I remember back in 1989-90 or so, when Tim Burton’s Batman was freaking huge, Bob Kane released a limited edition Batman print. Well, what was intended to be your standard cash grab collectible raised a minor fuss in the comic press because it was quickly and readily obvious that Kane had actually ripped off Todd McFarlane artwork for his print. Essentially, the piece (pictured above) consisted of swipes from Mcfarlane’s Batman: Year Two work, and it’d probably a good thing for Kane’s ego that the internet didn’t exist in the form it does today or he’d have been roasted furiously. As it was, some people were pretty annoyed, but with the main place to air grievances being in letter columns, it quickly died down and was forgotten.

Well, in recent weeks, the internet’s doing what it does best - stirring up shit. A Henry Vallely fansite has posted some of the illustrator’s works alongside some key panels from Kane’s first Batman story, and the resemblance is insane. Kane doesn’t have the most upstanding reputation under the best of conditions, and this “new” evidence against the man’s work ethics don’t do a whole lot to help his legacy. It’s odd thaat in a perverse way, lightbox masters like Liefeld and his ilk were kind of keeping an old, sad tradition alive.

Kane rips Vallely: example 1

Kane rips Vallely: example 2

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