Marc Tyler Nobleman's Blog, page 123
July 27, 2012
AV Club on "Bill the Boy Wonder": "good conversation-starter"
AV Club 7/23/12The AV Club, the entertainment review arm of the popular humor brand The Onion, took a look at Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman. An excerpt:
Bill the Boy Wonder explains the early history of superhero comics in plain, clear language, and without sugarcoating what the business could be like. If anything, Bill the Boy Wonder is even more blunt about how a man responsible for characters and concepts enjoyed for decades by millions of people around the world ended up getting far less than his fair share of compensation. But the book’s not sad or angry; nor does it turn Finger into some iconic martyr for creators’ rights. Instead, Nobleman and Templeton depict Finger at work and Finger at home, showing him as a man of varied interests, who tried his best to funnel his life into his comics. Bill the Boy Wonder would make a good conversation-starter—about the realities of art and commerce—for comics-loving parents and their children.
July 26, 2012
Senator Patrick Leahy and Bill Finger
Senator Patrick Leahy (Vermont) is a high-watt Batman fan.
I sent him a copy of Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman.
He sent back this:
Hello, new pen pal.
I sent him a copy of Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman.
He sent back this:
Hello, new pen pal.
July 25, 2012
July 24, 2012
"School Library Journal" on "Bill the Boy Wonder": "unique...will be a hit"
School Library Journal 8/12“Unique…eye-catching...engagingly told…complex and thorough…will be a hit.”
July 23, 2012
Bill Finger’s medical examiner report and death certificate
As I did with Michael Siegel, father of Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel, I sought out the death documents of Bill Finger. Neither was a breeze to come by but both turned out to provide invaluable insight in researching Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman.
Bill’s medical examiner report is four pages (the first of which is displayed in two pages because it is too big for a single scan). I was told that a medical examiner made an evaluation only when the cause of death was not immediately known.
A few sad observations:
According to the “Report of Death” form, it was longtime friend Charles Sinclair who found Bill face up on a couch in Bill’s apartment, #9B, at 3 p.m. (That was how Charles relayed the story to me before I had copies of these forms. His memory is sterling.) This is how the apartment building looks today:
Apparently, word of Bill’s death did not reach the medical examiner until 8 p.m., and his half-hour examination began at 9:15 p.m.
It’s noted that Bill suffered MIs (heart attacks) in 1963, 1970, and 1973. This is also noted: “No weapons, notes. No evidence of trauma.”
The “Notice of Death” form indicates that Bill was to be cremated; the final, touching resting place of Bill’s ashes is shown in Bill the Boy Wonder. The words at the bottom of this form are eerie in their curtness: “Natural death. No history. No family.”
The “Identification of Body” form indicates that Bill’s body was claimed by his only child, son Fred, who was 25 and living in California at the time. Especially sad: Fred reported that he had last been in touch with his father three years prior.
According to the same form, Bill was “not employed.” The accurate term would have been “self-employed.”
Despite a recurring debate, there is no mention of alcohol on any of the forms.
On a broader note, the access hierarchy to vital records is bewildering to me. The following pertains to New York as of 2007:
Bill’s medical examiner report is four pages (the first of which is displayed in two pages because it is too big for a single scan). I was told that a medical examiner made an evaluation only when the cause of death was not immediately known.
A few sad observations:According to the “Report of Death” form, it was longtime friend Charles Sinclair who found Bill face up on a couch in Bill’s apartment, #9B, at 3 p.m. (That was how Charles relayed the story to me before I had copies of these forms. His memory is sterling.) This is how the apartment building looks today:
Apparently, word of Bill’s death did not reach the medical examiner until 8 p.m., and his half-hour examination began at 9:15 p.m.It’s noted that Bill suffered MIs (heart attacks) in 1963, 1970, and 1973. This is also noted: “No weapons, notes. No evidence of trauma.”
The “Notice of Death” form indicates that Bill was to be cremated; the final, touching resting place of Bill’s ashes is shown in Bill the Boy Wonder. The words at the bottom of this form are eerie in their curtness: “Natural death. No history. No family.”
The “Identification of Body” form indicates that Bill’s body was claimed by his only child, son Fred, who was 25 and living in California at the time. Especially sad: Fred reported that he had last been in touch with his father three years prior.
According to the same form, Bill was “not employed.” The accurate term would have been “self-employed.”
Despite a recurring debate, there is no mention of alcohol on any of the forms.
On a broader note, the access hierarchy to vital records is bewildering to me. The following pertains to New York as of 2007:
document/information
cost
access
birth certificate
yes
only family members, I believe
birth/death indexes
free
anyone, but you cannot make copies from the books
social security application
yes; slightly more if you don’t know the person’s social
anyone (if person is deceased, obviously)
marriage license
yes
anyone
will
free
anyone
death certificate
yes
only family members (luckily I knew some of Bill’s)
July 22, 2012
July 21, 2012
Batman in the wake of tragedy
Though the movie the Aurora, Colorado, shooter chose for his rampage was clearly deliberate, this unthinkable incident is not about Batman, or even movies in general.
The priorities are honoring the dead and figuring out what we can do to better protect the living. Like the rest of the conscious world, I express the deepest of sympathy to those suffering.
Still, as the author of a new book about Batman, I can’t begin to post in the wake of Aurora without acknowledging the tragedy. I don’t claim to have anything profound to add to the chorus of eloquently worded offers of condolences, shoulders, blood, and other forms of support. I simply want to say I am so, so, so sorry for your loss.
The day we woke up to the heartbreaking (and enraging) news, I had three items on my agenda, and all were Batman-related: morning phone interview about Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman with the New Haven Register, the newspaper of my hometown metropolitan area; afternoon book signing/meet and greet at a Virginia Barnes & Noble; evening screening of The Dark Knight Rises. (I didn’t have advanced tickets; arriving only 30 minutes before start time, I suspected it would be sold out. It was not.)
At first I wondered if I should go through with any of my 7/20/12 agenda, especially the second two items; if my book was not about Batman, I don’t think this would have been as strong an internal debate.
But I am not the type for symbolic grandstanding. If you are not directly affected by such an incident, I do not feel going on with life is disrespectful, nor do I feel a one- or two-day moratorium on Batman “work” will send a message of consequence to anyone, including myself. I believe in doing what I can, privately, to help the victims and meanwhile, carrying on.
To be clear, I am also not one who says “I will go ahead with my Batman commitments because if I don’t, the terrorists win.” That brand of statement is too glib, too self-important, for me. I believe in going ahead with my commitments because they are just that, commitments. I can take other specific action to do my small part to try to prevent terrorism.
Here are glimpses of my low-key afternoon:
The table as it was set up.
The table as I rearranged it. I don’t like giving out candy and I don’t like Butterfingers
in particular, but I’m sure you get why I made exceptions. Oddly, one man took a candy bar
(but not a book) and dropped some coins into the candy fishbowl as a (his word) “donation.”
Thank you to Scott Grove, Jill Etesse, Andrea Kramer, Steven Solomon, and Matt Blum—and, of course, all those I didn’t already know—for stopping by.
Just as Batman rises in the film, so shall the people senselessly scarred in the Aurora tragedy. Like Batman, their struggle will not be easy, and certainly not quick, but I am confident they have the strength. For what it is worth, a nation of Batmanians are behind them.
I have to wrap up. I have a Batman book signing at Hooray for Books in a little bit.
The priorities are honoring the dead and figuring out what we can do to better protect the living. Like the rest of the conscious world, I express the deepest of sympathy to those suffering.
Still, as the author of a new book about Batman, I can’t begin to post in the wake of Aurora without acknowledging the tragedy. I don’t claim to have anything profound to add to the chorus of eloquently worded offers of condolences, shoulders, blood, and other forms of support. I simply want to say I am so, so, so sorry for your loss.
The day we woke up to the heartbreaking (and enraging) news, I had three items on my agenda, and all were Batman-related: morning phone interview about Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman with the New Haven Register, the newspaper of my hometown metropolitan area; afternoon book signing/meet and greet at a Virginia Barnes & Noble; evening screening of The Dark Knight Rises. (I didn’t have advanced tickets; arriving only 30 minutes before start time, I suspected it would be sold out. It was not.)
At first I wondered if I should go through with any of my 7/20/12 agenda, especially the second two items; if my book was not about Batman, I don’t think this would have been as strong an internal debate.
But I am not the type for symbolic grandstanding. If you are not directly affected by such an incident, I do not feel going on with life is disrespectful, nor do I feel a one- or two-day moratorium on Batman “work” will send a message of consequence to anyone, including myself. I believe in doing what I can, privately, to help the victims and meanwhile, carrying on.
To be clear, I am also not one who says “I will go ahead with my Batman commitments because if I don’t, the terrorists win.” That brand of statement is too glib, too self-important, for me. I believe in going ahead with my commitments because they are just that, commitments. I can take other specific action to do my small part to try to prevent terrorism.
Here are glimpses of my low-key afternoon:
The table as it was set up.
The table as I rearranged it. I don’t like giving out candy and I don’t like Butterfingersin particular, but I’m sure you get why I made exceptions. Oddly, one man took a candy bar
(but not a book) and dropped some coins into the candy fishbowl as a (his word) “donation.”
Thank you to Scott Grove, Jill Etesse, Andrea Kramer, Steven Solomon, and Matt Blum—and, of course, all those I didn’t already know—for stopping by.
Just as Batman rises in the film, so shall the people senselessly scarred in the Aurora tragedy. Like Batman, their struggle will not be easy, and certainly not quick, but I am confident they have the strength. For what it is worth, a nation of Batmanians are behind them.
I have to wrap up. I have a Batman book signing at Hooray for Books in a little bit.
July 20, 2012
The Dark Knight Creator Rises
Bill Finger main-created Batman and nicknamed him the Dark Knight. Today (perhaps you heard) The Dark Knight Rises opens, but Bill’s name will not be in the credits.
On 12/10/07, a bit more than six months before The Dark Knight opened, I e-mailed DC Comics; after introducing myself as the author of books including Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman (which also wasn’t out yet), I asked the following:
DC, to their credit, wrote me back:
MTN:
DC:
However, I was not the first to attempt this. That distinction goes to Lyn Simmons, Bill’s second wife; they married in the late 1960s.
Her determination to get credit for Bill were bold, selfless—and, it seems, nearly successful. I will let her words—and press about her efforts—speak for themselves (some are undated so I have put them in chronological order as best I can):
This is the jaw-dropper:
“Warner Bros….appear willing to give Bill credit on the film.”
How I wish I knew more about the conversations that led to this.
Alas, as you likely know if you’ve read this far, Bill was not credited in that (or any other Batman) film. What torpedoed this possibility?
Lyn said that Warner backed out when they learned that she was not his widow but rather his ex-wife.
In any case, this is an astonishing glimpse at what could have been.
Had it been, perhaps there would be no need for Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman today…
On 12/10/07, a bit more than six months before The Dark Knight opened, I e-mailed DC Comics; after introducing myself as the author of books including Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman (which also wasn’t out yet), I asked the following:
Could Bill’s name be included in the credits for The Dark Knight? Please don’t automatically delete! I know contractually DC can’t call him “co-creator” so I rather mean something along the lines of “Batman was first called ‘the Dark Knight’ in Batman #1, in 1940, in a story written by Bill Finger.” DC publications already regularly credit Bill for that story, so I see this as completely compatible, legally safe, and of course morally fair. After all, the movie’s title doesn’t even include the word “Batman”—it is wholly a phrase coined by Bill Finger. I look forward to your response.
DC, to their credit, wrote me back:
Thanks for your passion for our creators and characters, but there are no plans to credit Bill on The Dark Knight.
MTN:
To be clear, I am asking if Bill can be credited only for the coining of a phrase, in unambiguous language. … Isn’t that just as permissible (it seems even more so) as your regular practice of crediting him in reprints for entire stories he wrote?
DC:
With all due respect, I’m not having this discussion.
However, I was not the first to attempt this. That distinction goes to Lyn Simmons, Bill’s second wife; they married in the late 1960s.
Her determination to get credit for Bill were bold, selfless—and, it seems, nearly successful. I will let her words—and press about her efforts—speak for themselves (some are undated so I have put them in chronological order as best I can):
This is the jaw-dropper:“Warner Bros….appear willing to give Bill credit on the film.”
How I wish I knew more about the conversations that led to this.
Alas, as you likely know if you’ve read this far, Bill was not credited in that (or any other Batman) film. What torpedoed this possibility?Lyn said that Warner backed out when they learned that she was not his widow but rather his ex-wife.
In any case, this is an astonishing glimpse at what could have been.
Had it been, perhaps there would be no need for Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman today…
