Bob Kane

"In the first monograph dedicated to this important contemporary artist, author Richard J. Boyle chronicles every aspect of Kane's distinguished career, including his education, his early artistic influences, and his public support. Beginning with Kane's days at the Art Students League in New York City, Boyle traces the development of his style and identifies his sources. While at the League, Kane met the legendary German expressionist George Grosz and the respected American artist and teacher Will Barnet, whose art was very important to Kane's sense of form and space. Boyle relates Kane's travels to Italy, North Africa, and France (Paris and Nice) as he walks in the footsteps of the great masters who have inspired him: Turner, Delacroix, Cezanne, and Matisse. These varied influences easily meld in his art, and manifest themselves in a vibrant palette, animated brushwork, and lively, engaging subjects. Through these means, the artist merges observation and imagination, effortlessly evoking the aura of faraway places and the people that inhabit them."--BOOK JACKET.

"Superman and Batman first teamed up in these stories from comics' 1950s Silver Age, reprinted here for the first time in one massive hardcover. In these tales, which feature frequent guest stars Robin, Lois Lane, Commissioner Gordon, and Perry White, the two heroes battle crime in the past, present, and future, including each other's greatest foes: Lex Luthor and The Joker!"--

His earliest stories reveal Batman as he was initially conceived: a mysterious dark nemesis of crime, a non-nonsense vigilante driven by some inner demon to eliminate society's malefactors. Later, with the introduction of Robin, we are presented with the more human side of our protagonist. Not so fierce perhaps, but every bit as resolute.

"First appearing on newsstands in 1940's BATMAN #1, only a few months after the Bat-Man himself debuted, Catwoman has been essential to the Dark Knight's world from almost the very beginning. Menacing (and sometimes romancing) the Caped Crusader for more than seven decades, Catwoman has become one of Batman's greatest villains, but also one of his greatest allies. Friend or foe, Gotham's feline femme fatale continually skirts the line between right and wrong. She's a dangerous criminal whose claws aren't to be crossed, but she's also the city's Robin Hood, using her unlawful talents to help those in need. This rich contradiction has made her one of the most complex and compelling characters in all of comics. CATWOMAN: A CELEBRATION OF 75 YEARS is a stunning retrospective of Catwoman's history, featuring stories from comic book legends Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Dennis O'Neil, Dick Giordano, Len Wein, Kurt Schaffenberger, Chuck Dixon, Ed Brubaker, Cameron Stewart, Darwyn Cooke, Tim Sale, Paul Dini, Guillem March and more"--