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Today we celebrate one of the great comic book legends: Bill Finger, the co-creator of Batman.

Batman was created in 1939 when artist Bob Kane collaborated with Finger to work on a superhero for National Comics (the precursor to DC Comics). As a writer, Finger threw in many ideas from the get-go such as changing the character design, creating the lore of Gotham City, designing over 50 other characters, and writing many of the classic stories of the Golden Age of Batman. It was seismic but unfortunately, Kane took all the credit and publicly denied for decades that Finger had any involvement with Batman, labelling him as a subcontractor or a "ghostwriter." As a result, Finger died in obscurity and poverty in 1974 while the Batman brand and Kane amassed international fame and wealth.

Even with Kane's passing in 1998, Finger's contribution and existence remained unknown for a very long time until autobiographer Marc Nobleman came to the rescue. With the help of him and Finger's granddaughter/only heir Athena , they were able to revive the legal battle that her father Fred Finger had presumably started in the 80s. In 2015, DC Comics' parent company conditionally agreed to officially recognize Finger as the co-creator of the Batman characters and mythos, officially adding his name, in the future, to the "created by" credit line Kane had gotten contractually guaranteed in 1939.

Today would have been his 109th birthday. This fan art I drew includes several of the characters he co-created such as Batman, Robin, The Joker, Catwoman, Batgirl, The Red Hood, The Penguin, The Riddler, The Mad Hatter, Clayface, Commissioner Jim Gordon, The Scarecrow, Calendar Man, Hugo Strange, Bat-Mite, and Ace the Bat-Hound.

Happy Birthday, Bill Finger!

Time-lapse video: youtu.be/SGYfiXbqv44

Description

Today we celebrate one of the great comic book legends: Bill Finger, the co-creator of Batman.

Batman was created in 1939 when artist Bob Kane collaborated with Finger to work on a superhero for National Comics (the precursor to DC Comics). As a writer, Finger threw in many ideas from the get-go such as changing the character design, creating the lore of Gotham City, designing over 50 other characters, and writing many of the classic stories of the Golden Age of Batman. It was seismic but unfortunately, Kane took all the credit and publicly denied for decades that Finger had any involvement with Batman, labelling him as a subcontractor or a "ghostwriter." As a result, Finger died in obscurity and poverty in 1974 while the Batman brand and Kane amassed international fame and wealth.

Even with Kane's passing in 1998, Finger's contribution and existence remained unknown for a very long time until autobiographer Marc Nobleman came to the rescue. With the help of him and Finger's granddaughter/only heir Athena , they were able to revive the legal battle that her father Fred Finger had presumably started in the 80s. In 2015, DC Comics' parent company conditionally agreed to officially recognize Finger as the co-creator of the Batman characters and mythos, officially adding his name, in the future, to the "created by" credit line Kane had gotten contractually guaranteed in 1939.

Today would have been his 109th birthday. This fan art I drew includes several of the characters he co-created such as Batman, Robin, The Joker, Catwoman, Batgirl, The Red Hood, The Penguin, The Riddler, The Mad Hatter, Clayface, Commissioner Jim Gordon, The Scarecrow, Calendar Man, Hugo Strange, Bat-Mite, and Ace the Bat-Hound.

Happy Birthday, Bill Finger!

Time-lapse video: youtu.be/SGYfiXbqv44