Batman didn't always look or behave the way he does now. The first Batman story, "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate", published in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939) was originally written in the style of the pulps, and this influence was evident with Batman showing little remorse over killing or maiming criminals. The original drawing had Batman in reddish tights, with boots... no gloves, no gauntlets... with a small domino mask, swinging on a rope. He had two stiff wings that were sticking out, looking like bat wings. The bat wing like cape was suggested by Bob Kane; who was inspired by seeing Leonardo Da Vinci's sketch of an ornithopter flying device as a child.
Bob Kane detailed Finger's contributions to Batman's creation in his 1989 autobiography: At the time, I only had a small domino mask, like the one Robin later wore, on Batman's face. Bill said, 'Why not make him look more like a bat and put a hood on him, and take the eyeballs out and just put slits for eyes to make him look more mysterious?' At this point, the Bat-Man wore a red union suit; the wings, trunks, and mask were black. I thought that red and black would be a good combination. Bill said that the costume was too bright: 'Color it dark gray to make it look more ominous'. The cape looked like two stiff bat wings attached to his arms. As Bill and I talked, we realized that these wings would get cumbersome when Bat-Man was in action, and changed them into a cape, scalloped to look like bat wings when he was fighting or swinging down on a rope. Also, he didn't have any gloves on, and we added them so that he wouldn't leave fingerprints.
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Related posts:
July 22, 2007 – Batman from comics where I posted pictures of First Appearance Batman - pictures HERE
March 27, 2011 – "BATs All, Folks" - Mego style Batman Gallery posted in my toy blog HERE
The costume design is so sick, someone should use either use this exact look in a current story.
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