The first time I had heard of the fact that it was Bill Finger, (and not Bob Kane) who spent most of his lifetime creating, quote, “fifty to seventy-five percent of Batman”, (most all) of the mythos of the fictional character of DC Comics’ (formerly National Periodical Publications’) The Batman character, was by my reading about it, in a vintage, 1960’s comic book fanzine. The source was an issue of the silver age comics fanzine Batmania, written by comics fan and collector Jerry Bails; he had written an article for the fanzine Batmania, saying as much.
Shortly after that issue of Batmania was published and mailed to subscribers of the comics’ early, vintage fanpress readers in the 1960’s, after it went to press, Bob Kane himself wrote in to the fanzine Batmania, to dispute what was being said about Bill Finger, the fact that the Truth had finally been published, that Bill Finger and NOT Bob Kane, had created ” about 50-75% of The Batman and the comics’ series diverse cast and history “, as the writer of the many of the different comic book series this fictional character starred in!
Bob Kane was telling anyone who would listen, as he always had, that he alone (Bob Kane) had created The Batman, and all of his supporting characters, which I never believed, since hearing and later having acquired and having read that Jerry Bails article, in this early ‘Batmania’ fanzine, my having read it in this now aged fanzine, decades later. But I had read basically the same thing, in much later fanzines (and online), still much earlier than my finally procuring that exact Batmania issue.
Bob Kane had been peddling this lie, excluding Bill Finger as a co-creator of this famous fictional character, since 1939, when the character debuted in the twenty-seventh issue of Detective Comics. Bill Finger was writing most of the scripts, and, before the character had ever even been published for the first time, he had given instructions to Bob Kane to completely redesign the character, so that he LOOKED like Batman in the comics.
First Comics News: What I am first wondering, Athena, is, how old do you think you were, when you first heard that the truth of the matter was that your grandfather, Bill Finger, had created most all of The Batman mythos, after Bob Kane created the name ‘Batman’, and after Bob had designed the character as a red-suited character with a small domino mask (like Robin’s), with large, immovable fake wings?
Athena Finger: I do not remember a time I did not know about my grandfather’s role in the creation of Batman. I was very young. As far as the red suit, I learned about that as an adult.
1st: Would it have been your grandfather himself (Bill Finger), or your father and/ or mother, who first informed you that it was Bill Finger who created most of the mythos of the starting-in-1939 The Batman, for his initial first-ever appearance in Detective Comics # 27, 1939?
And, how old might you have been at that time?
Secondly, what were your parents’ names, and are they still living?
Athena: I would think it was my dad who told me, but I don’t remember exactly when or what was said.
No, unfortunately, he passed in 1992.
1st: According to Milton Bill Finger’s online Wikipedia article, quote, “While Kane privately admitted in a 1980’s audio interview with his autobiographer that Finger was responsible for “50–75% of all the creativity in Batman,” he (Bob Kane) nonetheless publicly denied Finger had been anything more than a subcontractor executing Kane’s ideas, for (several) decades.
As a result, Bill Finger died in obscurity and poverty while the Batman brand (and Bob Kane) amassed international fame and wealth. ”
Athena, did you ever find out how much wealth Bob Kane had amassed throughout this entire lifetime, as a result of his having incorrectly professed to have been the (sole) creator of Batman?
After all, it wasn’t even just the numerous comic book titles that bore the Batman name; there were theatrical plays, various runs of newspaper comic strips, two different 1940’s multi-chapter movie Serials, an enormously popular 1960’s live action television series, and with all of the innumerable toy and other merchandise that came out as a result of that very popular TV series, which made the television studio that produced it, (and ergo, presumably, Bob Kane, as well), to name just some sources of Batman-related revenue.
And then, there was the 1989 major motion picture Batman, featuring Michael Keaton as Batman, with Jack Nicholson as The Joker. Followed by numerous high-revenue-grossing (worldwide) Batman movie sequels.
With innumerable Batman comics titles over many, many decades (including an inexhaustible number of Batman comics mini series over several decades — and there are HUNDREDS of them, (I think I own them all), and with the endless continued merchandising of the character that lasts to this day, Batman has made for National Periodical Publications/ DC Comics Billions of Dollars in revenue!
Batman is, almost certainly, the single biggest comic book character money-maker ever in comics, far surpassing his predecessor, Superman!
Most importantly, Bill Finger’s name was not even linked to Batman as a co-creator – in the comic books themselves – until several years after a second edition of Bob Kane’s book, Batman and Me (1990) came out, long after Bill Finger’s death, in which Bob Kane finally bowed to pressure, and admitted in print how much of Batman’s success was owed to the by-then late Bill Finger.
Bill Finger, your grandfather, wasn’t going to get any of that monetary pie, of course, after he had sadly passed on. What kind of person (Bob Kane) does that to a co-creator of perhaps the most popular and highest revenue creator of any fictional character, ever, an employee of Bob Kane’s, and perhaps, a friend? What type of person desires to hog all of the glory for himself?
Athena: Hmm, Bob Kane. I know little of his finances, nor do I care to know. But when he decided not to include Bill at any point, he made himself the villain in the Batman mythos. It’s unfortunate, but that is the history of the matter.
1st: At the time of his death, Batman co-creator (he claimed for almost his entire lifetime he was the sole creator) was worth fifty million U.S. dollars.
Here is a cut and paste right from the internet:
” Bob Kane, the comic book artist who collaborated with Bill Finger on the creation of the DC Comics Batman series, had a net worth of ten million. His estate is estimated to be worth fifty million, primarily from royalties tied to Batman’s enduring success across comics, merchandising, films, and television adaptations. “
I’ve read accounts, over the years, that when Julius Schwartz of DC Comics, decades ago, wanted Bob Kane to redraw a single panel of a Batman related title, ON SITE, at the DC offices, that, finally, bowing to pressure, Bob Kane, secretly, took the page to another room in the DC building, and had artist Murphy Anderson redraw the panel for Kane, in secret, for which Bob Kane paid him $10.00 for that single panel. Because he was incapable of doing so. And he started as an artist; he was never a comics writer! But I guess it had been so many years that Kane had drawn anything, he no longer perhaps could do so.
Kane started as THE Batman artist, from 1939 on, but he has since had numerous other artists come in and take over for him, eventually replacing him completely, while Bob Kane kept accepting royalty cheques for ‘his’ artwork, while the art in these comics was nothing like his style. And all of these Batman stories were, of course, signed ‘Bill Kane’, in the several decades before comics artists were credited, in print, for their artwork, in the comics.
Bob Kane paid the artists on these comics a salary, while keeping the lion’s share of the money National Periodical Publications (later DC Comics) was paying Bob Kane, for decades, as both ‘sole creator’ and ‘artist’. It was the perfect scam!
All of these comics, for several decades, were simply signed ‘Bob Kane.’
If it helps, here is a link to an article about so-called Bob Kane Batman and company paintings, that many people feel may have been commissioned and painted by ‘ghost’ artisans.
Have you heard about this by chance? https://www.popculturesafari.com/2012/10/rare-photographs-of-batman-artist-bob.html
Athena: Yes, I have heard these stories. Again, Bob created this image of himself that was false. Eventually, the truth was going to come out.
1st: In 2015, Bill Finger FINALLY received, starting in the comics, the then suddenly new byline of “Batman created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger”, both in the comics and elsewhere.
But Bill Finger had sadly passed away impoverished, way back on January 8th, 1974.
Bill Finger was first credited as co-creator of Batman in the October 2015 comic books Batman and Robin Eternal # 3 and Batman: Arkham Knights Genesis # 3. The updated acknowledgement for the character appeared as “Batman created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger.”
I buy a lot of comics every week, including ALL of the various Batman and Batman family titles, and related titles, like Robin, Catwoman, Nightwing, etc., so I do remember seeing that byline the first time it appeared.
I thought at the time, “Finally. I wonder what finally persuaded DC Comics, Inc. to change the byline? Can I kindly get your insight on that, Athena?
Athena: We presented our case, and they agreed it was time. That’s about all I can discuss.
1st: A film came out and aired on Hulu on May 6th, 2017, entitled Batman and Bill. This film told the story that Bill Finger created much of the mythos of The Batman and many of his supporting characters, in addition to the bat-like look of the character.
Still later, a book entitled Bill The Boy Wonder (about Bill Finger’s hand in the co-creation of Batman came out, a few years back, written by Marc Tyler Nobleman, and illustrated by Canadian Ty Templeton, who himself is pretty famous in American comics.
I have interviewed Ty Templeton recently, also. Anyway, this book, which I bought and read, was a book all about who created most of the Batman mythos and Batman’s bat-inspired look. This may be a silly question, but have you read this book? And, if so, what did you think of it?
Athena: I know Marc. He was the one who “discovered “ me.
He did a wonderful job with the book, and I have read it several times!
1st: Athena, I want to take a few moments to thank you very, very much for agreeing to chat with me today, for First Comics News! It has been a great pleasure for me. Have a great day!
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