American comic book artist (1926-2000). Real name: Eli Katz. He was born in Latvia but moved to New York City with his family when he was three years old. He became interested in art, comics, and pulp magazines and broke into the still-fairly-new field of comic books in 1941 -- he worked as an assistant in Jack Binder's studio and as an artist for the Scarlet Avenger at MLJ, the publishers of the Archie comics. He also worked as a freelancer at Street and Smith, Holyoke, Quality Comics, and Timely Comics. He even got to work for (and learn from) comics legends like Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.

After serving in the Army during World War II, Kane went to work for DC Comics, drawing Wildcat and the Sandman. He also freelanced for a number of other companies as well. He continued to get steady work in comics, even during the anti-comics backlash in the 1950s, fueled by Dr. Fredric Wertham's book "Seduction of the Innocent"; it helped that Kane was versatile enough to work in almost any genre, from comedy to science fiction to his personal favorite, the Western.

Once the Silver Age got started in the mid-50's, Kane created Adam Strange (though he didn't end up drawing him on a regular basis) and the revamped versions of Green Lantern and the Atom. He spent several years drawing GL and Atom, as well as several fantasy and sci-fi books, but began to feel burned out at DC. After working on "Thunder Agents" for Tower Comics and "Flash Gordon" for King Comics, he quit DC and went to work for Marvel. His Marvel work, considered some of the best and most groundbreaking in the industry, included stints drawing Spider-Man, the Avengers, the Hulk, Conan the Barbarian, Captain America, and Captain Marvel, among others.

In 1971, Kane created what is now considered the first graphic novel. "Blackmark" was a critical success, but made not a dime for Marvel. Also during the 1970s, he created Iron Fist and Morbius the Living Vampire for Marvel, but eventually left comic books to work on a comic strip called "Starhawks."

In his later years, Kane did some more work for DC, developed some cartoons for Hanna-Barbera, and visited numerous comic book conventions, greeting fans, telling stories, and signing artwork.

Research: http://www.comic-art.com/bios-1/kanegil.htm