Best 1940's Batman artist?

[circa81]

Who would you guys say is the artist from the 40's who drew the best looking Batman?

 

[Cain]

To me it was Jack Burnley. He drew a serious looking no nonsense taking Batman that could still run around with Robin. Dick Sprang is a close second but compared to Burnley his Batman was more "approachable" he wasn't as intimidating looking.

 

[Bathead]

I would agree with that sentiment.
All of y'all Bat-fans should give the "Batman Chronicles" a look, there is some half decent art-work from back then. You'll just need to overlook the somewhat out-dated and occasionally childish writing and keep in mind the target audience was pretty much ten year old boys.

 

[TruerToTheCore]

 

[GothamAlleys]

Hmm, hard to pick from. They have subtle differences, but they were all very similar because they were ghost artist for Kane so they had to imitate his style. I like the 40s artwork a whole lot but I think it pales in comparison to the earliest depiction of 1939. It seemed a bit happy and too cartoony. Still love it, just imo doesnt hold up to the style and feel of the original year

 

[circa81]

Any other suggestions?

 

[CConn]

Hmm, hard to pick from. They have subtle differences, but they were all very similar because they were ghost artist for Kane so they had to imitate his style. I like the 40s artwork a whole lot but I think it pales in comparison to the earliest depiction of 1939. It seemed a bit happy and too cartoony. Still love it, just imo doesnt hold up to the style and feel of the original year

I agree implicitly.

 

[Bathead]

I agree implicitly.

Not me. I actually think that the art (by Kane) for the first year was pretty bad. Kane had a habit of re-using artwork, and in some cases blatantly ripping off other comic artists. IIRC, the first cover he did of Batman for Detective comics was a direct rip from a pic of Flash Gordon.

 

[theMan-Bat]

Hmm, hard to pick from. They have subtle differences, but they were all very similar because they were ghost artist for Kane so they had to imitate his style. I like the 40s artwork a whole lot but I think it pales in comparison to the earliest depiction of 1939. It seemed a bit happy and too cartoony. Still love it, just imo doesnt hold up to the style and feel of the original year

Bob Kane still illustrated Batman, doing penciled layouts, in collaboration with uncredited "ghost" artists Sheldon Moldoff, Jerry Robinson and George Roussos, who finished the pencils and inked, in the early 1940s. The stories and the art retained a dark atmosphere in 1940 to 1941.
Detective Comics #35 (January, 1940) "The Case of the Ruby Idol" written by Bill Finger, art by Bob Kane and Sheldon Moldoff:

After Robin's introduction, the art by Bob Kane and uncredited "ghost" artist Jerry Robinson still retained a dark, shadowy atmosphere while Bill Finger and Bob Kane retained control, before the Editorial Advisory Board had them completely tone down the darkness.
Detective Comics #39 (May, 1940) "The Horde of the Green Dragon" written by Bill Finger, art by Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson:

 

[GothamAlleys]

Yeah I know, but it was his earliest work that I liked the most out of 40s. He thought he improved in time, I thought he just lost that feel within a year after Robin was intorduced

I much prefer this:

Over this:

 

[SmellTheWeird]

EASILY the 1939 Kane stuff. Serious, dark looking Batman ... Joker looked frightening and creepy (see the pic of him in jail) ... it was before all the smiling buffoonery that took place later.

 

[theMan-Bat]

Over this:

Well, that advertisement is from the '60s, promotion for the comedic Adam West television show version of Batman. Adam West was the kind of Batman the public wanted at the time, so Bob Kane went along with that because it actually saved Batman comics from cancellation in 1966. The Golden Age early '40s vigilante, creature of the night version of Batman was much, much darker than the Silver Age '50s and '60s Batman. While the introduction of Robin added more humor in 1940 and 1941, Batman remained a vigilante creature of the night until Batman #7 (October-November, 1941) "The People vs. The Batman". Completely lightening Batman into the Adam West-esque wholesome version was not Bill Finger and Bob Kane's intention or their decision. Bob Kane explained in his autobiography Batman & Me, "The editors placed increasing limitations on what Bill and I could you.
The new editorial policy was to get away from Batman's vigilantism and to bring him over to the side of the law. The whole moral climate changed after the 1940-1941 period.
DC prepared it's own comics code which every writer and artist had to follow. It forbade any whippings or hangings, knifings, or sexual references. Even the word 'flick' was forbidden because the lettering (all in block capitals) might run together."
Here's some scans from that book:

DC's Editorial Director Whitney Ellsworth had created DC's own comics code in the form of an Editorial Advisory Board in 1941.
These book excerpts are from Comic Book Nation by Bradford W. Wright about the Editorial Board DC had:

And the effect on Batman:

Every DC title had a list of the Editorial Advisory Board members on the inside front cover:

http://www.thegraphicnovels.com/nsp1-21.html
http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext...ibit1/dc.shtml

EASILY the 1939 Kane stuff. Serious, dark looking Batman ... Joker looked frightening and creepy (see the pic of him in jail) ... it was before all the smiling buffoonery that took place later.

The Joker was introduced in Batman #1 (Summer, 1940), after Robin was introduced in Detective Comics #38 (April, 1940).

 

[GothamAlleys]

Yeah, I know the strip is from the 60s but since early 1940s Batman basically looked like that and others imitated this look (as you definitely know). I personally feel that the differences in artworks and artists are minimal cause, as I mentioned everyone imitated that cheerful Kane style that he developed soon after Robin was intorduced. And while Batman was still more or less a grim figure I think the tone changed instantly after Robin joined. It took Batman a little while to change the tone in the character itself, but changes were made instantly in different areas. The mere presence of Robin took out the whole feel of a lone figure at night and him working alone and sharing his thoughts only with himself. I think this alone adds a lot to the feel of the stories. After all, Robin was introduced to add more dialogue and brigten the thing up. Finger liked the idea as he saw Batman more as a Sherlock Holmes type rather than a vampire-ish creep like Kane. As it says in the book you quoted, Robin's appearance changed the whole tone

As a side note I have nothing against the Silver Age Batman or the 60s show. I think its a very different take than the one I grew up wityh, but still a valid and fun onedid

 

[theMan-Bat]

Bill Finger just wanted to give Batman an aid to talk to, he wasn't trying to lighten up Batman. Robin's presence changed the tone by adding more humor as this kid beat up grown men, however, the Batman stories from 1940 and 1941 still had a dark atmosphere, taking place at night and included killings, murder, suicide, etc. Bill Finger saw Batman as more than merely a Sherlock Holmes type. Bill Finger also saw Batman as a mysterious and eerie creature of the night like the Shadow. The Shadow specifically was a major influence on Batman. Denny O'Neil explained, “Make no mistake, Batman is The Shadow’s direct heir. For that, we have the testimony of an ultimate authority, the writer who first put words in Batman’s mouth. His name was Bill Finger and he told historian Jim Steranko, “I was very much influenced by the Shadow…I patterned my style of writing Batman after the Shadow…My first script was a take-off on a Shadow.””
http://www.prlog.org/10110966-the-sh...of-batman.html
The first Batman story, "The Case of the Crime Syndicate" (1939) is a blatant lift of The Shadow pulp story "Partners of Peril" (1936). As Anthony Tollin discovered, "It turned out to be the same story with basically nothing changed. I mean, it was a chemical syndicate in both stories! Finger didn't even change it to some other kind of business. And The Shadow is described as 'bat-like' in the rooftop scene where Batman makes his first appearance in costume.
Well, it clearly establishes that without The Shadow, there would be no Batman! Since the first Batman story was a start-to-finish lift of an earlier Shadow novel, it establishes that the similarities between the two characters were no accident. Bruce Wayne is wealthy young man about town Lamont Cranston. The friendship between Bruce and Commissioner James Gordon (whose name comes from The Shadow's sister magazine, The Whsiperer) is no different from the relationship between Cranston and Weston. Batman's talent for escapes also comes from The Shadow, since the first recorded Batman escape duplicates The Shadow's in the same story. And the Shadow lifts continued in subsequent stories, even ones written by Gardner Fox, which gave Batman an autogiro, Bat-a-rangs like The Shadow's cable-outfitted 'yellow boomerang,' and a suction-cup device for scaling walls ... all Shadow gimmicks. Without the Knight of Darkness, there would be no Dark Knight."
http://www.comicmix.com/news/2007/06...cal-syndicate/
Batman was still the mysterious creature of the night lurking in the shadows after Robin's introduction, and Batman was a vigilante fighting the police in the 1940 to 1941 comics, and there was a lot of killing, even Robin killed.
Batman #7 (October-November, 1941) "The Trouble Trap" by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson and George Roussos:

Detective Comics #50 (April, 1941) "The Case of the Three Devils" by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson and George Roussos:

Batman #4 (Winter, 1941) "Victory for the Dynamic Duo" by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson and George Roussos:

Graham Masters shoots himself in the head during a struggle with Robin in Batman #6 (August-September, 1941) "The Secret of the Iron Jungle!" by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson and George Roussos:

Mr. Wylie commits suicide rather than face trial and imprisonment. "Much better this way!" murmurs Batman to Robin grimly in Detective Comics #42 (August, 1940) "The Case of the Prophetic Pictures" by Bill Finger, Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson:

In another adventure with Robin, Batman kills many of the Green Dragon tong's members by overturning a gigantic statue, which crushes and kills them in Detective Comics #39 (May, 1940) "The Horde of the Green Dragon!"

In Batman #2 (Summer, 1940) "The Wolf," by Bill Finger, Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson, Batman unleashes a punch that sends Adam Lamb plummeting down a flight of stairs, breaking his neck and killing him. Robin says "I feel sort of sorry for him!" "This is the only time I was ever sorry to see a criminal die!" murmurs Batman grimly. "Medical attention might have cured him!"

 

[theMan-Bat]

Robin also killed gangsters in Detective Comics #38 (April, 1940) "Introducing Robin, the Boy Wonder" by Bill Finger, Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson.

Stories such as "Murder on Parole" written by Bill Finger from Batman #6 (August-September, 1941) obviously have a dark atmosphere, dark subject matter and included Robin.

 

[GothamAlleys]

Yep, I know about that and I have a lot of those in the Gotham Alleys blog serving as examples of Batman killing. Still, while the strips described Batman as an eerie creature, the image itself denied it when it shows a blue figure next to a colorful boy

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/598/batman444recutagain.jpg

 

[theMan-Bat]

The blue was used as the refection on a black surface. Blue in the comics is a way to give black clothing and hair contrast and show detail. As in real life, Keaton's Batman Returns suit is black, and it also has a refection on the black surface.

 

[GothamAlleys]

True, but blue got brighter and much more dominating to the point everyone thought its actually blue not black. First it was black with blue highlights, then it was the other way around

 

[Mace Dolex]

As a kid reading the older reprints I didn't really appreciate them because the art looked too cartoonish but if you'll notice here it's just Batman and Robin who are depicted cartoony whereas the other fellow is drawn pretty realistic.

But when it comes down to it I prefer Dick Sprang, Sheldon Moldoff, Jack Burnley, while Bob Kane got better down the road his figures still needed work.

 

[theMan-Bat]

True, but blue got brighter and much more dominating to the point everyone thought its actually blue not black. First it was black with blue highlights, then it was the other way around

True, however, there was often still a lot of black on the version of Batman from the 1940 and 1941 comics, as the scans I've posted show. Batman still was the nocturnal, mysterious and imposing vigilante and Robin was a very rough and tough acrobatic kid who loved to fight. That was all changed because of the Editorial Advisory Board DC created and the Batman costume often was almost completely blue after that, as seen in the scan TruerToTheCore posted, and the wholesome daylight dwelling, deputized Adam West-esque version of Batman began along with the wholesome version of Robin with the fondness for ridiculous puns.

 

[signalman]

For me DICK SPRANG is the Best Bat-Artist from the 40's-50s'.
Love the look of his barrel-chested Batman.
Also drew a good Superman in his teamup stories with Batman in World's Finest.

 

[Janomeister]

Well I'd have to go with Bob Kane he created that classic Batman look. In my opinion his art was the look that the new 52 batman is based off. So I agree with most old fashioned lovers

 

[-Catwoman-]

For me DICK SPRANG is the Best Bat-Artist from the 40's-50s'.
Love the look of his barrel-chested Batman.
Also drew a good Superman in his teamup stories with Batman in World's Finest.

Agreed wholeheartedly. Sexy barrel chest.