Bill Finger, the forgotten pioneer

It's May of 1939 and Detective Comics issue number 27 has hit the shelves. The single issue that would go down in history for it's iconic first appearance of one of DC's most popular characters, the Dark Knight himself: Batman, or as he was originally known: The Bat Man. Today, the issue is now worth over 2 and a half million dollars, a substantial gain in value from a cover price of 10 cents.

Bob Kane was notoriously known as the creator of Batman. However, Bill Finger also made massive contributions to the character and his surrounding universe, which unfortunately was left in the dark for decades.

Bob Kane himself took sole credit for the creation of Batman from the character's first appearance all the way up to Kane's death in 1998. On his tombstone one line states: "Bob Kane, Bruce Wayne, Batman, they are one and the same".

Not only was he the self-proclaimed creator of Batman, he was also a salesman which is arguably the reason he was able to make such a successful deal with DC Comics, consequently, pushing Bill Finger out of the spotlight completely. Bob Kane's father was also a lawyer which gave him even more of an advantage to claim the work as his own. As a result of that popularity and reputation, he was also a consultant for both the Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher films.

It was in 1974, that Bill Finger passed away. Penniless and obscure in his contributions, thanks to Bob Kane. In a private audio interview, Kane did admit that Bill Finger was responsible for "50 - 75% of the creation of Batman". However, speaking publicly, Kane claimed all the credit.

But thankfully, all was not lost. With the release of Marc Tyler Nobleman’s book, Bill The Boy Wonder and a documentary of the same title, it was now revealed how vast Bill Finger's contribution was to the character. In October 2015, 41 years after Finger's demise, he was finally credited for all his work. On the cover of Batman and Robin Eternal issue number 3, it reads "Batman, created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger".

Bill Finger finally had acknowledgement for his creation of Batman, Bruce Wayne, Gotham City and many members of the rogues gallery that had proven so popular over the decades. Even including the creation of the Joker who is now regarded as one of Batman's greatest villains of all time.

Whilst doing research for this topic, I was quite stunned at the lengths Bob Kane went to in order to conceal Bill Finger's involvement, but considering how popular the character has become over the last 80 years, I do wonder: what would Bill Finger say about the character and world he helped create?

Batman - created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger