Changes

Batman is unusual for superheroes in that he has no superhuman powers, though he is certainly an unusually gifted human being: an athlete who would "win or place" in any Olympic event, master of a dizzying array of martial arts forms, genius detective and capable scientist, and a billionaire to top it off.  Despite this, he uses his brains, training, and resources to not only keep up but excel in comparison with many heroes with great superpowers, a testament to man's will in the face of adversity.

Batman is unusual for superheroes in that he has no superhuman powers, though he is certainly an unusually gifted human being: an athlete who would "win or place" in any Olympic event, master of a dizzying array of martial arts forms, genius detective and capable scientist, and a billionaire to top it off.  Despite this, he uses his brains, training, and resources to not only keep up but excel in comparison with many heroes with great superpowers, a testament to man's will in the face of adversity.

==Publication history==

==Comic book history==

Vin Sullivan was the publisher of National Periodical (the forerunner of DC Comics), and during the end of the 1930s was basking in the success of [[Superman]], the first true comic book superhero; Sullivan was looking for another such character to publish.  The ''Detective Comics'' series would soon provide him with one, a costumed hero no less, having great intellect but without Superman's strength.  Bob Kane, influenced by [[Sherlock Holmes]], [[Zorro]], a recent comic character called "The Shadow", the sketches of Leonardo da Vinci, and a film titled ''The Bat'', came up with a character in a gray suit, black boots, and a black cape and cowl; the creation was called ''the Bat-Man''.  The drawings were taken to artist/writer Bill Finger, and by May 1939 an excited Sullivan published the character in a story called "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate," part of several stories in ''Detective Comics'' issue number 27, which became an immediate and successful hit.   

Vin Sullivan was the publisher of National Periodical (the forerunner of DC Comics), and during the end of the 1930s was basking in the success of [[Superman]], the first true comic book superhero; Sullivan was looking for another such character to publish.  The ''Detective Comics'' series would soon provide him with one, a costumed hero no less, having great intellect but without Superman's strength.  Bob Kane, influenced by [[Sherlock Holmes]], [[Zorro]], a recent comic character called "The Shadow", the sketches of Leonardo da Vinci, and a film titled ''The Bat'', came up with a character in a gray suit, black boots, and a black cape and cowl; the creation was called ''the Bat-Man''.  The drawings were taken to artist/writer Bill Finger, and by May 1939 an excited Sullivan published the character in a story called "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate," part of several stories in ''Detective Comics'' issue number 27, which became an immediate and successful hit.