Remembering the late
Bill Finger on his birthday (February 8, 1914 - January 18, 1974).
Bill Finger was a writer, who provided many of the inspirational ideas to
Bob Kane's outline of Batman that helped make Batman a success....like the cowl, cape, gloves, the blue/grey color scheme, and even the Bruce Wayne name!
Unfortunately, his penchant for research did not make
Bill Finger a quick writer, nor did
Bob Kane have him included on creator credits for Batman (only noting his contributions after
Bill Finger had passed).
Still,
Bill Finger did write many important Batman stories, introducing
Robin, Joker, Catwoman, Riddler, Penguin and Two-Face, as well as the Batmobile, Batcave...
...and even naming Gotham City!
Much later,
Bill Finger introduced readers to
Ace the Bat-Hound,
Bat-Mite , the first
Bat-Girl,
Calendar Man, the second
Clayface , even
Kite-Man and Zebra Man, and gave Batman his two biggest trophies:
the Tyrannosaurus Rex and giant Lincoln penny (a hallmark of
Bill Finger stories was battles on oversized items).
Bill Finger also did other work for DC, writing early issues featuring the
Golden Age Green Lantern,
Wildcat, and creating Lana Lang in
Superboy. Some of his last work on Batman was in
World's Finest Comics, working with Superman (there he created
Moon Man and
Atom-Master, among others).
Even better,
Bill Finger wrote the two episodes of the second season of the Batman 1966 TV show featuring the Clock King, giving him his first writer's credit on a Batman story....and the TV show
Gotham, got his name listed as co-creator of Batman!
