This year, marks 75 years of Batman, but today, February 8th 2014, would have been the 100th birthday of the man who shaped the majority of the first 25 years of Batman lore. Bill Finger, the oft-forgot writer of not only the first issue of Batman, but also the first appearance of The Joker, The Riddler, Catwoman, Scarecrow and Calendar Ma, has been dead for almost 40 years, and still so rarely recognized for his immense contributions to the Bat-mythos. Finger wrote over 1000 issues of both Batman and Detective Comics over his 25 year run with National Comics (which would later re-brand as DC) most notably of all Detective Comics #27.
Bill not only created those key villains I already noted, but was also responsible for little things about Batman, things like: The Bat-Cave, Robin, The Batmobile, The Bat-signal, The notable bat-ears on the bat suit, the colouring of the bat-suit, the origin of Batman, and many of the nicknames given to the Batman including The Dark Knight and The Caped Crusader.
Yeah it’s a pretty sizeable list.
Now, Batman is officially credited as being the creation of Bob Kane, a shrewd business man who came up with the name “Batman” and had a drawing that looked something like this:
He was very quick to trademark the name and legally claim credit for the idea of a Bat Man, before taking his idea to a young artist, just beginning his career, Bill Finger who worked with the idea and came up with this:
You tell me which one is the “real” Batman.
In his private life Bill was a bit of a ladies man, with a variety of girlfriends and two wives (all in succession). It was a juxtaposition to his professional life where Bill often refused to stand up for himself or his work, often the target of ridicule from his editor at the time, all the way up until he was unceremoniously dropped by National Comics two years before his death in 1954. He fathered a son, who was gay and lived most of his life in New York, and while Finger was a “man of the times” he and his son were not estranged and had a largely positive relationship.
Bill finger undoubtedly created much of what we hold so dear about batman. Today would have been his 100th birthday as I’ve said before, so perhaps in the midst of all the olympics and excitement you’re sure to be taking in this saturday take a moment to remember the man who received almost no recognition for his work while he was alive, but whose work influenced hundreds of writers and artists in the years after he was gone. A man who’s creations are so central to a character we hold so dear.
Oh, and that could be either Batman or Green Lantern. Because he co-created the original green lantern with Martin Nodell in 1940.
RIP Bill. You were truly the writer we needed, and the hero we deserved.