Today would have been Bill Finger‘s 102nd birthday.

I’ve been somewhat vocal about trying to bring awareness to Bill Finger ever since I started writing about comics last year, because his name is not as well known as it should be. Indeed, many people, when asked if they had ever heard about Bill Finger would respond with “Bill Who?”

Bill Finger is the largely unknown co-creator of Batman.

He also contributed much to the Batman mythology in its formative years, from the Batcave and the Batmobile, to much of the Dark Knights supporting cast. And yes, that also includes the Joker, whom Bill had a hand in co-creating.

Today would have been Bill Finger‘s 102nd birthday were he still alive, but sadly he died almost penniless in 1974, and almost ended up in a paupers grave. He died largely forgotten, without ever seeing his name appear on the front of a comic. Well that, at least, has been rectified; DC issued a special seventy five year anniversary issue of Detective Comics #27 in 2014, and Bill Finger‘s name was right there on the cover.

You know where else his name is now? In the “Batman Created By Bob Kane with Bill Finger” byline emblazoned across any media featuring Batman since late last year.

There is also an award named after him, created by his frequent collaborator Jerry Robinson; The Bill Finger Award For Excellence In Comic Book Writing is awarded annually to two writers; one alive and one dead. Mark Evanier, the chair of the awards committee said in 2003 that the premise of the award was “to recognize writers for a body of work that has not received its rightful reward and/or recognition. That was what Jerry Robinson intended as his way of remembering his friend, Bill Finger. Bill is still kind of the industry poster boy for writers not receiving proper reward or recognition.”

On this day Bill Finger would have been 102. Think of him today, and raise a glass to an unsung comic book legend.