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Lillian & Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum to Screen Batman & Bill this January

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Batman & Bill

Recent visitors to the Lillian & Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum have gotten to experience the JewCE: The Jewish Comic Experience exhibition and learned about DC-local Marc Tyler Nobleman and his quest to tell the story of Bill Finger, the uncredited co-creator of Batman. Dig deeper into this story with a documentary about Nobleman’s crusade to bring Bill Finger justice.

On January 26, the museum will host a special screening of Batman & Bill, a documentary that digs deeper into this story with the story about Nobleman’s crusade to bring Bill Finger justice. 

Date & Time

Sun, Jan 26, 2025 1:00 PM – 2:45 PM

Venue Details

Lillian and Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum575 3rd Street Northwest
Washington, District of Columbia 20001

Register for tickets

Gotham Weekly With Alex And Joe: Episode Three And A Half

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Neal Adams Batman TMNT Adventures #6 ExclusiveWelcome to Gotham Weekly’s first unscheduled recording!

Our hosts were chatting over messenger about a couple of Batman related things, and decided to just stop and record the conversation. Among the topic of conversation was the announcement of the Titans series, the exclusive C2E2 Batman #21 and Salt City Comic Con Batman/TMNT Adventures #6 (left) variant covers, the recent Bruins/Senators Stanley Cup Playoff series, and the upcoming Hulu documentary Batman And Bill, because Alex finally watched the trailer (included below). This comic strip by Ty Templeton, this book by Marc Tyler Nobleman. 

There was also a bit of chatter about the upcoming SSSC guest Graham Nolan and his co-creation Bane… honestly, we were all over the place. There was no agenda.

We may have forgot we were recording at times.

For links to the interviews and features mentioned in the podcast scroll past the trailer.

 

SUPERMEGAFEST 2016: Interview With Graham Nolan

RHODE ISLAND COMIC CON 2015: Interview With Kevin Conroy

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

I Hate Bob Kane

And as a bonus, the first article Alex ever wrote: Bill Who?

 

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

Batman’s Biggest Secret: Bill Finger’s Legacy as Revealed by Marc Tyler Nobleman

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BillTheBoyWonderFrA few weeks ago I attended a slideshow tour of New York City’s Superhero Sites with Danny Fingeroth at the New-York Historical Society Museum. Thereafter, I vowed to continue deepening my knowledge of the comic book world, and begin exploring the factual stories underpinning the industry I admire, but obviously know very little about.

Yesterday, I attended a presentation hosted by the 92nd Street YMCA in New York City: Batman’s Biggest Secret: Fighting for Bill Finger with Marc Tyler Nobleman (author of Bill The Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman). Who do I spot sitting about four seats away from? It was Danny Fingeroth; a good omen that I am on the right path–sorry, I can be superstitious.

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If a year ago you had asked me who Bill Finger was, I’d look at you with a puzzled face. DC said Bob Kane created Batman (after all it said so right there on practically every front page of any Batman comic), and that was good enough for me. Now, as of late 2015, it was officially announced to worldwide fanfare, that Bill Finger will be given credit for co-creating Batman with Bob Kane; and the next film (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice) will include the following credit: Created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger.

Marc is directly responsible for making this happen. His continued detective work, and dogged perseverance, unearthed the last living family relation (a granddaughter Bill Finger never knew), who was able to untangle the legal contractual web that prevented DC from finally give him his proper due for co-creating Batman.

Marc began his presentation with the statement that Batman’s biggest secret is not Bruce Wayne as a metaphor for the industry secret (prior to 2015) that Bob Kane alone did not create Batman. He then, in painstaking detail, outlined Bill Finger’s tragic tale with tear-inducing emotion, but also with a sprinkling of light humor to even out the historical narrative.

Bob Kane was an artist, and Bill Finger was a writer. Together the two dreamed a new type of hero in 1939–a costumed Dark Knight who terrorized criminals. However, as Batman grew to become an iconic global super hero, Bob Kane’s fame and wealth grew beyond his wildest dreams, while Bill Finger (whose real name was actually Milton Finger) languished in obscurity and poverty. Marc, together with artist Ty Templeton, wrote a graphic novel, about the true story of how Batman began, and the larger role Bill Finger played in his creation. The book, originally published in 2012, aspired to get Bill the recognition he deserved.

In the audience, sitting right next to me, was an older woman, who during the question/answer session stood up defiantly to defend her friend, Bob Kane. Marc, took it with stride, pointing out that he was not vilifying Bob Kane as a person or private individual, but merely pointing out that as a professional Bob enriched himself on the work of others, and did not assign the proper credit to Bill Finger.

Then later, as I waited in line for Marc’s autograph, I chatted it up with another gentleman in a red polo shirt (his name was Robert van Maanen, and I know this only because Marc had posted an interview with him earlier today on his blog). He told me how Bill Finger, his neighbor, was a very easy going, affable, person who bore no one ill will. He also told me that Bill had a collection of old comics, including original printings of Detective #27, and the first appearance of Captain America with the triangular shield. He even said that National Publications (the precursor company to DC) one time called upon Bill Finger to donate an original copy of Detective #27 for a charity sale, and he did so without thinking about it, despite how he was mistreated by the company.

This was a very emotional night for me, and I had to hold back the tears while listening to Marc’s grim historical account about Bill Finger, his friends, his family, and his ignoble passing away. At least his memory and legacy has been righted by those who pursued the truth behind one of the world’s most beloved character: The Batman.

Happy 102nd Birthday Bill, and may you have many more here on this earth, and wherever your souls rests today.

Also, thank you to Marc and Danny for showing me the way to deeper truths behind the history of comic books; and for you readers who want to know more, visit Marc’s pop culture archaeological blog (where he continues to dig into the history of Bill Finger and his relations), and buy his book, Bill The Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman (and while you’re at it check out his other works on Superman too) .

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.