Sunday, June 19, 2011

Green Lantern co-created by Bill Finger

Most of the real estate Bill Finger gets on this blog is devoted to his substantial contributions to the Batman mythos. Especially appropriate on this Father's Day, it's worth noting Bill was also the father (co-father, technically) of Green Lantern.

On 6/17/11, the first Green Lantern movie opened. To the general public, that DC Comics superhero is far less well known than Batman, but comics people know that Green Lantern is one of DC's "big seven" (along with Superman, Wonder Woman, Robin, Aquaman, Flash, and, of course, Batman himself).

I haven't yet seen the movie but have seen multiple sites that confirm what I suspected: Bill's name (in fact, no creator's name) appears in the Green Lantern credits.

Rich Johnston at Bleeding Cool summarized it well and struck the right tone. An excerpt:

No mention of the original Green Lantern creator, Marty Nodell, or its writer, Bill Finger.

No mention of those who created the Hal Jordan Green Lantern, John Broome and Gil Kane. Who created Sinestro, the Green Lantern Corps, Hector Hammond and Carol Ferris.

No mention of Alfred Bester, the writer who created the Green Lantern oath, so prominent in the film.

There is mention of Geoff Johns as a co-producer. And it is his books that get seen at the end of the movie, with a name credit for him.

Just not for the people who actually created the characters.

Now there is no legal necessity for DC and Warners to list their names in the movie. But it does seem jarring that in a movie that cost hundreds of millions, about someone doing the right thing, no matter how difficult, nobody could find a way to solve this one.

They did for The Losers.

4 comments:

Mel from Los Angeles said...

back when Blade came out in 1998 (the movie that started the comic book explosion), they took time to give Marv Wolfman credit. That's the reason I even saw it. So, I would have hoped that all these years later they would give ALL creators credit at the beginning of the movies. Yes, dissapointed to hear Bill Finger, Marty Nodell and the Silver age creators didn't get any credit in Green Lantern. Will still watch it Saturday though. Keep up the good work.

Marc Tyler Nobleman said...

Sad that no creator names are in some superhero movies but we both know why: corporations won’t credit anyone unless they’re legally obligated to. And so many golden age creators kept no rights. I am curious why you give BLADE credit for starting the explosion of superhero films when the SUPERMAN and BATMAN films preceded it and were much more well known?

Mel from L.A. said...

well Blade was the 1st movie that showed the studios that 2nd and 3rd tier characters could make money too. Granted the Crow came out years before that, but it was an independent comic. After Blade, comic characters that were not known to the average American started having live action projects (X Men, etc). Oh, Bill Finger isn't given credit in Green Lantern: Emerald Knights either.

Marc Tyler Nobleman said...

Good point, Mel. Blade (for better or worse) indeed helped pave the way for Ghost Rider and Green Lantern!