“Bob Kane,” The Spectre, Julius Schwartz, and Casper the Friendly Ghost by Michael Uslan

From the Uslan Vault of DC History, Ch. 4

Starting around 1963, I began a regular onslaught of letters weekly to DC editor Julius Schwartz.

In retrospect, I was like a pit bull who refused to let go of his ankle.

Amazingly, Julie replied to every one on his little tiny note paper that said “From the Desk of Julius Schwartz.”

The two issues upon which I was relentless was to find out who was drawing Batman under the name of “Bob Kane,” as I was convinced that there was more than one artist at work and that possibly none of them were Bob Kane.

The other issue I had was constantly nagging Julie to bring back The Spectre.

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Julie’s standard reply was that The Spectre can never be brought back because the Comics Code Authority has a rule preventing comic books from featuring characters who are “the walking dead.”

My next letter to Julie read, “That’s not fair! What about “Casper the Friendly Ghost?”

Approximately three or four weeks later, I received a reply from Julie on his memo paper. It read “You’ll be pleased to know that The Spectre will be returning in the pages of SHOWCASE in the upcoming “Spectre and Dr. Mid-Nite” team-up!”

Obviously, soon after that, the decision was made to have The Spectre go solo. But I am convinced that I gave Julie — and Julie then gave DC — the argument to make to the Comics Code Authority that allowed for the return of The Spectre after all those decades.

Regarding that other issue, he said to me he was not permitted to talk about it and any further info would have to come from Bob Kane. – Michael Uslan

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Dr. Michael Uslan is a Professor of Practice at the Indiana University Media School. He is the Executive Producer of many award-winning movies, including Batman Vs Superman: Dawn Of Justice; The Lego Movie; and The Dark Knight Trilogy: Batman Begins; The Dark Knight & The Dark Knight Rises. He is also the Executive Producer of a wide range of TV movies, animated TV Series, and documentaries. He won an Emmy Award for “Best Animated Series” with his production of Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? ^®

Dr. Uslan was the instructor of both the first accredited college course and correspondence course on comic books (Indiana University 1971), and the author of the first textbook on comics, The Comic Book In America. He has authored a wide range of books and graphic novels, including, America At War- A History Of War Comics; Mysteries In Space- A History Of Science Fiction Comics; Best Of Archie; The Comic Book Revolution, and his memoir, The Boy Who Loved Batman. He worked with his friend and mentor, Stan Lee, on many comic books, including their most recent initiative, Just Imagine.

He is the recipient of the World’s first Doctorate of Comic Books, Monmouth University 2012, and also has a JD from Indiana University School of Law; M.S, Urban Education, Indiana University School of Education; and BA, History from Indiana University.