Another new bad guy, Man-Bat, had a simpler story and a more pronounceable name, which may account for his wider public recognition. Making his first appearance in Detective Comics #400 (June 1970), Man-Bat was Kirk Langstrom, a scientist and Batman fan who experimented with serums derived from bats and ended up taking on their characteristics. The result was a monstrous, pathetic creature who was nonetheless a genuine menace unless a cure could be found. In retrospect an obvious switch, Man-Bat hadn't occurred to anyone for three decades, but then the idea seemed to have many fathers. "There's a lot of talk about who created Man-Bat," said Julius Schwartz. "The Neal Adams version is not my version." Adams claims he came up with the character, but so does Schwartz. The late Frank Robbins, who wrote the origin story and also drew some later adventures in his angular style, might have had a third opinion.
