Not only what Finger did, what Kane did NOT do

To those who would argue anything other than Bill Finger’s name first is the only proper Batman credit, we must remind ourselves not only of what Finger did (design the costume, write the first story, dream up the groundbreaking origin, build the bat-motif, write the debuts of Robin, Joker, Catwoman, Penguin, and others) but also what Bob Kane did not do (write a single Batman story).

Artist Jerry Robinson, who (professionally) went as far back with Finger and Kane as possible, said that Finger “had more to do with the molding of Batman than Bob.” But you don’t need to take even his word for it since Kane himself admitted as much in his 1989 autobiography.

And this quotation (which I have posted here before but which bears much repeating) from Finger friend and fellow Golden Age writer Alvin Schwartz is perhaps even more telling: “Without Bill Finger, there wouldn’t have been any Bob Kane.”