Today in Comics History, February 8: Happy birthday, Bill Finger!

Born on this date in 1914: Bill Finger, co-creator of Batman, Robin, Joker, Riddler, Penguin, Catwoman, Commissioner Gordon, Green Lantern, Wildcat, and many other classic characters and concepts!


from Fifty Who Made DC Great one-shot (DC, 1985)
Here's a lovely memorial essay for Finger in the DC fan magazine The Amazing World of DC Comics #1 (DC, July 1974). Note that Finger here is credited, altho' not in a "created by" byline, with the invention of many iconic DC characters.


But The Amazing World of DC Comics had many contributors with many differing views. Since I don't have access to issue #10, here's a great video by Tom Brevoort about a comic story published within its pages that was truly cruel and dismissive of Bill Finger. Boo!


In fact, DC's "official" story of Batman's origin in a 1946 comic book doesn't mention Finger at all. (More on this here.)


from "The True Story of Batman and Robin! How a Big-Time Comic is Born!" in Real Fact Comics #5 (DC, November 1946), script by Jack Schiff, Mort Weisinger, and/or Bernie Breslauer; pencils and inks by Win Mortimer
From Wikipedia:

While Kane privately admitted in a 1980s audio interview with his autobiographer that Finger was responsible for "50–75% of all the creativity in Batman," for decades he publicly denied Finger had been anything more than a subcontractor executing Kane's ideas. As a result, Finger died in obscurity and poverty while the Batman brand—and Kane—amassed international fame and wealth.

At least Finger was by-lined within the pages of the comic book as the co-creator of Green Lantern straight from the first (if not necessarily later on).



from Green Lantern (1941 series) #1 (Fall 1941), script by Bill Finger, pencils and inks by Mart Nodell
It's only recently that DC Comics has credited Bill Finger with the co-creation of Batman, altho' with a "with" credit line after Bob Kane.


from Batman (2016 series) #101 (DC, December 2020)
We love you and remember you, Bill Finger, creator of Batman and so much more! Happy birthday!