Batman by Neal Adams

Over the years, only a handful of artists have truly shaped the look of DC Comics’ Batman. But since the original creation of the character in the 1930s by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, undoubtedly the most influential individual to take up the mantle of the Bat is Neal Adams.

Beginning in the late 1960s and continuing through the 1970s, Adams’ reimagining of “the Batman” revitalized the Caped Crusader for an entire generation of fans, rescuing him from TV-inspired campiness and returning him to his roots as a shadowy urban vigilante. In Adams’ talented hands, Batman matured into “the Dark Knight”—a transformation that not only delighted readers and inspired his creative peers, but also planted the seeds for the 21st century’s explosive growth of comics and superheroes into every corner of the world’s popular culture.