HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (CNS) - Holy Hollywood, Batman! The Caped Crusader of comic book, TV and film fame Thursday became the first superhero with a star on the Walk of Fame.
The veteran hero's star was appropriately located in front of The Hollywood Guinness World Records Museum on Hollywood Boulevard, next to the stars of Adam West, who portrayed Batman on the campy 1966-68 ABC TV series, and Bob Kane, a co-creator of the character.
"It is an honor to be here today and it has been an honor to contribute to the legacy of one of the world's greatest superheroes, Batman," Jim Lee, the president, publisher and chief creative officer of DC Comics, told the cheering crowd during the ceremony. "I've worked in comics for over three decades now. ... Of the many characters whose stories I've been privileged to tell, few have stood the test of time and resonated as broadly and as powerfully as Batman, inspiring the next-level fervor and passion that you see in his fan base today.
"... Batman is one of the most iconic fictional characters in the world, and is a self-made superhero, notable not for his superpowers but for his intelligence, grit and determination and technical mastery."
Anne DePies, the general manager and senior vice president of DC Comics, which publishes the Batman comic books, said the character "has transcended his comic book origins" and become and American icon who has persevered over the years. She noted that "each of us has our own favorite Batman."
"He continues to inspire and excite and entertain," DePies said. "His stories can be funny, sincere, scary, outlandish and unbelievable. And all of it is still Batman."
Michael Empric, an adjudicator with Guinness World Records, also attended the ceremony to officially award Batman with the Guinness World Records title as the first superhero with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Burt Ward, who played Batman's sidekick Robin on the ABC series, was also on hand for the event.
The ceremony came one day after publication of "Batman: The Last Halloween," a 10-part comic book series in which Gotham City learns to fear Halloween once more as a terrible event threatens to destroy the life of police Capt. Jim Gordon -- and puts Batman and Robin's teamwork to the test more than ever.
The star is the 2,790th since the completion of the Walk of Fame in 1961 with the initial 1,558 stars.
The star is in the category of motion pictures. Batman made his film debut in 1943 in the 15-chapter serial from Columbia Pictures titled "Batman," which was followed in 1949 by another 15-chapter serial, "Batman and Robin."
West starred in a 1966 "Batman" movie. Warner Bros. released four Batman films between 1989 and 1997 -- "Batman," "Batman Returns," "Batman Forever" and "Batman & Robin."
Following the poor critical and box office reception to "Batman & Robin," the proposed sequel "Batman Unchained," was canceled, as were two later film proposals.
But the franchise was rebooted in 2005 with the first installment of what would become known as "The Dark Knight" trilogy -- "Batman Begins," followed by "The Dark Knight" in 2008 and "The Dark Knight Rises" in 2012.
Batman was created because of the desire of DC Comics editor Vincent Sullivan for another costumed hero following the 1938 debut of Superman. Sullivan asked the 22-year-old Kane, who was then selling humorous stories to DC Comics, for his ideas.
"I went home that weekend, traced some sketches of Superman and started penciling different costume ideas," Kane, who died in 1998 at the age of 83, once said. "It was then that I got my first brainstorm.
"I remembered one of Leonardo da Vinci's sketches -- a drawing of a flying machine with bat wings. That's what germinated the idea for Batman.
"The second influence on me was the hero with the dual identity in `The Mark Of Zorro.' And then I thought about `The Bat Whispers,' a mystery movie written by Mary Roberts Rinehart."
Kane drew a character with bird wings and called him Bird Man, but realized "that wasn't quite right."
"So I changed the wings, made them bat-like, and called him Batman," Kane said. "Almost every famous character ever created had a kind of simplistic, definitive design that was easily recognizable, and that's what I was striving for with Batman."
The first published appearance of "The Bat-Man," as he was then known, was in the May 1939 issue of Detective Comics. The first comic book devoted exclusively to Batman was published in 1940.
Kane continued to illustrate Batman comic books until his retirement in 1968. He served as a consultant on the 1989 film "Batman" and its three sequels.
While Batman is the first superhero to be honored on the Walk of Fame, he's not the first fictional character.
Mickey Mouse and his longtime sweetheart Minnie also have stars -- as do Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny, Woody Woodpecker, The Simpsons, The Muppets, Shrek and Snoopy.
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