Marc Tyler Nobleman's Blog, page 125

Bill Finger's yearbook photo...

...is not here.

Where you can see it is in the author's note of Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman, which is the first time it has appeared in print since the yearbook itself. However, what is not there is the text accompanying it, so that I am posting here:

This is from the June 1933 yearbook of the storied DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx. (As you can see in Bill the Boy Wonder, it was not Bill but rather his parents who wanted him to be a doctor. And "CCNY" is City College New York. I was not able to find out if Bill did go on to attend, but I suspect not. It was the Great Depression so I assume he went right to work.)

Astute readers have already noticed why I missed Bill's yearbook entry the first time I looked: he was not yet Bill.

But before I had learned Bill's given name, I thought I knew why I could not find him in any yearbook of the period. My faithful contact at DWC, the incomparable school historian Gerard Pelisson, had told me that some students did not appear in the yearbook because their families could not afford to have a portrait taken.

In 2010, Gerard wrote me "When your book comes out, you are going to have the photo the whole world wants." Though I do think a good number will be interested, he was being generous. In any case, it is now the earliest known photo of Bill...so early that he was still Milton.

Comics pros on “Bill the Boy Wonder”

Several esteemed comics professionals have weighed in most graciously on Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman—all unsolicited, I’m shameless enough to mention.

They’ve agreed to let me share their feedback:

“GREAT book! Loved it! Purposefully and meaningfully (and beautifully) written.”
—Michael Uslan, executive producer of The Dark Knight Rises and every previous Batman movie since 1989 and author of The Boy Who Loved Batman

“Looks and reads great…and it’s about time there was a well-researched book about the man.”
—Mark Evanier, comics writer, historian, and go-to master-of-ceremonies

“Every Batman fan should read it. It’s worth getting the word out for.”
—Peter David, Eisner-winning writer of characters including Supergirl, Hulk, and Aquaman

“It is wonderful. … The book brings out a number of facts about Bill’s life that I wasn’t aware of even though I’ve studied [him] for decades. I…loved the photos of Bill; for the first time we can see what he really looks like. … This is a major contribution to comics history.”
—Thomas Andrae, comics historian and co-author with Bob Kane of Batman & Me

Should more come in, I will add them. Check back at least twice a fortnight.

The number one rule regarding research

It’s so simple yet so easy to overlook:

1. Pay attention to the obvious.

On 1/26/11, I spent more than thirty minutes searching for certain family members of Barbara Joyce named “Krowitz.” Failing, I dropped my gaze in defeat, which caused me to glance at a scrap of paper that had been in front of me all along. That scrap held the notes that prompted this search; the name I’d clearly jotted down was, in fact, “Kowitz.”

Once I searched that, I found the right people quickly.

So again: when researching, pay attention. It’s a great way to save yourself more than thirty minutes.

First signing at a comic book store

The three winners of my Bill Finger book are…

After six years of work, Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman officially releases today.

And in honor, here are six words you’ve been waiting for: Bill the Boy Wonder contest results! None of this "random drawing" stuff. This is a contest whose win you had to earn!

The task: describe Bill Finger’s legacy in exactly six words. We had a competitive 37 entries (read them here) plus a few stray ones on Facebook and choosing my favorite three was truly tough. But choose I must and so...

The winners (in order of submission):

Winner #1: Not credited, but also not forgotten.
Submitted by: Michael Bradley
Why it’s a winner: It strikes me as more positive than negative. Only DC Comics does not officially credit Bill. Fans everywhere do.

Winner #2: Without Bill, Batman's parents would live.
Submitted by: Gil
Why it’s a winner: It cleverly cuts right to Batman’s essence—and in doing so explains the ingenuity of Bill’s character construction. Bill was the first writer to give a superhero a psychological reason for fighting crime. This made Batman seem more relatable, and I believe is a big part of why he remains popular today.

Winner #3: Bob Kane's secret identity: Bill Finger.
Submitted by: chicoperdido815
Why it’s a winner: Several entries play with the relationship between Bill and Bob and I feel this one does it best because it seems more about implying Bill’s contribution than vilifying Bob’s transgression. Though I don’t believe Bill’s legacy is tied to Bob, this particular approach nonetheless rings right to me.

The runners-up (again in order of submission):

Runner-up #1: Great unsung tinker? Surely Bill Finger!
Submitted by: Kristian9K
Why I like it: Coincidence! Though the submitter could not have known this, Bill was nicknamed “Tink” in high school. Bill’s yearbook photo is reprinted in my author’s note, and will be posted here along with the copy showing the nickname.

Runner-up #2:
Dear Bill Finger,
Thanks.
Signed,
Everybody
Submitted by: name not published
Why I like it: It’s so kind-hearted.

Runner-up #3: Marc Rightly Finger'd Kane Robin' Bill.
Submitted by: name not published
Why I like it: Though several entries include puns—as Bill sometimes did, and as my book does to pay tribute to that—I feel this one is the most inventive because of the way it uses “Robin.”

To the three winners: congrats. I will be in touch for mailing addresses, after which I will send your signed copies promptly.

Thank you to all who participated. Even if you didn’t win, so many of you indeed captured a wonderful way of looking at Bill Finger’s legacy. I am touched at how poignantly a man none of us knew personally can be honored, and in only six words.

“Boys of Steel” vs. “Bill the Boy Wonder”

Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman superhero Superman Batman form of “boy” in title? yes yes familiar phrase title alludes to “Man of Steel” “Robin the Boy Wonder” cover superhero silhouette looming over creators looking to right, yellow background, slanted text superhero silhouette looming over creator looking to right, yellow background, slanted text (but this similarity to Boys of Steel was not calculated!) received first proofs in November while mother-in-law visiting? yes
yes
released in July… 2008 2012 gimmick story proper does not contain word “Superman” story contains puns involving words “bat,” “Bill,” and “Finger” (nod to the fact that some of Finger’s stories also contained puns) number of rejections 22 34 common suggestion in rejections: skew it… older younger Junior Library Guild Selection? yes yes one way to look at it two friends unified by a great idea two “friends” divided by a great idea another way two “little” guys against a big company two guys against each other Biblical parallel David and Goliath Cain (Kane) and Abel worked on it summer of… 2005 (when a Batman movie came out) 2006 (when a Superman movie came out) single line on back cover
“Before Metropolis, Smallville, and Krypton, Superman came from Cleveland.” “Batman’s biggest secret is not Bruce Wayne.”

Fun closing fact: The husband of Bill Finger’s niece is Joe Shuster’s second cousin. This, however, will never be on Jeopardy!

Bill Finger's sister is not in my book, part 2 of 2

Part 1.

The story so far: I was searching for Emily, the only sister/sibling of Bill Finger, uncredited co-creator of Batman; since she was born in 1918 and I knew only her maiden name, I was not confident I would find her. After spending hours futilely looking through vital records in the New York Public Library, I made two lists.

reasons why Bill's sister may not be in NYC Birth Indexes:

she was not born in NYC, although that seems unlikelyher paperwork got lost in the influenza epidemic of 1918her family didn’t file her birth (could she have been born at home?)she was born under another name (i.e. to a family member or friend, and the Fingers immediately adopted her?)“Emily” was actually her middle name or nicknameshe was not who I thought she was
reasons why Bill's sister may not be in NYC Death Indexes:

she is, but under a married (or otherwise changed) name I don’t knowher death went unreportedshe died after 1982she died outside NYCshe isn’t dead
In other words, all I confirmed is that no one with the name “Emily Finger” died in NYC between 1930-1982.

Eventually I realized another way I could use death to determine if Emily was alive.

The New York City Death Index revealed that Bill and Emily’s parents had died within six weeks of each other in 1961, but did not name not their final resting place. I’d been assuming that the Jewish cemeteries of the Bronx would be too numerous to check. Then I learned that most Bronx Jews were buried in one of two cemeteries in New Jersey. I called the first and asked if these particular Fingers were there.

They were.

I asked who was maintaining the graves.

Some cemeteries won’t give out a name. But this one did.

It was Emily.

Luckily, her married name was unusual, and I quickly found her listing online. I called, possibly more nervous than the first time I called a girl my own age. She answered. And like that, I was connected to Bill’s closest living relative and the person who went back the furthest with him.

However, my excitement was short-lived. After all my efforts to track her down, she declined to answer most of my questions. She wouldn’t tell me why but did say that she and Bill had been estranged since even before Batman began. She barely even knew of his role in Batman, nor did she seem to care. She was tired and apologized that she had virtually nothing to contribute.

Bill was estranged from his parents, too. They had pressured him to be a doctor, which didn't interest him. When he became a comics writer, they apparently would wait outside the office on payday and make Bill hand over his checks for the family. For these reasons, and possibly others, I imagine Bill developed resentment toward his mom and dad. I suspect this was the cause of the estrangement between them, and that Emily sided with their parents.

Close as I came, I ultimately had to accept that a significant part of Bill Finger, his sister Emily and her memories, will have to remain a mystery. I just couldn’t sway her.

But I did find her.

1937

2009

Bill Finger's sister is not in my book, part 1 of 2

Bill Finger, uncredited co-creator of Batman, had only one sibling, a sister born in 1918 (four years after him).

She and Bill had been estranged since the late 1930s for reasons no one alive but her seem to know—and she’s not talking. Bill never mentioned her publicly and apparently, never privately either; even his second wife did not know he had a sister. As of this writing, she is still alive.

At one point, the story of how I found her was going to be in Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman. However, with so many good stories to include, some good ones had to be cut, and hers was one.

So here it is—and expanded far beyond what I would’ve had space for in print:

No comics historians I talked to during my research knew that toward the end of Bill’s life, he had married a second time. As these things so often go, I stumbled upon ES (to protect privacy) without knowing that I should be looking for her. The moment was jubilant and became one of the first “behind-the-scenes” research stories I posted on this blog. But what made it pivotal was a casual comment ES made about Bill, something else no comics historians knew: his actual first name. (Hint: It was not Bill.)

A short biographical sketch of Bill ran in Green Lantern #1, in 1941. (Bill co-created him, too.) In the bio, Bill is referred to as an “only son.” This clouded my thinking for a while, but then it hit me like a gloved sock to the jaw: “only son” does not automatically mean “only child.”

Bill’s given name and the “only son” recalibration collided in my mind, catapulting me several months back to when I had struck out trying to find his family in census records.

Armed with my new knowledge, I revisited a particular census record and confirmed that I only thought I had struck out. That record indeed listed the right Fingers: Bill (but under his given name, which I’d learned only after first seeing the record), his parents (whose names I hadn’t known previously)…and his younger sister/lone sibling, Emily.

I figured Emily would be either deceased or close to impossible to find because she’d almost certainly have a married name. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t look for her. There would be things about Bill that only she would know.

Emily was born in 1918, most likely in New York. In 2006, attempting to find her middle name with the hope that it would narrow the search, I went through the New York City Birth Indexes of 1918-1920. A reference librarian told me that it was rare for someone not to appear in the index. Yet I found no Emily there.

I also spent hours combing through the New York Death Index (from 1930 to 1982) and obituaries of girls with her first name born in 1918, hoping to come across one whose maiden name was Finger, or one whose parents’ names matched the names of Bill’s parents, or even just one born in the Bronx. I found none of the above.

So I made two lists.

Part 2.

Six pages...post-death

Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman comprises nineteen spreads (plus the first page).
The last three spreads take place after Bill Finger passes away.

In other words, six pages post-death. Plus a six-page author’s note.

This is one story where death is not the end...

9,000 retailers

Ingram sent this to 9,000 retailers:

Regardless of what it means for the book, that's 9,000 more people who may see the "Batman created by Bob Kane" credit in the film and mentally add "but mostly Bill Finger."