Both Gil Kane and Kubert started work in the comics business early on when in their teens. They did the typical flunky work at first, erasing, drawing panel borders, etc. They both went to art school, and before long were drawing and inking. Kane had a reputation as an action artist, which is how I have always thought of him. The Green Lantern and Atom revivals in the early '60s are where I first saw his work. His style was perfect for superhero work, although he did the jobs he was assigned, no matter the subject.
Wildcat is a DC character whose Golden Age career spanned the first 90 issues of Sensation Comics. Not a bad run, but Wildcat, like a lot of other secondary characters, never got a star spot in those years. According to Don Markstein’s Toonopedia (one of my go-to references for many super characters of that era) Wildcat was a boxer who inadvertently killed an opponent, and was on the hitlist of the gangsters who put a poisoned needle in his boxing glove. Markstein writes: “Wildcat was the creation of writer Bill Finger and artist Irwin Hasen. Finger (rhymes with ‘zinger’, not ‘linger.’)” See what you and I both learn? I have seen Bill Finger’s name for years, but the pronunciation is a surprise to me.
Wildcat in “Murder Masquerade” is from Sensation Comics #77 (1948).
