Celebrity doppelgangers

Authors’ public presence is usually low-watt compared to other entertainers such as actors and musicians. Most authors do not get recognized on the street. Certainly not this one:
 But at some point, most of us hear that we look like someone famous. Over the years, I’ve gotten a broad range. While I was flattered by most of these impressions, frankly, I didn’t see it with any of them beforehand.

According to camp friends in 1987:

Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick)

Don’t always remember who said it, but have gotten most of these multiple times (coincidentally, all are comedians):

Bob Saget

Ben Stiller

Jerry Seinfeld

Seth Meyers

Will Arnett

B.J. Novak

Paul Rudd

According to kids at schools I’ve spoken at since 2008:

Tom Cavanaugh

Steve Nash

 

Wolverine (Hugh Jackman; I’m laughing, too;
granted I don’t shave every day, but still…)

Superman (yes, laughing again, 
but at the same time, honored)

According to a four-year-old I know:

Sean Hopper (Huey Lewis and the News)

According to a TSA agent in Dallas, 5/6/15:

Doug Flutie

According to the publicity department at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 5/5/17:

Hank Azaria

And still more:

Walton Goggins

 Rick Springfield

Oh, to be completist, a high school friend said the guy at the end of this commercial reminded her of me:

"The Dark Knight Rises" and "Bill the Boy Wonder"

Batman is one of our greatest fictional champions of justice, so it is cruelly ironic that the story of where he came from hides a gross injustice: the man largely responsible for him receives no official credit.

What’s more, co-creator and original writer Bill Finger is the one who first called Batman “the Dark Knight,” yet Bill’s name will not appear in the credits of The Dark Knight Rises (nor did it in The Dark Knight). The nickname “Dark Knight” is so iconic that the word “Batman” doesn’t even need to appear with it; meanwhile, the mind behind it is left in the dark.

Yet I came up with one way to link Bill with the movie and hopefully do some good for my book in the process.

I individually e-mailed the following flyer to hundreds of independent bookstores across the country:

 
Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman publishes July 1.

The Dark Knight Rises opens July 20.

My proposed course of action for the bookstores is simple:

1. Ask the nearest cinemas if they will hand out the flyer to people who buy tickets to TDKR.

That’s it.

If even the smallest fraction of moviegoers goes for the same-day incentive, I’d consider this effort a success. In part that is because the smallest fraction of the projected audience of the movie—1.939 zajillion—is several nations unto themselves.

As it stands, I couldn’t figure how to extra-sweeten the deal for the cinemas…but they have nothing to lose, either.

Perhaps they’ll view this as value-added, serving their customers some historical perspective with their blockbuster. Perhaps they’ll feel a moral obligation to do their part for Finger when so many (but not Finger) will be making so much on his genius. Perhaps they just like Batman.

Bookstores, if you set the discount, and cinemas, if we provide the flyers, who’s in?

"In terms of sheer goofy charm, it’s hard to resist"

Newsarama kindly mentioned my trailer for Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman. But since when is dressing up in purple gloves and question marks goofy?

6/13/14 addendum: Glad I snagged the quotation when I did because the link is now down...

Who created the creators?

On 10/28/11, Alvin Schwartz, Golden Age Superman and Batman writer and friend of Bill Finger, uncredited co-creator of Batman, passed away at 94.

Less than a year earlier, Alter Ego (#98, 12/10) ran an interview with Alvin that included some gems.

Schwartz said that Bob Kane, artist given sole official credit for Batman, flat-out “couldn’t draw.” (Others have said as much, but none with Alvin’s endearing bluntness.)

I already touched on another gem from this interview, but it bears repeating, this time with a pinch of set-up:

We’ve heard opinions like “Without Bill Finger, there wouldn’t have been any Batman” and, regrettably, “Without Bob Kane, there wouldn’t have been any Bill Finger.” But here’s a gutsy new take, courtesy of Schwartz: “Without Bill Finger, there wouldn’t have been any Bob Kane.”

I interviewed Alvin several times for my Finger book, and I could be intimidated by his deepitude. He routinely made keen observations that could turn party lines inside out.

Also in the Alter Ego interview, Schwartz said “Bill was never mean about Bob.” Sadly, the reverse was not true.

In a now-infamous 9/14/65 letter to Biljo White, editor of the fanzine Batmania, Bob vehemently tried to deny Bill’s then-recent “confession” that he, Bill, had a significant role in the creation of Batman:

“I challenge Bill to repeat those statements in front of me. … The truth is that Bill Finger is taking credit for much more than he deserves, and I refute much of his statements…”

Bob then tussles with his conscience, but keeps it deliberately fuzzy: “…in all fairness to Bill, I will admit he was influential in aiding me in shaping up the strip, and there are certain characters Bill created, aside from my main characters and many other characters that I created, including the Batmobile. It’s been 25 years now, and truthfully, time sometimes blurs the memory and it is difficult to separate, at times, the myth from the truth, so that I cannot blame Bill too much if at times his memory ‘clouds.’”

But you should have blamed yourself.

Then Bob goes back for another potshot: “Your article [about Bill’s contribution to Batman] is completely misleading, loaded with untruths fed to you by Finger’s hallucinations of grandeur.”

Finally, when asked who came up with the initial idea for Batman, Schwartz takes a stance more radical than most: “I can tell you this: it was Bill. Bob never had any ideas. He really was a man with very little taste…”

Years after Bill died in 1974, his old friend Alvin (like Jerry Robinson) evolved into one of Bill’s most fervent public advocates. Alvin was especially important because he could speak out on Bill’s behalf from personal experience.

Maybe now Bill has been able to thank Alvin for that.

Peter David tweets about "Bill the Boy Wonder"

On 5/1/12, fan-favorite comic book writer Peter David (whom I don't know personally) kindly tweeted several times about Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman:

Thank you Peter.

Low-grade curiosity

In researching Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman, I spoke with hundreds of people, several dozen of whom I “formally” interviewed. I was surprised at how few asked me how I found them, especially because many of them were not simply a Google away and are probably aware of that. I don’t know if they just didn’t think to ask me, or if they simply didn’t care—but it’d be one of the first questions I'd ask if someone came ‘round to question me (and I didn’t have a blog making the answer obvious).

Perhaps these people were not under-curious. Perhaps I’m just over-curious, preoccupied with sublevels of information that others don’t bother with because they understand that there’s no practical use for that information.

Another example: my massive blog series featuring interviews with and previously unpublished photos of 100 “lost” superhero stars of the ‘70s and ‘80s required lots of hunting…sometimes so deep I couldn’t see two feet behind me.

Yet the kind folks who ultimately helped me reach particularly obscured performers including Garrett Craig, Larry Marks, and Austin Roberts did not ask me how I knew to ask them. And look at how common those three names are—they are all over the Internet. Plus the people I was asking did not always share the same last name as my quarry. (In other words, I presumed that the people I was asking would realize that I would have had to do more than casual research to make that connection.)

I’m not judging. I’m just different. It’s an occupational perk.

Behind the “Bill the Boy Wonder” book trailer

Without my longtime friend Christian, my book trailer for Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman would have looked like the one for Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman.

In other words, there wouldn’t be one.

This trailer is not the first big project Christian and I have undertaken together. We go back to a Styrofoam-ball solar system in fourth grade. Maybe you haven’t heard of it.

The trailer contains a few bloopers we know of and likely more we don’t. As for the former:

• Riddler’s costume does not have enough question marks. (I imagined we’d see only the forearm in his shot but we end up seeing some of his shoulder, too.)
• Did you spot the stray Whole Foods paper bag?

Not a blooper, but the man-on-the-street interviews contain a bit too much product placement. (Yet no payola.)

I wanted the Riddler scene to take place at night but it would have looked too dark without proper lighting (which we didn’t have).

We wanted to use an 8½ x 11 green envelope for Riddler’s note; that would’ve allowed Robin to remove the note without having to unfold it. However, I couldn’t find such an envelope in time.

In the “Robin approaching” shot, I was worried that the reflective Nike logo on the black running pants I was wearing would be visible. It was not.

In the Batcave computer room shot, I was worried that the cursor on the computer screens would be visible. It was not.

We didn’t shoot consecutively so I attempted to keep my stubble consistent. I think I failed, however.

The two buttons (Batman logo and MTN) were color printouts taped over Staples Easy buttons.

The paper didn’t adhere evenly to the buttons, so if the lighting were any better in that scene, the whole thing would’ve looked even cheesier.

It was hard to make out, but the ringing cell phone said “Batman.” If we had zoomed in any closer, it would’ve been too blurry.

It was daytime when we shot me looking out the window at the MTN-Signal, which is in the night sky. Clumsy filmmaking or subtle joke?

The quality of the Bill Finger voiceover is as good as we could get; it came from a reel-to-reel tape from 1972. It’s the first time the public has heard Bill’s voice.

I discovered the song “Try” in 1994 when it appeared in the “World Happiness Dance” scene of an episode of My So-Called Life. In the pre-Internet age, I had to buy a guy at ABC dinner for getting back to me with the name of the song (which, as I recall, wasn’t identified in the credits).

The man-on-street, Marc-on-the-street, Wayne Manor gate, “Batman calling,” and “calling Batman” scenes were shot in Maryland.

The Batcave and walking-to-car scenes were shot in Virginia.

Here’s where we went to dinner after the third (of three) shoots:

Yes, I was still wearing my Robin shirt. No, this was not planned.

Budget:

$144.30 supplies (primarily the costumes and the Staples Easy buttons)
$56.93 craft services (i.e. a couple of dinners for my crew, AKA Christian)

$201.23 total

Time put in (not counting undocumented prep time, drive time):

4 hours shooting 2/25/12
1 hour shooting 4/10/12
2 hours shooting 4/18/12
6 hours editing 4/22/12
1 hour editing post-4/22/12

14 hours total

I chose Riddler for the villain for several reasons:

• It lent itself the best to the set-up—namely, posing to Batman (and by extension the viewer) the question/riddle “Who created you (Batman)?”
• The Riddler costume is easily recognizable when only a fragment of it is shown.
• The Riddler was created by Bill Finger.

First time presenting at the International Reading Association Convention

Last summer, I submitted two proposals for the 2012 IRA Convention. One was a lively panel of authors of picture book nonfiction called “But Kids Haven’t Heard of That: Why Teaching Unconventional Nonfiction Is Important.” The other was a variation on a popular workshop I give nationwide. It’s normally “The Language of Cartoons”; I renamed this version “Teaching with Humor.”

I’d heard that it’s tough to craft a proposal due to exacting IRA criteria, and I’d heard that the audiences can have high expectations (as they should). For those reasons and more, I was doubly thrilled not only for one of my proposals to be chosen but for the session to be, in my estimation, a whopping success. Incidentally, I guessed wrong on which proposal stood a better chance of getting a yes.

On 5/2/12 in Chicago, I presented “Teaching with Humor.” (Try you again this year, “But Kids Haven’t Heard of It”!).

The room was big—it held at least 200—and I’m happy to report that it was standing room only. People continued to trickle in for a while after I started; eventually some had no choice but to sit on the floor (violation!)—and I even had a few who had no choice but to occupy the seats behind me (at the pushed-back “panel table” that had been alongside my podium). They could still see the screen but when I began drawing examples, they had to relocate and find space in front of the table.

I’m told that it is especially difficult to get a good turnout on the last day, which this was, and I was even more grateful considering my slot was perilously close to lunch.

Here is selected feedback:








Thank you, IRA, for the opportunity, thank you, attendees, for attending, and thank you again, Scholastic, for sponsoring me.

Laurel Ridge Elementary, Fairfax, VA

On 5/11/12, I spoke at Laurel Ridge Elementary in Fairfax, VA. More than a week prior, the school displayed this in the library:

It was a great school, and patient. I had a raspy voice after several days in bed and the kids did not exploit my weakness.

"10 Things Westfield Comics Likes About July 2012 Comics"

At the Westfield Comics blog, KC Carlson put Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman on his list.

He says that "every comics fan should enjoy this fond look at one of comic books' great 'lost' creators."

(He also says that the book is "primarily...intended for younger readers and children’s libraries"; all true except the "primarily." I call it an all-ages picture book.)

Thank you Westfield Comics and KC Carlson.

Bill Finger: The DC Comics tributes

When Bill Finger, uncredited co-creator of Batman, died in 1974, it went unrecognized in the mainstream media. But the same year, DC Comics ran two memorials in lesser-seen publications, serving as the only obituaries Bill got. I’ve shown them before and here they are again:

Amazing World of DC Comics #1 (July-August 1974);

written by E. Nelson Bridwell

Famous 1st Edition (Batman #1) # F-5 (February-March 1975);

written by Carmine Infantino

More:

Batman #259 (12/74)

Batman in the Seventies (1999)

And thanks to 20th Century Danny Boy, I learned of the following:

It’s not from a DC publication but rather from the program of the 1974 New York Comicon.

My “obituary” for Bill Finger is out in July, and it’s a long-overdue tribute to a man whose cultural impact is, without hyperbole, astronomical.

Swainston Middle School, Las Vegas

My last overnight-stay school visit of the 2011-12 school year was on 5/7/12 at Swainston Middle School, my third school Las Vegas over three years (2009, 2011, 2012).

"Bill the Boy Wonder" - the book trailer

The Avengers is not the only superhero movie that opened this past week.

I am excited to unveil the book trailer for Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman. (The budget was not quite The Avengers.)

My goal was to try to make it entertaining in its own right. Please stay till the end (through the credits). And if you like it, please spread the word!

AUTHORNOMICS interview

Andrea Hurst and Katie Flanagan of Andrea Hurst & Associates Literary Management interviewed me for their AUTHORNOMICS series.

A few excerpts:

on cartooning: 

We all start off as cartoonists because we all have access to the simple tools needed for it—pencil (or crayon), paper (or wall), and imagination.

on Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman: 

Oh, man, it was a long, often bleak, always unmarked route! I conceived, researched, and wrote it after I sold Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman (2005) but before it came out (2008). My Boys of Steel editor turned it down—three times starting in 2007. She didn’t feel it had the same fuzziness as the Superman story—and she was exactly right. However, the Superman story is actually dark, believe it or not, and the Batman one—perhaps appropriately—is even darker.

advice to aspiring writers: 

...read picture books constantly, read books on the craft of writing, strive to tell stories with vibrant and well-drawn characters, and revise till your fingertips chafe. Do homework before submitting and devote as much energy and cleverness to your queries as to the works themselves.

Funniest letters to Batman

This is a real thing (from 1966):

Some interiors.

My first time meeting a friend I already had (WARNING: emotion ahead)

Over the last 15 years, I’ve written about quite a few real people, but most of them (from Ponce de León to Bill Finger) were gone before I’d done so. It wasn’t until 5/1/12 that I had an in-person meeting with someone I had written about.

Technically we were strangers, but I’ve felt she was my friend since I wrote about her in January 2009; hers is one of the seven stories in Vanished: True Stories of the Missing.

Her name is Hannah Klamecki, and she is 10 years old.

When she got stranded by herself in the woods, she was only five. Writers can get emotionally attached to people they profile, and for me, Hannah was an acute case. The thought of someone so young being so alone in such a potentially dangerous place is paralyzing, perhaps even more so since my own daughter was five when I was writing Vanished.

In writing about Hannah, I felt at once protective of her and guilty. (Because I didn’t reveal any details about Hannah and her family that hadn’t already been published, I have been able to talk myself out of some of the guilt.)

That said, I was still worried that her inclusion in the book could upset Hannah’s family. Of course I’m sure they don’t want to be reminded of their ordeal, especially by someone they don’t know well. Yet they have been the picture of loveliness about this. In fact, it was thanks to Hannah’s parents Mike and Carol (and two proactive Illinois elementary schools, North in Villa Park and Schafer in Lombard) that I had the honor of being a guest author at Hannah’s school.

Before the presentation, Mike and Carol introduced Hannah and me. Upon first seeing her, I wanted to hug her, but held off so as not to overwhelm her. First she lost her grandfather in an accident, then got lost in the woods, then a writer she didn’t know included her story in a book without talking with her first, and now the same writer has come to speak at her school—and bring up the traumatic incident in front of her entire grade (with the advanced permission of both Hannah’s parents and a very poised Hannah herself). Any one of those situations requires deep strength, and Hannah has handled them all with grace.

Her friends were great emotional bodyguards for her. I met one girl who had learned of Hannah from the news before they’d met in school, and I’m told this little firecracker said “I will be friends with her.” They did become friends, and five years later, they still are. Some of her classmates did not know her Vanished story before I mentioned it. I didn’t go into detail with the group. That would be up to Hannah, and when I heard kids asking her about it afterward, she was understandably quiet. But many of her peers now intend to read the book. I’m sure they will find it scary to a degree, but the lingering feelings (I hope, I think) will be awe and empowerment.

The morning after the presentation, her dad reported with a smiley “Looks like Hannah will be sharing her story with her 5th grade this Friday. All the requests won her over, I think.”

Me, meanwhile…well, let’s just say that after the presentation, some of the teachers were touched to see that I got nervous when I was talking about Hannah.

At Hannah’s school, I told the kids that some of the heroes I’ve written about wear capes, but that we were all in the presence of a real-life hero. The kids applauded heartily. It’s funny that, prior to my visit, Hannah thought I was the famous one. Hannah is not “famous” for being a victim. She is famous for being a survivor. She will always inspire people, including me.

After school, I had the additional privilege of going to the Klamecki home and then going for ice cream with the whole family. I chose a flavor I’d never seen before but which kept with a theme of the day:


Hannah posed with my cup of it—two sweet little things the color of bravery:


5/20/12 addendum: The Villa Park Argus and Lombard Spectator ran an article "Author meets Villa Park girl whose case was included in 2010 book." An excerpt:

Much of [Nobleman's] presentation focused on the superheroes featured in his books, but he told the students one of the most profound heroes whose story he told was about a student at their school: Hannah Klamecki.

Easter Island in my mind

In March 2012, I went to Easter Island, fulfilling a longtime dream.

Several weeks afterward, I was reminded of something I wrote for a Scholastic writing prompts book that was published in 2003:

It’s no surprise that I had Easter Island on the mind nearly ten years before I made it there; as I said, it had been a longtime dream.

But I always marvel when I realize what I have forgotten about what I’ve done, especially when it relates to something I love.

No Pinta, no Santa Maria…only Neenah

...as in Neenah, WI, where I spoke at Horace Mann Middle School and Neenah High School on 4/30/12.

Several weeks earlier, I was warned that the Horace Mann gym has many skylights, making it difficult to make it dim enough for PowerPoint. But the school offered a generous solution—cover some of the skylights from above.

It worked fine. And the large audience was attentive and participatory.

At the high school, it was a treat to see several original newspaper front pages about the moon landing framed and on display. Here is one: 

 

The auditorium in which I presented:

Neenah was a most charming experience—my host was one of the sweetest I’ve ever worked with, and the community worked hard to make the visit possible. Thank you all.

Bill Finger the "Playboy" wonder!

In "The Super Psyche," the April 2012 Playboy article by Gavin Edwards about Grant Morrison, the legendary comics writer weighs in on certain characters he has written.

Though Morrison's interpretations of superheroes are almost always absurdly inventive and often polarizing, it was something else in this piece that earns the title of Most Provocative. 

On the Joker:

"Created by: Bill Finger, art by Bob Kane, concept possibly provided by Jerry Robinson."

On Batman:

"Created by: Bill Finger, art by Bob Kane (disputed)."

Make no mistake. Those are rallying cries. Not only are they boldly giving Bill lead credit, they are, for all intents, giving him sole credit.

It's not clear if Edwards or Morrison provided those credits, though I'm assuming Morrison. In either case, it was some of the best reading I've done in a while. And yes, I'm talking only about those two credit lines.

Bill Finger added to list of Notable Bronxites

On 4/12/12, the Bronx Historical Society added Bill Finger to their list of Notable Bronxites. I had the honor of drafting the mini-bio (which was not mini enough and so was whittled down a bit). An excerpt (though can you give an excerpt of something so short to begin with?):

During his Bronx years, Finger designed Batman’s now-iconic costume, wrote the first and many of the now-classic Batman stories, and created or co-created characters including Robin, Joker, Catwoman, and Penguin—characters so prevalent in pop culture that even people who have never read a comic book can identify them.

More Bill-Bronx brouhaha to come.