Researching the Secret Origins of Mr. A led me to research the Secret Origins of the Bat-Man. I knew that Batman was inspired by Zorro and The Shadow, but I didn’t realize that the first Batman story, “The Case Of The Chemical Syndicate,” was “borrowed” from a Shadow novel, “Partners of Peril” — which has been recently republished:
I also knew that Batman was created by Bob Kane, but I didn’t realize he had a partner, Bill Finger, who did most of the work, but who was too shy and reticent to demand credit. In fact, Bill Finger lived paycheck-to-paycheck and died young — which brings us to this doctored Shadow piece:
And that brings us full circle, back to Mr. A, who is really a Randian version of The Shadow — ruthless and prone to judgmental monologues.