Woodley,

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murder. As they reach a cliff side Doggett climbs over and is immediately shot, its Woodley and he is on the hunt. Bruce hides around the corner in the cave, so it seems, Woodley approaches cautiously close to the cliff side keeping his distance. Little does he know that Bruce is actually hanging on the cliff side ready to strike. As soon as Woodley gets close, wham! Bruce stabs Woodley in the calf, climbs up knocks him down, fight for the gun, Woodley comes out on top choking Bruce, but Bruce kicks him off and Woodley falls off the cliff without a sound and his gear. Now Bruce is all alone with nothing to protect him from the elements. He walks and walks in the cold with a thin sweater, and drops unconscious in the middle of the snow. He then has nightmares of his parents death, and the killer walking away. Then he wakes very ill to see two men, a young woman, and a bat looking object in the back. Then he hears a voice, its telling him a story about how the bat came to be. Raven has a ghost sickness and is immobile, he asks Bat for help. So bat opens his fingers and spreads them apart stretching his skin to form wings and fanned away the sickness. Soon, the ghost sickness was blown away and Raven stood. Thank you, friend Bat, said Raven. As a reward, I will let you keep the form you have taken. You alone, of all the ground animals, will be able to fly. And thus it was, and thus it is to this day (Batman: Legends of The Dark Knight #1, 10). Then he wakes up to see the woman by his bed side. He wonders who healed him and the woman tells him it was her grandfather, the Tribal Shaman/Medicine Man. Bruce is ready to leave and wishes to go alone but the woman accompanies him to the closest village. He arrives to Wayne Manor and is greeted by Alfred, his Butler, and informing him about a package that arrived for him. Bruce tells Alfred he is going out. Alfred doesnt want him to go out because he just arrived he tells Bruce to be careful. Careful? Not exactly. Not tonight. Picking a fight with a pimp on his turf isnt careful, nor is decking a tough hooker named Selina

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Kyle, nor is getting stuck in front of a cop with a gun and the wrong idea of who the bad guy is. A carful man would have let a lawyer spring him, not wreck a police car, a couple of uniforms and about a dozen laws escaping (Batman: Legends of The Dark Knight #1, 15). He returns to the manor gun shot and all, Alfred suggest a doctor but Bruce want him to tell him a story. As the story is told Bruce is thinking and then, saying in his mind, I shall become a bat. The next day Bruce is fine bench pressing a heavy amount of weight, and as Alfred arrives he hands him a list of things he is planning on funding research for ballistics, shrapnel incendiary bombs, nerve gas, rare poisons, plastic explosives, and assassination techniques of the Calcutta Thugees (Batman: Legends of The Dark Knight #1, 18). And then asks Alfred if IT is ready, and Alfred replies it is. He then suits up to be, The Caped Crusader, BATMAN. He leaves the manor to a clinic that has been robbed three times the past month. There are three armed thugs that have already taken everything of value and still want more so they take pretty and pregnant lady that is with the store owner. Then the thugs here back man calling out to them if they hurt the girl they are going to get hurt. Two of the thugs charge Batman with knives and they are both taken down and the third one aims the gun, but Batman disappears into the darkness. The gun is fired and then Batman comes swooping in and takes down the thug, but one is still conscious so he picks him and says Tell everyone. All the punks, junkies, gunsels, enforcers all the wise guys, leg-breakers, muscle boys Tell them theyre finished. Tell them the streets belong to THE BATMAN (Batman: Legends of The Dark Knight #1, 25). As he approaches the women to check on them the pregnant one is scared and grabs a knife dropped by the thug and stabs here self. CONTINUED.. 5. Review

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The comic was well written. There wasnt anything that is too far-fetched or that would ruin the main storyline. The transition between Bruce Wayne and Batmans personality was perfect. You can clearly tell them apart by the diction used. The drawings where spectacular for the time period in which the comic was published. The storyline flows smoothly from the beginning to the end. And it is very grabby, like it grabs your attention and pulls you into ready more. Of the whole comic the ending was the best. It makes me want to go buy the next one to see what happens next.

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Work Cited Bellis, Mary. History of Comic Books, inventors.about.com. n.d. web. 30 August 2013. Daniels, Les. Batman: The Complete History, www.legionsofgotham.org. n.d. web. 30 August 2013. Dennis ONeil, et al (w) Edward Hannigan, et al (a). Shaman Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight vol. 1, Andrew Helfer. New York: DC Comics, 1989. Print. NPR STAFF. Batmans Biggest Secret (No, Its not Bruce Wayne), npr.org 11 august 2012. web. 1 September 2013. Bob Kane Biography, biographybase.com n.d. web. 30 August 2013.

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