The superlative man

Bill Finger has writing credits in comic books, TV, film, and even the military. When researching him, almost everyone I spoke with spoke of him in the superlative.

Below is a selection from comics people (some from unpublished interviews I conducted); while a few aren't technically superlatives, they have the same effect.

Lew Sayre Schwartz, artist:

• “They were always the most imaginative, they were always the best stories.”
• “I got out of the comic business for a living in the mid-50s but I remember those scripts like it was yesterday.”

Jerry Robinson, artist:

• “the greatest comics writer of his time, and maybe since”
• “the best writer in comic books”

Irwin Hasen, artist:

• “Of all of the writers, he was probably the most creative.”
• “the greatest guy in the business at the time”
• “He was the best of all of them.”

Ed Brubaker, writer:

• “He was the most inventive guy on the book.”

Mark Evanier, writer:

• “[Editor/writer] E. Nelson Bridwell picked stories to include in reprints. Writers’ names weren’t on them but most of what he picked were Bill Finger stories.”

Julie Schwartz, editor:

• “best scripter in the business and the true cocreator [sic] of Batman”
• “the genius of comics” (one of many who used the word “genius”)

Dick Sprang, artist:

• “best writer in comics”
• “the master storyteller of the comics. ... By his skill at the typewriter he held the brush in my hand.”

Alfred Bester, writer:

• “the star comics writer of the time”

Les Daniels, author of DC Comics: A Celebration of the World’s Favorite Comic Book Heroes:

• “perhaps the best comic book writer of his era”

Bob Kane, artist:

• “first and best writer [of Batman]”
• “the Cecil B. De Mille of the comics”
• “the sweetest, most personable guy [I] ever met”

See also: Bill Finger receives official credit for Batman—almost.