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5 Ways Batman's TRUE Creator Got S###### Out Of His Legacy

Started by Comicopolis,

29 posts in this topic

Gotham Kid

Gotham Kid

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Posted

"Bill Finger died in 1974, shortly before his 60th birthday, alone and poor, with no obituary, no funeral, and no gravestone to mark his passing."

 

Truly sad. :(

 

Thank you Mr. Finger. You deserved so very MUCH more.

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Batman1fan

Batman1fan

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I've been a Batman fan for 40 years and even though I've known for most of them that Bob Kane was an arrogant spoon, I didn't know the degree to which he could sink. I'm so very glad to know that Bill Finger is finally getting a small measure of the recognition that he deserved from the beginning. Oh, and Kane's tombstone...a jerk like that deserves a stupid monument like that sitting on top of him for all eternity.

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ComicConnoisseur

ComicConnoisseur

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Amazing in one creator died in poverity,while the other became a multi-millionaire.

Damn, I don`t know who got screwed more than Bill Finger?

 

I know Siegel, Shuster, Kirby and Ditko all got screwed to an extent, but it seems Bill Finger really got screwed the most.

 

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loadstone

loadstone

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I know this view is not going to be a very popular view among you and I feel that Bob Kane deserves all the shame for his backstabbing skullduggery over the years but would Bill Finger have come up with Batman on his own had Bob Kane not come to him with his initial concept? Even if Bill would have eventually come up with such a character on his own would he have tried to pitch it to DC like Seigel did with Superman? If not comics, would Batman have been as big a cult success if he attempted getting it published in any other form of media? Would it even be Batman as we know it? On the flip side, what would have happened if Bob had gone to another writer/artist instead of Bill or if DC gave the assignment to someone in DC already more talented than Bob cutting him out entirely?

 

I fear that had anyone other than a 2-bit hack like Bob Kane been assigned with creating a new superhero, Batman as we know and love would not exist today. I may not have all the facts but unless it comes out that someone else drew that crappy bat-themed concept (I doubt anyone other than Bob would have claimed to back then) but had Bob not provided Bill with the inspiration through a ridiculous initial drawing of a bat-themed bat-winged hero (with wrist traps attached to the bat wings? Seriously Bob?) Bill would not have given us Batman. Imagine if Bob had come to Bill with a drawing of a man in a squirrel suit?

 

Now I'm not saying Bill doesn't deserve credit for his creations or that Bob deserves all the credit he has stolen but simply put if not for Bob, we wouldn't have Batman. Does he deserve credit as the inspiration of Batman? Yes. Does he deserve credit for facilitating Bill's creation and allowing it to thrive in DC? Yes. Does he deserve credit for the art, story, and characters? Perhaps, but only from a management perspective. I have to give Bob credit for knowing a good thing when he saw it and knowing when to get out of his own way and allow those more talented to produce. Had he disagreed with Bill's ideas or allowed his own arrogance to change or replace Bill's concepts in with his own, Batman may not have been as successful.

 

I know the point of the article is to educate and provide long overdue credit to Bill which he does rightfully deserve but Bob is not entirely to blame (though he does deserve a lot). Why didn't Bill negotiate a contract with Bob or DC for rights to his creations when Bob first approached him? If they denied him, he could have kept them to himself and sought to get them published elsewhere. If he was doing it out of friendship, as a favor, or to secure employment then he received his compensation and was foolish to expect otherwise. Back then, creators were lucky to find employment and didn't get to negotiate rights or royalties. However, had he known how successful his ideas would become, would he have been more shrewd about it? If so, I doubt DC or Bob would have agreed and we'd end up with Bob's version instead of Bills.

 

My point is that if not for Bob's initial concept and his exploitation of Bill's creations and the talent of those around him, we might not have Batman at all. Just like Jobs and Wozniak. Had Jobs not provided the initial inspiration for innovation and exploitation of Wozniak's talents we might not have macs today. If Bill had been more like Bob, he could have looked at Bob's concept, come up with his own better version, turned Bob down and go off behind Bob's back and pitched it to directly to DC or DC's competitor at the time. If Bob Kane had not been Bob Kane we'd have a pretty crappy Bat-Man and quite possibly delayed the inspiration for the murdered parents motivator among many of our beloved superheroes. But it is also good to know whom to thank for taking a concept and making it awesome even if it meant getting the shaft. Thank you Bill Finger.

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ciorac

ciorac

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Not sure who this "Marc" character is that wrote the article/op-ed, but he waited until everyone associated with the creation of Batman was dead to write it.

 

I've talked to neutral parties who were there at the time, and are now deceased, and Finger's claims are greatly over stated. Kane created Batman. Finger helped build the Batman world, no doubt, and he deserves similar credit Jack Kirby gets for the SA Marvel Universe. But Kane created Batman.

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Rip

Rip

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Not sure who this "Marc" character is that wrote the article/op-ed, but he waited until everyone associated with the creation of Batman was dead to write it.

 

I've talked to neutral parties who were there at the time, and are now deceased, and Finger's claims are greatly over stated. Kane created Batman. Finger helped build the Batman world, no doubt, and he deserves similar credit Jack Kirby gets for the SA Marvel Universe. But Kane created Batman.

 

+1 to the last couple posts.

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crazyhips

crazyhips

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The problem is that Bob needed to learn some humility. Even though he thought of the concept of a bat themed hero, many others made batman what he is today. He should have acknowledged that. Not one of us is self made.

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Bookery

Bookery

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Too much is made of trying to make early comics creators out to be master talents and some sort of geniuses... with a constant effort to search out the "true" creators of famous comics characters.

 

The truth is, there was very little originality or brilliance to any of the early super-heroes (and Timely was actually probably far more creative than DC). If DC hadn't promoted Batman, a similar enough character would have emerged in the comics without any help from Kane or Finger. Created almost simultaneously with Batman, the Black Bat appeared in a pulp magazine produced by Nedor publications... the same company that owned Thrilling Comics among other titles. In order to avoid a cross-lawsuit between the two characters, Nedor agreed not to bring their Black Bat creation over into comics. But if Batman had never been created, or even had been ready to debut just a few months later, the Black Bat would have beaten him to comic publication.

 

And even at that, both the Black Bat and Batman are simply pretty blatant "borrowings" from The Shadow. The true genius in these properties came through the corporate marketing departments of comic publishers... who decided who made the cut, and who got how much $$$ for promotions.

 

DC's specialty was taking pulp heroes, reworking them so as to be palatable to young children, and promoting the heck out of them. Turning The Shadow into Batman, and Doc Savage (among others) into Superman, aimed at a young eager audience was a brilliance not so much of any one individual creator, but of corporate savvy and experience.

 

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RockMyAmadeus

RockMyAmadeus

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The problem is that Bob needed to learn some humility. Even though he thought of the concept of a bat themed hero, many others made batman what he is today. He should have acknowledged that. Not one of us is self made.

 

hm

 

Who made Pablo Picasso...?

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RockMyAmadeus

RockMyAmadeus

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Not sure who this "Marc" character is that wrote the article/op-ed, but he waited until everyone associated with the creation of Batman was dead to write it.

 

I've talked to neutral parties who were there at the time, and are now deceased, and Finger's claims are greatly over stated. Kane created Batman. Finger helped build the Batman world, no doubt, and he deserves similar credit Jack Kirby gets for the SA Marvel Universe. But Kane created Batman.

 

+1 to the last couple posts.

 

Yes.

 

It's important to remember, in searching for "the truth", that erroneous claims can be, and are, made by any and all parties, and feeling sorry for any one party, or accepting any side of a story at face value, is a sure way to get it completely wrong.

 

Injustice of any kind negates justice of every kind.

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