The magic of Superman and Batman

In 2013, an ultra-nice guy named Joe Romano contacted me to ask if he could use Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman and Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman in his school visit program. He’s a “motivational performer”/magician who presents at many schools a year.

Sounded good to me. Joe swung by so I could sign copies for his nephews.

I have not seen Joe’s show yet, but he kindly described how he incorporated my books into his act.

He starts with a synopsis of each story. Then:

Superman segment:

He shows a Superman poster (see photo) and tells the audience it hung in his room from grade 3 to age 33. He folds the poster in half, reaches into the folds, and pulls out a red cape. He unfolds the poster to reveal that the cape is now missing! He folds the poster in half again, reaches in again, and this time pulls out a black wig. When he opens the poster again, Superman is now bald! Finally, he refolds the poster and pulls out a belt. When he shows the poster again, Superman’s pants have fallen, revealing that he is wearing Batman boxer shorts.

Batman segment:

He tells the audience that he’s been practicing drawing Batman and asks if they would like to see his progress. He draws Batman on a dry erase board. When he looks away, Batman’s eyes move. The kids go nuts! He looks back and Batman’s eyes stop moving. Whenever he looks away, the eyes move again. He always misses what the kids see. Then the mouth moves and Batman speaks to the kids more about Bill the Boy Wonder.

Thank you, Joe, for exposing my work to more kids, and for using nonfiction in general in an act like yours. Hope to catch it one day!

Bill Finger will get official credit on Batman!

“Will his name ever be added to every Batman story? Batmanians are keeping their Fingers crossed.”

Those are the final words of my book Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman.

On 9/18/15, fans got the beginning of an answer…and it looks like a happy one. That means a journey—part detective story, part film noir, part soap opera, part Greek tragedy—that lasted nine years for me and 76 for others has come to an end.

A condensed timeline:

• 2005: I decided to write about Bill Finger.
• 2006: I started researching Bill the Boy Wonder (on spec).
• 2007: I discovered Athena Finger, Bill’s lone known grandchild.
• 2008: I began blogging about Bill (my 7th post).
• 2010: I sold the manuscript to Charlesbridge.
• 2011-present: I have been working on a permanent memorial to Bill in New York City.
• 2012: I gave a TED talk on Bill (and many talks since, often to standing-room-only audiences).
• 2012: The book came out.
• 2014: I campaigned for a Bill Finger Google doodle, organized the Paley Center “Batman at 75” panel, and sat on several Batman/Bill panels at San Diego Comic-Con, thanks to Travis Langley. I also wrote the piece on Bill for the souvenir book, an immense honor.

And now this.

Above all, finally, this: credit.

DC Entertainment announced “Bill Finger will be receiving credit in the Warner Bros. television series Gotham beginning later this season, and in the forthcoming motion picture Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.” No mention of print credit, but according to sources including Brad Meltzer, that’s part of the deal, too. It’s times like these when I wish I allowed myself to use multiple exclamation points.

Dawn of justice indeed. My Google Alert for “Bill Finger” got a heckuva workout that day.

The news broke online at 12:41 p.m. EST. The first tweet (below) posted at 1:14 p.m. The first note to me came in at 1:23 p.m. Then it was a deluge into the wee hours and still going strong as of a day later.

After several minutes of happy shock, I called Athena at 1:31 p.m. I can’t speak for her other than to say she sounded happy, aligned with her family legacy. At long last.

This crusade, of course, was not a solo effort. I did start it alone, in a tiny room with nothing but hope (plus a scant few books and articles); over time a league of supporters joined me. The climax—the turning point that led to changing pop culture history—was all Finger family.

A few days before the announcement, my sixth grader’s English class was assigned to write a letter in which they described themselves and what they want. My daughter has grown up in the CoB (Cult of Bill) so one of her wishes was to see “Bill Finger get credit for Batman.” When she heard the credit news, she said maybe her letter was good luck. I said it definitely was. She then said “Did you show it to someone?”

The announcement came a mere three days before the second season premiere of Gotham. Here is what I tweeted a year earlier, on 9/22/14:

Tonight the show GOTHAM debuts. I’ve seen the first episode. The only aspects of it created by Bill Finger (whose name will NOT be in the credits) are Bruce Wayne, Jim Gordon, Joker, Catwoman, Penguin, Riddler, and the name of the city/show itself.

A second tweet (look closely):

We don’t yet know how the Bill credit will be worded, and as the release indicates, it won’t appear in the first season 2 episode of Gotham. But I do know it won’t be “Batman created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger.”

I suspect it will mirror the clunky-sounding footnote that was tacked onto the extant Superman credit in 2013: “By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family.” Or it could be something like what DC printed in Batman: The Dark Knight Archives, Volume 2 (1995): “Created by Bob Kane in collaboration with writer Bill Finger.” There is also a strong possibility that the “created by Bob Kane” line will remain on its own with Bill’s name appearing next; I can imagine language along the lines of “certain concepts developed by Bill Finger.”
 
Part of me refuses to settle for anything less than equal credit. (Part of me refuses to settle for anything less than sole credit!) But a more rational side of me is more than content knowing Bill’s name will now officially—and forever—be linked to Batman’s.

The day of the announcement, “Bill Finger” trended on social media. But really, Bill Finger has been trending since 1939—only many didn’t know it till now.

To be clear: if you’re a Batman fan, you’re a Bill Finger fan.

Thank you, anyone reading, for nine years of support during my push to overturn a 76-year cultural travesty. See Bill the Boy Wonder for a long list of acknowledgements, and special thanks to people who have enlisted in (or done something exceptional for) the caped crusade since the book came out. That is an ample list, too, but I must spotlight Alethia Mariotta, Kevin Smith, Travis Langley, Gary Sassaman, David Hernando, Roberto Williams, Lenny Schwartz, Derek Wolfford, Kyle Swenson, David Bushman, Wojciech Nelec, Michał Chudoliński, Don Argott, Sheena Joyce, Brad Meltzer, Raymond Jacques, Geoffrey Croft, Tamerlane Edward Frank, and everyone who wrote, tweeted, blogged, or talked about Bill.

The revelation:

Hollywood Reporter 

Reaction to the revelation:

Entertainment Weekly

Forbes

 Newsarama

Washington Post

 IGN

Comic Book Resources

Comics Alliance

ComicBook.com

Kevin Smith tweet

 “Bill Finger” trended on Facebook...

 ...and on Twitter.

Fox 5 New York interviewed me (via Skype) about the story. (You can see copies of Bill the Boy Wonder on the shelf over my right shoulder.)

 

Fuse #8 (School Library Journal)

And taking humbling to the extreme, my partner and friend Ty Templeton:

(Please do not repost without credit and link to Ty.

Better yet, ask him first.)

Justice has no expiration date.

I’ll be talking about this Golden Age milestone till my golden years.

9/27/15 addendum: So might they.

Good day in Little Rock

On 9/16/15, I had the pleasure of speaking at Pulaski Academy in Little Rock, AR—my first time in the state. For fear of an influx, someone asked me not to mention how beautiful the area is, but the real secret is how Arkansans can believe that is still a secret?

The school is a large place. Perhaps I should say it is a mega place—part of the facilities used to be a megachurch. The part where I spoke:

It is so mega that none other than Superman and Batman were there on patrol:

I was in and out of LR in a day, but made time to visit the site of a great if tragic example of courage: Little Rock Central High School, made infamous in 1957 when the Little Rock Nine (nine black students) were refused entry despite the fact that segregated schools were declared unconstitutional three years earlier. I was so eager to see it that I went straight from the airport. The school is majestic, the grounds are immaculate, and the significance of it all is palpable. I spent a good amount of time in quiet reflection. What was once a bad day in Little Rock led to a good day for me.

However, I knew little detail of that pivotal moment in the civil rights movement. So after absorbing the aura of the place itself, I binged on historical info about it.

A photo recap of my time there:

 Ten benches surround the reflecting pool (which was there

before 1957)—one each for the Little Rock Nine, 

and a tenth for all other LRCHS students.

 Elizabeth was the Little Rock Niner being screamed at

in this now-notorious photo.

 I thought it curious that one bench was donated by 

multiple classes...separated by 50 years.

 Zooming in on this bench (which is not one of the ten

surrounding the reflecting pool)...

 ...you see that it was gifted by the Silhouettes, but in 1954— 

three years before the school was thrust into the spotlight 

and the singing group had their one chart hit (“Get a Job”).

 The memorial garden across the street from the school,

dedicated two weeks after another national tragedy.

 Panorama: school, garden, visitors’ center.

 Vintage, spotless gas station across the street from the school.

 Statue of the Little Rock Nine in front of the state capitol.

Thank you to Regina Stipsky for bringing me in, Jacob Harris for helping to keep me company, and the Little Rock Nine for taking a stand for the greater good. You were not trying to make history. You simply did what you felt to be right. For that you became heroes.