Saturday, August 31, 2013

Light the Empire State Building in Bill Finger's honor

The Empire State Building is only a few years older than Batman, and like Batman, it stands iconically above a city.

Unlike Batman, however, it does not remain in shadow. 


The colors change regularly. In fact, anyone can request a specific lighting scheme.


So, of course, I did.

Here is an excerpt from my application:



I am the author of Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman, the first-ever biography of Bill Finger, the uncredited co-creator and original writer of the Dark Knight…who was created in 1939 right there in New York.

Finger is the main mind behind one of the most influential fictional icons in world history yet his onetime partner, cartoonist Bob Kane, took full credit for Batman. Finger designed Batman's costume; wrote the first Batman story and many of the best stories of his first 25 years (including his groundbreaking—and heartbreaking—origin); wrote the first stories of popular supporting characters including Robin and the Joker; named Bruce Wayne, Gotham City, and the Batmobile; and nicknamed Batman "the Dark Knight," which has influenced the titles of two of the highest-grossing movies of all time. Yet while Kane never wrote a Batman story, Finger never saw his name as co-creator in a Batman story.

In 1974, after a career in which most of his beloved work was published anonymously, Finger died alone and poor. No obituary. No funeral. No gravestone.

No kidding.

Finger was largely responsible for one of our greatest fictional champions of justice. It is time for justice for Finger himself. An Empire State Building lighting tribute would poignantly give Finger the honor he deserves in the city where he quietly made pop culture history. It’s just too bad he won’t be there to see it.

Why February 8, 2014? It would have been Finger’s 100th birthday (and 2014 is also the 75th anniversary of Batman, not to mention the 40th anniversary of Finger’s death).

Why the requested colors? They correspond with Batman’s original costume (largely the same as today’s, only at first he had purple gloves). If it’d be possible to somehow incorporate a bat, that would be fantastic.

Thank you for your consideration. I can guarantee you lighting a legacy to Bill Finger would get many people talking in a good way. It’s an American story. It’s a New York story. It’s a noble gesture.

Justice has no expiration date.

They said no.

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