Weirdo nerd hyper obsession

From a Twitter thread mentioning Batman & Bill:

I would’ve said “weirdo geek,” but all interpretations welcome.

Surprising college students who watched “Batman & Bill”

Professor Justine Wilson is a Batfan who became a friend after this tweet:

She teaches English Literature and College Composition at three New York universities: SUNY College at Old Westbury in Hicksville; St. John’s University in Jamaica; and the New York Fashion Institute of Technology. She also teaches a graphic novel course. 

Justine and I have started a tradition, if twice counts. She shows her students Batman & Bill during one of the first classes of the semester. The next time they meet, without warning, I crash their Zoom for a surprise Q&A. #zoombombing #batzooming #batbombing

It’s so fun to see the reactions of kids who had no idea that Justine knows me. I’m a big fan of surprises in general, but especially with respect to education, and extra-especially with respect to education during a global health crisis (when we are spending more time than usual on screens).

If not for COVID-19, this would not have happened as an ambush. Pre-pandemic, Justine and I were planning an in-person visit, but that would have been announced in advance. 

I have a feeling we will continue this surprise (whether virtually or live). 

So if you’re going to take a class with Professor Wilson, please keep this between us. 

Even better, this blog post never happened.

Nothing worthwhile comes easy

Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman was rejected 34 times over three years, then helped correct a high-profile cultural injustice.

Batman & Bill (2017) was the third attempt at making a documentary about Bill Finger. The first two attempts (2008 and 2011) failed.

Convincing New York City to honor Bill Finger took more than five years.

Don’t give up.

Goodbye to my “Batman & Bill” desk

I pay attention to desks. Sometimes too much.

So it will not be out of character for me to announce the death of a former desk of mine: the one seen in Batman & Bill. 

It is not listed in the credits but it plays a critical role in the film: it is where I kept my computer, which is where I wrote the book that inspired the film. Very meta.

Full disclosure: it is not the desk on which I wrote the book (nor is it the computer), but even as a stand-in, it is special (at least to me).

But in between filming the documentary in the spring and summer of 2016 and the release of the doc in May 2017, I got a new desk—a standing desk. So my stalwart black wooden IKEA desk was relocated to my then-9-year-old son’s room until this week when he, too, got a standing desk. (They can make a positive difference in your daily health routine, especially when going to school from home.)

I am sentimental, but that comes with a size limit.

Outside for pickup.

Syfy interview with "Batman & Bill" directors

I only recently came across a snappy 2019 interview with Batman & Bill directors Don Argott and Sheena M. Joyce on Syfy (the brand formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel) about the documentary. 

Commentary:

Like a justice-seeking hero from the comics he adores, Nobleman chased the real story like it was a 60 Minutes exposé in hopes of restoring Finger’s legacy, in of all things a children’s book…

Imagine that! A children’s book that requires hard work and aims big! (But I get where this perspective is coming from. All authors of books for young readers do.)

Syfy: When did you guys first meet Marc Tyler Nobleman, and determine his Bill Finger quest would make a great doc?

Sheena M. Joyce: We met after a screening at the New York Film Festival, and we hit it off.

They respectfully left out how Don discreetly alerted me that my fly was down. I was practically a parody of making a totally avoidable bad first impression. 

Sheena: …Marc was trying to get Athena [Bill's granddaughter] to mount this lawsuit [against DC Entertainment]

This is not quite accurate. From the first time Athena and I talked, I encouraged her to pursue justice for her grandfather’s legacy, but was not specifically advocating for a lawsuit, which can, of course, take years and cost lots (both financially and emotionally). If she ultimately chose to take legal action, I would have supported it. But I preferred a less contentious approach—namely negotiation—if possible, and am confident I was not alone in this feeling.

Sheena: We were there when Marc first met Athena…

As I’ve noted before, Athena and I first met in person on March 18, 2007, in Florida, a year before any talk of a documentary and three years before I had a book contract. I next saw her two years to the month later, in New York. Six months after that, I met Don and Sheena, also in New York. The scene in the film of me going to Athena’s house was in 2011, which was, I believe, the first time I’d seen her since 2009. 

Once a nonfiction writer who meticulously doublechecks and documents sources, always a nonfiction writer who meticulously doublechecks and documents sources!

“Batman & Bill” makes multiple lists of best documentaries

Streaming recommendations features have likely become even more popular since the pandemic started. Here are a few sites that have kindly included Batman & Bill on best-of lists within the past year (always among humbling company):

• Marie Claire (11/26/20; 20-item list)
• Android Authority (9/1/20; this 12-item list may change as films come and leave the service)
• Daily Dot (7/8/20; 12-item list); fuller review (6/30/20); “a must-watch for comics fans, and a gripping real-life story for the rest of us”
• Mental Floss (1/10/20; 25-item list); unlike the lists above, this one is not limited to Hulu docs, making it an even bigger honor to be on it
• The Cinemaholic (12/28/19; 15-item list); technically, this posted before it was widely known that we had a pandemic on our hands, but I recall that people streamed before COVID, too

"Batman & Bill" aired in France

Vive la Finger!

The latest country I am aware of to show Batman & Bill is France, where apparently I am known as Marc Tyler. When I took French in high school, I went by Jean-Marc. Or maybe not. It's been quelque temps. 

"Rise from a noisy nuisance"

On 12/26/19, a 30-year-old Hungarian sent me a heartfelt message about my Bill Finger efforts. He said English is not his mother tongue and apologized for expressing himself in what he called a "sterile" way.

This passage made me smile for more than one reason:

"To face injustice for so many years and RISE. Rise from a noisy nuisance and achieve something that is everlasting."

As you can see, and as I told him: anything but sterile.

"Batman & Bill" on list of "best films of the 2010s"

Granted, not Time or Rolling Stone, but I'm grateful to anyone who includes the documentary on a list of the 20 best films of the past 10 years.

Other Bill Finger-esque stories to be told

Since Batman & Bill premiered in 2017, people who learned of my efforts to get credit for Batman co-creator and original writer Bill Finger have contacted me with stories of other unsung creators, inventors, and pioneers (some of whom, like Bill, were cut off from their legacy). 

Some of these folks reached out to me just as an FYI. But most are asking for one of two things: advice on seeking a resolution for their cause or an author to write a book on the secret(s) they know.

The list of people/concepts I want to write about is already too long for me to finish in one lifetime, so while plenty of these proposed subjects seem worthy, I don’t plan to pursue any at the moment. 

Therefore, though I’m not a licensed matchmaker, I’m posting a list. If any journalist, lawyer, or fellow writer would like to look into any of these stories, email me and I’ll see about making an introduction. 

NOTES: 

• I’ve researched none of this so make no claims to the authenticity of any of this.
• I included the name of a creator/innovator in question only when that name is already publicly connected to the IP/incident in question.
• This is only a partial list of subjects I’ve been pitched. (I did not include ones that seem more like conspiracy theory than viable claim.)
• As more subjects come in, I will add to this list.

characters:

• G.I. Joe doll
• Kimba the White Lion (as unacknowledged inspiration for The Lion King)
• Spawn
• Super Mario Bros.
• Power Rangers/Gene Pelc
• The Walking Dead/Kingdom Hearts (allegedly from the same creator)
• Gladiator (2000 Academy Award for Best Picture)
• Finding Nemo (2003 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature)

creators/inventors/pioneers:

• George A. Wyman, first person to cross the U.S. by motor vehicle (motorbike, 1903)
• Lotte Reiniger, director of one of the earliest animated feature films (released in 1926, 11 years before Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)
• a person whose photographs of writer Robert Graves and poet Laura Riding are being used without permission in a film
• Rear Admiral Husband Edward Kimmel, commander-in-chief of the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor on 12/7/41
• J. Warren Bowman, pioneer of the baseball card industry 
• Leo F. Ferris, NBA co-founder and 24-second shot clock co-creator 
• Larry Shinoda, designer of the 1963 Corvette Sting Ray
• Gene L. Coon, Star Trek writer
• Otis Davis, first person to wear a Nike tennis shoe
• Big Wheel (debuted in 1969)
• solid-handled balisong knives (butterfly knives)
• Boston (the band)
• singer of many pop songs including “Girl You Know It’s True,” released by Milli Vanilli (a group that, as you probably know, hid its own secret)

Thrive LOUD podcast with Lou Diamond

I rarely do podcast interviews these days but couldn’t resist accepting the kind invitation of Lou Diamond to talk with him on Thrive LOUD. 

Lou (who happens to be the husband of a friend I met in high school in a Jewish youth group) is such a nice guy who is also a busy guy who nonetheless takes the time to get to know his podcast guests before the interview. He genuinely wants to help people. He listens. And he’s the reason to listen to the podcast! 

Event planners take note: he’s also a charismatic, inspirational keynote speaker. 

He is not, however, the also-charismatic Lou Diamond Phillips.

Thanks again, Lou. 

Dissertation on "Batman & Bill"

How humbling:

I hope I get to read this professor's dissertation!

"Batman & Bill" aired in New Zealand

Missed one!

After airing on Australian TV (November 2018) but before premiering on Delta Air Lines or Spanish TV (September 2019), Batman & Bill was shown on New Zealand TV (Rialto Channel, June 2019).

"Batman & Bill" on Delta Air Lines

On a flight, a 4th grader sitting near me and looking at a seatback screen said “This guy looks like you.” 

No, it wasn’t Ed Sheeran or Sam Elliott. 

It was me—one of the movies Delta currently offers is Batman & Bill. (It’s not in the Movies/Documentary category; it’s under TV/Hulu.)

I regularly get tweets and emails asking when the film will come out on DVD. The answer, apparently, is never (and out of my hands). That doesn’t surprise me because Hulu, a streaming service, produced the film and the economics of not manufacturing physical copies seem to make sense.

But this is the third place besides Hulu where the film has run. First was on Australian TV in November 2018. Second was on New Zealand TV in June 2019. Fourth is Spanish TV on Batman Day 2019—today—in honor of Batman’s 80th anniversary.

"Batman & Bill" airing in Spain

In honor of Batman’s 80th anniversary, Batman & Bill is debuting in Spain on the Spanish channel TCM España (TCM Spain) on Batman Day, September 21.

To coincide with that, the two most influential Spanish newspapers, El País and El Mundo, and Agencia EFE, the leading Spanish-language news agency (and fourth largest news agency in the world), interviewed me. 

The newspaper articles both end their headline with the word “father,” but only El Mundo refers to me throughout as “Tyler Nobleman.” (And not the first time someone has thought my last name was both words.)

El País 9/14/19: “Batman: 80 years without his real father”

El Mundo 9/20/19: “Crusade in favor of Batman’s secret father”

Here is Agencia EFE coverage.

In late August, when a media agency asked if I could do these interviews, I said the best timing for me would be that week, before back-to-school craziness—unless I would first need to learn Spanish, in which case February (2021).

Muchas gracias to you all!

"Batman & Bill" aired in Australia

In November 2018, Batman & Bill aired on SBS, an Australian TV channel. To my knowledge, it’s the first international showing (and the first time airing somewhere other than Hulu).

I’m only now—nearly a year later—posting this because Australia is all the time zones ahead.

Bill Finger: Australian for co-creator of Batman.

A comment that got away while filming "Batman & Bill"

When filming Batman & Bill, co-director Don Argott asked me to show a few books I’d written. When I pulled out my first, I simply introduced it by name and jokingly referred to it as a tour de force.

But this is what I wish I'd said: “When Prince was 24, he wrote Purple Rain. When I was 24, I wrote The Felix Activity Book.”

Don, too, wished I’d said it.

Logan Lerman recommends "Batman & Bill"

"Batman & Bill" makes a timeline of Batman milestones

As we Batusi deeper into the yearlong revelry that is Batman's 80th anniversary, I was thrilled to see Bill Finger make a prominent appearance in a special publication celebrating the Dark Knight's history and influence.

Not only did Bill get a full page to himself (a far cry from previous such tributes, where he typically made little more than a cameo)...

...but he also appears on the publication's Bat-timeline three times…one of which is Batman & Bill (final entry).

(One criticism: as has happened many times online, this magazine used a photo of fellow writer Robert Kanigher for Bill.)

The page about Bill kindly mentions both the doc and Bill the Boy Wonder. I believe this is the first time a print publication has acknowledged my Bill Finger efforts without interviewing me first—in other words, this was a total and surreal surprise.

5/13/24 addendum: A similar magazine available in 2024 (Batman's 85th anniversary) did not mention the documentary but did mention me.

Most humbling "Batman & Bill" tweets/posts of 2018

The documentary Batman & Bill came out in May 2017; the love for it (i.e. for Bill Finger) continued throughout 2018. Not one but two tweets compared it to the NBC sobfest This Is Us (yes, This Is Odd!)...

Here is the 2017 roundup.

Thank you all. And to all a Dark Knight.