Who is my favorite comics writer of all time? That would be Bill Finger. Bill Finger is responsible for creating Batman and his large selection of supporting characters and rogues. For decades, Bill went above and beyond in creating creative, colorful, unique adventures for Gotham's superhero to go on. To this day, Bill's Batman stories remain amongst the most memorable and influential comics of all time.
In my opinion, Bill Finger deserves as much love, admiration and respect as people like Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. However, Bill never received that sort of treatment during his lifetime. In fact, hardly anyone knew who he was. You might wonder how someone who created some of the most iconic characters of all time could be ignored and unknown by a majority of the world. Sadly, Bill's contributions to the world were kept a secret for the longest time.
If you are to look at a classic Batman comic, TV show or movie, you'll see Bob Kane credited as the creator of Batman. In a lot of my previous articles, I have mentioned that Bill Finger is the true creator of Batman. If that's the case, you might be wondering what Bob Kane did. After Superman became a popular superhero, Bob Kane decided to create his own superhero. His idea was to have a blonde-haired superhero in red tights that was called Batman. Bob Kane told his friend, Bill Finger, about his ideas and how he needed help with the concept. Bill Finger decided that Batman should be a detective that didn't have superpowers. Bill also came up with the classic costume, backstory and personality traits that Batman became known for.
If you want to get super technical, Bob Kane came up with the idea to have a superhero called Batman. However, is it fair to call him the creator of Batman if everything else about the character came from Bill Finger? Bill Finger was the writer of the early Batman comics. He wrote a majority of Batman's stories for over two decades. What did Bob Kane do during that time? Well, he was the "artist" of the early Batman comics. I used artist in quotation marks, because Bob didn't actually draw the comics by himself. A lot of the Batman comics were drawn by artists who weren't credited at the time. Even Bill remained uncredited. Only Bob's name was on the comics. Even when Bob did little, if any, work on the comics, he would remain the only person credited for several years.
Tragically, Bill Finger passed away at the age of fifty-nine in 1974. Since he didn't receive credit for his work, he died as a hero that was never properly celebrated during his lifetime. This also meant that Bob Kane never got to apologize to Bill Finger for what he did.
In 1989, fifteen years after Bill Finger left this world, Bob Kane finally had the decency to admit his mistakes. Bob Kane admitted that Bill Finger had helped him create Batman. He also expressed regret over not sharing credit with Bill Finger. He admitted that he let his selfishness get the better of him. Despite Bob Kane admitting the truth, Bill Finger still wasn't credited as the creator of Batman.
It wasn't until 2015 that Bill Finger finally started getting partial credit for Batman's creation. In modern Batman comics, shows and films, Batman is credited as being created by "Bob Kane with Bill Finger." Also, in 2017, there was a documentary called Batman & Bill that went into great detail about the truth story of how Batman was created.
While I'm glad that Bill Finger is finally given some credit for Batman's creation, I feel like he still deserves more. Bill Finger was never properly thanked for his hardwork during his lifetime, but that doesn't mean that we can't honor his legacy. I don't believe in holding on to anger for someone like Bob Kane that is no longer with us, so I have forgiven him. However, I would love to see the day where Batman is credited as being truly created by Bill Finger. While Bob Kane will probably always be given top billing for Batman's creation, at least the fans can know the truth. The Batman character was given to us by Bill Finger. The last eighty years of great Batman stories, shows, movies and merchandise wouldn't have been possible without him. While Bill may have been unknown during his lifetime, his beautiful work continues to leave an impactful footprint on the world that will never fade away.
In my opinion, Bill Finger deserves as much love, admiration and respect as people like Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. However, Bill never received that sort of treatment during his lifetime. In fact, hardly anyone knew who he was. You might wonder how someone who created some of the most iconic characters of all time could be ignored and unknown by a majority of the world. Sadly, Bill's contributions to the world were kept a secret for the longest time.
If you are to look at a classic Batman comic, TV show or movie, you'll see Bob Kane credited as the creator of Batman. In a lot of my previous articles, I have mentioned that Bill Finger is the true creator of Batman. If that's the case, you might be wondering what Bob Kane did. After Superman became a popular superhero, Bob Kane decided to create his own superhero. His idea was to have a blonde-haired superhero in red tights that was called Batman. Bob Kane told his friend, Bill Finger, about his ideas and how he needed help with the concept. Bill Finger decided that Batman should be a detective that didn't have superpowers. Bill also came up with the classic costume, backstory and personality traits that Batman became known for.
If you want to get super technical, Bob Kane came up with the idea to have a superhero called Batman. However, is it fair to call him the creator of Batman if everything else about the character came from Bill Finger? Bill Finger was the writer of the early Batman comics. He wrote a majority of Batman's stories for over two decades. What did Bob Kane do during that time? Well, he was the "artist" of the early Batman comics. I used artist in quotation marks, because Bob didn't actually draw the comics by himself. A lot of the Batman comics were drawn by artists who weren't credited at the time. Even Bill remained uncredited. Only Bob's name was on the comics. Even when Bob did little, if any, work on the comics, he would remain the only person credited for several years.
Tragically, Bill Finger passed away at the age of fifty-nine in 1974. Since he didn't receive credit for his work, he died as a hero that was never properly celebrated during his lifetime. This also meant that Bob Kane never got to apologize to Bill Finger for what he did.
In 1989, fifteen years after Bill Finger left this world, Bob Kane finally had the decency to admit his mistakes. Bob Kane admitted that Bill Finger had helped him create Batman. He also expressed regret over not sharing credit with Bill Finger. He admitted that he let his selfishness get the better of him. Despite Bob Kane admitting the truth, Bill Finger still wasn't credited as the creator of Batman.
It wasn't until 2015 that Bill Finger finally started getting partial credit for Batman's creation. In modern Batman comics, shows and films, Batman is credited as being created by "Bob Kane with Bill Finger." Also, in 2017, there was a documentary called Batman & Bill that went into great detail about the truth story of how Batman was created.
While I'm glad that Bill Finger is finally given some credit for Batman's creation, I feel like he still deserves more. Bill Finger was never properly thanked for his hardwork during his lifetime, but that doesn't mean that we can't honor his legacy. I don't believe in holding on to anger for someone like Bob Kane that is no longer with us, so I have forgiven him. However, I would love to see the day where Batman is credited as being truly created by Bill Finger. While Bob Kane will probably always be given top billing for Batman's creation, at least the fans can know the truth. The Batman character was given to us by Bill Finger. The last eighty years of great Batman stories, shows, movies and merchandise wouldn't have been possible without him. While Bill may have been unknown during his lifetime, his beautiful work continues to leave an impactful footprint on the world that will never fade away.
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