Tag Archives: bill the boy wonder: the secret co-creator of batman

I Hate Bob Kane

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Batman177

One of the last Batman comics that has an original Bill Finger contribution

I hope that got your attention.

Now before I say anymore, I want to clarify something; I don’t hate Bob Kane, I abhor what he did to Bill Finger. Why? Well a few months ago I came across this article on cracked.com entitled “5 Ways Batman’s True Creator Got Screwed Out Of His Legacy,” and I have to tell you I was very happy when I read the article, because Bill Finger deserves recognition for his tremendous contributions to comics, because, among numerous other things he co-created Batman, and most people don’t know that.

The only thing Bob Kane created alone was the name “The Bat-Man,” and legacy that is built on lies.

When I first started writing about comics online over at Ramblings Of A Comics Fan, the first article that was posted was about Bill Finger (you can read it here if you’re curious).

It was the first article I uploaded, because seventy-five years ago a huge injustice was done Bill Finger when Bob Kane sold the rights to Batman to the company who would become DC Comics in exchange for some cash and the infamous byline “Batman created by Bob Kane,”and I felt the need to add my voice to the growing chorus of those demanding justice for Bill. Now to be fair to DC, you can’t really blame them for not putting Bill‘s name in the byline because at the time DC didn’t know about Bill Finger because Bob Kane didn’t tell DC about Bill, and they have been contractually obligated to keep his name away from the byline (even when I’m sure many of their higher-ups wanted to add Bill‘s name). So his name was never added to the byline, robbing one of Batman‘s creators of the credit, and recognition, that should have been his for more than seventy-five years.

Dectective 27Until recently, that is, with last years reveal that the byline would finally change. More on that later, though.

The annals of comic book history are littered with people not getting all the credit they deserve, and Bill Finger isn’t the only person this has happened to over the past seven decades, but his creation – and the characters he created – are the most well-known. Again, to be clear, I’m not saying that Bob Kane didn’t contribute anything to Batman; he came up with the name The Bat-Man (Bill shortened it), and provided the artwork for the first few comics, although he was famous for “borrowing” other artists work with tracing paper, the fact remains that without his initial idea and the resulting collaboration with Bill Finger there would be no Batman. But Bill Finger wrote more than five hundred Batman stories across Detective Comics and Batman, and created (or co-created) almost every hallmark of the Batman mythos we all know and love today. His name never even appeared on the cover of a comic book up until 2014’s Detective Comics #27, although that isn’t unusual; Bill died in 1974, before the practice of crediting comic book creators on the front cover became commonplace.

Bob Kane's original design is on the right.

Bob Kane’s original design is on the right.

The image to the left shows just how much input Bill Finger had from the initial sketch that Kane showed to him (on the right). If you notice the gun, that’s because in the early stories Batman did carry a firearm; it was later that the gun was removed from his arsenal. The image below is an excellent comic from artist Ty Templeton who also illustrated Marc Tyler Nobleman‘s Bill The Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator Of Batman. I highly recommend that you track down the book if you want to learn more about the under-appreciated co-creator of Batman, Bill Finger. Also, you can check out Nobleman‘s blog, specifically this link that has details of his exhaustive research on Finger and his family.

In his book, Marc Tyler Nobleman states that as much as Bob Kane wronged Bill Finger, there is also some fault to acknowledge with Bill Finger‘s lack of standing up for himself and demanding credit for much of his working life that also contributed to a lack of recognition for Finger‘s incredible contributions (in fairness, he did start doing that toward the end of his life). Whether that is true or not, and I have no reason to believe it not to be, as comic book fans we’ve all been taught that “with great power there must also come great responsibility”. Well we read stories every week of heroes standing up for those who cannot stand up for themselves, so now it’s time we do the same for a man who died near penniless in 1974, and who allegedly almost ended up in an unmarked paupers grave.

It is not a pointless crusade. Marc Tyler Nobleman has been fighting for Bill Finger for a decade, and in part because of his efforts in roads have been made.

DC have finally added his name to the byline after decades.

The next time you read a new Batman comic, or watch something that features the Dark Knight released after November of 2015 you’ll see “Batman created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger” as the new byline. It has been a long time coming, and it’s certainly a step in the right direction. And, with what would have been his 102nd birthday on February 8th, a late posthumous birthday gift.moviescreen grab

Bill Finger should be a household name. He should be a legend.

I may only be one person, and I certainly make no claim to be any kind of hero, but I will continue to try to bring awareness to Bill Finger as often as I can.

I hope you will too.

 

A verison of this post originally appeared on Ramblings Of A Comics Fan, written before Bill Finger received the byline credit.

Review: Bill The Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator Of Batman

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BillTheBoyWonderFrBill The Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman was released on July 1st, 2012. It was sometime between then and the middle of 2013 that I learned about the book  after I read about it in a comics magazine that I initially thought to be the British Comic Heroes, but after searching through the issues I have, I was unable to locate the article. So regardless of when and where I first became aware of the book, once it was on my radar, I quickly tracked it down on Amazon.

I’m glad I did.

Once I’d read the book I was genuinely impressed by what Mark Tyler Nobleman had done. By gearing the book towards a younger audience, Nobleman ensured that anybody who wanted to learn about the Dark Knights then uncredited co-creator would have a resource, no matter the age of the reader. The great thing about the book is that despite it being geared toward younger readers, this is a book that all ages can enjoy; indeed the afterward, or authors note, detailing a portion of the research done for the book is clearly geared more toward the older reader (but isn’t required reading to get the most out of the book). Although Bill The Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator Of Batman isn’t strictly a graphic novel, it is illustrated wonderfully by Eisner Award winner Ty Templeton, who brings a real sense of history and wonder to the story that Nobleman is telling here.

As a biography of Batman‘s co-creator Bill Finger, this book is lacking a little. But being a complete biography was never the intention behind Bill The Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator Of Batman, no, this book was only ever meant to highlight an unknown legend who did more than we could ever have imagined for Batman and, to some extent, Bob Kane. Because of the all ages target audience there isn’t an in depth look into the writer’s life, instead what Nobleman has done is focus exclusively on the moments surrounding Finger, his contributions to the Dark Knight’s legacy and his incredible lack of credit and recognition for those contributions.

By making this book accessible to all ages, and focusing on several key moments, Nobleman and Templeton delivered a book that, in my mind, was instrumental in getting Bill Finger recognized as Batman‘s co-creator. Bill The Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator Of Batman is more than just a children’s book about a man getting screwed out of his legacy; it’s also the physical encapsulation of one man’s single minded desire to bring awareness to a man who died nearly penniless.

This book is a great starting point for those looking to learn more about Bill Finger, no matter your age, but if you want to read more about the extensive research that went into this book then you should checkout Nobleman‘s blog Noblemania, but more specifically this page where he really lays out a lot of the stories, photographs  and memories of Finger. Marc Tyler Nobleman certainly wasn’t the only voice shouting for Bill Finger to get some recognition, but he was one of the loudest, and Bill The Boy Wonder was the result of a huge amount of time and energy that had been dedicated to bringing Bill Finger‘s name out of obscurity.

Writer: Marc Tyler Nobleman Illustrator: Ty Templeton
Overall: 9.5 Recommendation: Buy

Ty Templeton Talks To Us About What Bill Finger Means To Him, And His Contributions In Having Bill Officially Credited

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bill-the-boy-wonderIf you’ve been paying attention to any media featuring the Caped Crusader released since October of 2015, you may have noticed a slight change in the Bat-byline. Instead of just one name, it now reads “Batman created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger,” because last year, DC Comics finally acknowledged Bill Finger as the co-creator of Batman. A driving force behind Finger finally being officially acknowledged after so many years was the book Bill The Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator Of Batman, which was written by Marc Tyler Nobleman and illustrated by Ty Templeton.

Ty Templeton has been nominated for four Eisner Awards for his work on Batman titles for DC (he won three), and he’s also a member of the Canadian Comic Book Hall Of Fame. He also created a couple of very pointed comic strips focusing on Bill Finger, which have reached hundreds of thousands of people to the name of Batman‘s co-creator, Milton “Bill” Finger.

I recently had the opportunity to talk to Ty Templeton about Bill Finger, his contributions to Bill The Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator Of Batman, and the comic strips he’d produced (you’ll find thumbnail links further on).

Graphic Policy: Firstly let me say, genuinely, what a pleasure this is for me. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve used your Bill Finger Bun Toons to explain to people just how much he contributed to Batman. I understand Bill Finger has been a hero of yours for some time – can you tell us about how you first came across him?

Ty Templeton: I was a young teenager in the 70s, during the period that Batman and Detective were often 100 page giants, and they were starting to give the writers and artists proper credit on the reprint stories. So “Bob Kane”, who had signed all the Batman comics I read as a child, turned out to be Bill Finger, and Dick Sprang and Jerry Robinson, and Jack Burnley and a few others all along, and the 100 page giants were starting to reveal that. So in the 70s, I started to realize it was Finger and Sprang who made the Batman stories I loved, not Bob Kane.

When Bill died in 1974, the tribute to him that ran in DC comics hinted generously that he had more than a little bit to do with creating Batman in the first place, certainly everything to do with creating Catwoman and Riddler and Robin and the rest of the gang. Over the next decade or so, there were a few books about the beginning of the biz like “The Steranko History of Comics” that hinted generously as well. It started to be clear Bill’s story was known in the industry, but little known outside of it. When I became a working professional in the 80s, I would have conversations with other working pros who had a similar attitude about Bob Kane and his mistreatment of Bill’s legacy.

Finally, in the 90s, when Kane came out with his auto-biography “Batman and Me” which both praised Finger’s contribution, and included obviously forged illustrations and documents to claim Kane had created the character before he met Bill (there’s a preposterously silly forgery of an “early sketch” of Batman dated from 1936 that Kane manufactured for the book that anyone with functioning eyes can see is a fake), I knew for a fact that Finger had created the character and Kane was lying his ass off. Since then, I’ve held Kane in contempt, and considered Finger the real hero of the story. Kane shouldn’t have lied and forged those things. You cannot trust anything a liar and a forger says.

GP: So it’s safe to say that you were excited to be a part of a book that called attention to Kane’s bullshit?

TT: I’m not sure that I would put it in quite those colourful words, but yes, I was happy to work on a book that called attention to the true story. There’s a number of creators in our biz that are the architects of the modern pop culture world and who aren’t as well known as they should be. Jack Kirby isn’t a household word the way Stan Lee is, and that’s not fair. It’s nice to see Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld are getting a shout out in the new Deadpool movie, but I understand that was at Liefeld’s request personally to the director, and it wasn’t offered by either Marvel or 20th Century Fox. Us lowly comic artists and writers are never going to get the credit they’ve earned unless someone makes a stink.

GP: It must have been exciting when you got to be a part of Bill The Boy Wonder…. How did you get attached to the project?

TT: I got attached to the project fairly simply. The editor called me on the phone and offered me the gig. I’m not sure how my name got chosen by Marc and company, but it did. It’s likely a combination of the fact that I had written and drawn many issues of Batman Adventures (which is a Batman series that was theoretically aimed at a younger reader, but never written that way, so we had an older audience than our publishers expected) and was fairly public about my contempt for Bob Kane. I’ve probably bad mouthed Kane in an interview or two, and those two factors lined me up as a good fit for the project. You’d have to ask Marc Tyler Nobleman how they chose me.

Marc Tyler Nobleman: I made a list of artists I would like to work with and reached out to my top choices personally to feel them out. As I recall, this was even before the book was under contract. Ty responded enthusiastically and demonstrated true knowledge of Bill Finger’s plight. His pre-existing passion for the subject struck me as a huge asset to the project. I passed on my list to my editor. Like many authors, I did not have final say on the illustrator, but I’m thankful Charlesbridge also liked Ty and Ty said yes.

batman-without-bill-letteredGP: Did you ever think, when you illustrated Bill The Boy Wonder… that you would see Bill get a mention in the Batman byline?

TT: There was hope, but no expectation. The hard-and-fast-rule to credit Bob Kane with everything was part of a legal document, it wasn’t a courtesy move from DC but an obligation. There was no expectation we would change the credits that appeared in print and in official adaptations…we were trying to change the minds of people in the real world. The first inkling that it was working was wikipedia listed Bob and Bill as co-creators a couple of years ago. Wikipedia isn’t constrained by legal fictions and could put the correct story on their site as Warner Brothers/DC Comics didn’t control its content. I should mention that most of the folks who work at DC were champions of Bill and WANTED to give him credit, but were constrained by that contract. When Wiki started to credit Bill Finger as co-creator of not only Batman, but Robin, Alfred, Catwoman, Joker, etc. (each has their own entry on Wiki), it really helped cement the idea in the minds of the public. Soon other websites and news orgs were casually calling Bill the co-creator because they were using Wiki as a source.

GP: How instrumental do you think that book was in finally Bill Finger officially recognized?

TT: I couldn’t possibly tell you because I’m too close to the book. I do know that the book topped a number of “Best of…” lists the year it came out. USA TODAY ranked us one of the 10 best graphic novels of that year, and things like that snowballed the attention the book was getting. Even if you didn’t read it, the title alone (Bill the Boy Wonder: The SECRET CO-CREATOR OF BATMAN) gave away the main story point. Each mention of the book in a major publication created the narrative of Bill’s contribution to Batman’s creation. I like to think we helped. I may be delusional, but I think we helped. Certainly Marc Tyler Nobleman’s discovery of Athena Finger helped, too! He arranged to make sure she got Bill’s royalty checks as the early stories got reprinted (and they’re reprinted a LOT!). I’m fairly sure that Athena’s mere existence helped humanize Bill’s story and that helped people take action.

GP: Do you think that you’re close to achieving what you and Marc set out to do with Bill’s name in the byline, or is there still more to do?

TT: Yes, we’ve seen Bill’s name get put in that “created by” credit, and I never expected that. So yay. It’s unrealistic to expect Athena Finger starts inheriting millions of lost compensation because Bill never tried to assert he was owed anything while he was alive. He may well have been owed something, but it’s impossible now to right that sin. So I’d say there’s not much more work to be done.

GP: Your Bill Finger Bun Toons have gone pretty viral, especially the What If Bob Finger Had Created Batman Without Bill Finger strip. It must have been rewarding seeing the sheer number of people view and share those?

finger-justiceTT: Yeah, it was rewarding. It showed up everywhere. It was a special giveaway poster at a Denver Comicon a year or so ago (everyone attending the convention got a free “Batman without Finger” poster as part of their con-package. That was many many thousands of copies of the poster, given to comic fans, who likely tweeted it, and talked about it. It was reprinted in a couple of magazines in Europe. It showed up on websites like Bleeding Cool and I09, and well traveled comic press sites. Like the book itself, every time you hear the TRUE story, it erodes the legal fiction in the minds of people who see it.

GP: I imagine it must have been a pretty great feeling to finally get a chance to draw the One Fine Day I Summon The Ghost Of Milton “Bill” Finger Bun Toon, eh? I know Bob Kane’s appearance is in his original Bat-Man costume, but I was laughing pretty hard at that last panel.

TT: Yeah, it was. Never expected that outcome. The best part of that “ghost of Bill” story was that I included Marc in the strip, where he gets to meet Bill’s ghost, and Bill thanks him personally. Marc told me that he choked up when he read it, and felt it was as close to meeting our hero as he was going to get. Athena liked it too. Giving a smile to Marc and Athena was a big reward for me.

GP: Lastly, if it came down to a choice; pirates, ninjas, cowboys or aliens?

TT: Probably cowboys. I’m a bit of a sucker for Westerns…I grew up with Clint Eastwood movies and Butch and Sundance. But hey, I’m the guy who really liked Cowboys Vs. Aliens, even if no one else did. And Terra Man (the alien cowboy bad guy from Superman) holds a sentimental place in my heart, even if he’s way too goofy to have ever seen print.

Marc Tyler Nobleman Talks To Us About His Work In Getting Bill Finger’s Name Recognized

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bill-the-boy-wonderLast year, DC finally acknowledged Bill Finger as the co-creator of Batman. If you’ve paid attention to any comics featuring the Dark Knight lately, you’ll have noticed a slight change in the byline. Instead of just one name, it now reads “Batman created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger.” A driving force behind Finger finally being officially acknowledged after so many years was Marc Tyler Nobleman, who wrote Bill The Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator Of Batman, and in the process of researching that book he also uncovered some previously unknown pictures, and descendants, of Bill Finger (and you can read more about that here).

Marc‘s book, and school tours, have introduced an entirely new generation of people to the name of Batman‘s co-creator, and his work is essential reading for those looking to find out more about Milton “Bill” Finger.

I was fortunate enough to be able to talk with Marc Tyler Nobleman about his book, his work to get Bill Finger the official credit he has deserved for more than 75 years.

Graphic Policy: Firstly, I want to say what an honour this is for me, personally. Your efforts to bring Bill Finger the justifiable credit for co-creating Batman have been both fantastic and inspiring. Did you ever think that you would get to see that credit printed in a Batman comic, or on the silver screen?

Marc Tyler Nobleman: Thank you for your kind words, Alex. I campaigned so hard for so long to get Bill’s name on Batman stories because I believe Back to the Future: if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything. I default to optimist. However, I’m also a realist so I prepared myself for the possibility that it might not happen. That said, I devoted most of my thought energy to the positive.

GP: During your quest (can I call it a quest?) to have Bill officially recognised you unearthed some previously unknown photographs of Bill. Did you ever expect to find anything like that?

MTN: I did feel confident I could find at least one or two photos, but I don’t think I stopped to consider that I might find as many as I did (at least 13). Early on I realized that the only way I’d have a chance of succeeding is by locating people who were close to Bill but who did not work in comics. If they were in the industry, their photos would most likely already be public.

GP: In your book, Bill The Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator Of Batman you imply that some of the responsibility for Bill’s lack of credit at his own feet. Do you think that if he’d stood up for himself earlier than he did he may have been credited before now?

MTN: I’m not programmed for hypotheticals.

GP: Do you feel that you’ve achieved what you set out to achieve for Bill with the “Batman created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger” credit, or is there still more to do?

MTN: Yes and yes: obtaining official credit was the driving force for me but the cultural obligation to tell Bill’s story is a lifelong job. Also, the man needs a permanent memorial, all the more so because he has no gravestone, and I’ve been working on that since before the book came out. It’s not familiar territory for me but I’m finding my way. Stay tuned!

GP: You visit a lot of schools giving talks about the research involved in two of your books; the already mentioned Bill The Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator Of Batman as well as your biography on Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel, Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman. How receptive are the kids to the history of the creators?

MTN: Profoundly so, I’m happy to report. I’ve been to schools where kids have made a board game about Siegel and Shuster and where kids have written letters to Bob Kane as Bill’s son Fred. Hearing Bill’s story, kids reveal the best of humankind—their desire to go out and do good in the world becomes palpable (and hugely inspiring). Kids have asked me questions that have almost brought me to tears.

GP: I think one of the strongest aspects of Bill The Boy Wonder… is its accessibility. I’m guessing that was done to increase awareness of Bill Finger with a younger audience?

MTN: Thank you. Yes, I wrote the book for all ages but with special emphasis on a younger audience. Unlike me, they can learn the truth about this icon before they grow up. We should always pay attention to whoever has created something we love. It’s hard to direct thanks into an abyss.

GP: Any plans to release an updated version of Bill The Boy Wonder now that his name is included in the byline?

MTN: The final words of my book: “Will his name ever be added to every Batman story? Batmanians are keeping their Fingers crossed.” Part of me wants to leave the book that way—it’s an instant time capsule. And it will encourage some readers to do further reading. Another part of me, of course, wants to revise it. Too soon to say which part of me will get his way.

GP: Brett (Graphic Policy’s blogger-in-chief) wanted me to ask: I’ve always wondered if folks knew what they were a part of when they were creating all of these characters and if there was some idea they’d last so long and be so loved?

MTN: I found no documentation of what the Bill and Bob of 1939 (the year of Batman’s debut) thought about posterity, but I think it’s safe to assume neither could have foreseen this character being around in a decade, let alone seven. Comic books were barely considered an art form then.

GP: I think it’s important to recognize the contributions that the early creators had to the comic book and pop culture landscape. How important do you think it is for publishers to acknowledge the men who built their characters? Do you think that we, the fans, have just as much responsibility in asking for that recognition – whether it be in bylines, or an official recognition?

MTN: I think it’s obvious that I feel it is vitally important to credit anyone for anything s/he contributes to society! And yes, now more than ever, fans have the power to share their opinion easily and on the world stage. Take it from me: stating your case sensibly and steadily can make a difference.

GP: After reading through your extensive research notes on your blog, do you have any plans to release another book detailing either the search for Bill, or all of the information you were able t unearth, or will that stay largely  on your blog?

MTN: Given how many people have asked if I will write a longer book on Bill, I should…but too early to say. For now, the material on my blog isn’t going anywhere.

GP: And finally, pirates, ninjas, cowboys or ninjas, and why?

MTN: Of pirates, ninjas, or cowboys, I chose knights, of course. In particular Dark ones.