Marc Tyler Nobleman's Blog, page 49

"The Caped Crusade" by Glen Weldon

Author, NPR personality, and hilarious tweeter Glen Weldon's latest book is The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture, and it's racked up rave reviews. 


I'm honored to be acknowledged in it.



The biggest honor, however, goes to Bill Finger, to whom the book is movingly dedicated.

"Excels in every regard" - "Times Herald" (MI) on "Brave Like My Brother"

A roundup in the USA Today-owned Times Herald titled "Books that explore emotions" breaks new children's releases into two categories, books to borrow and books to buy. Brave Like My Brother is under the latter, with this most kind comment:

"Thoroughly engaging on every account, Brave Like My Brother excels in every regard."


Thank you!

All known Bill Finger photos (as of now)

Prior to the start of my Bill Finger research in 2006, only two photos of Bill were generally known, the only two that the few books on Batman's history had used and reused. A third Bill photo had been published in 1941 in Green Lantern #1, but that's not an issue most people have on their coffee tables so it was mostly forgotten (plus very grainy). A fourth was published in a 1965 comic convention program, but it, too, is too grainy for its own good.

Despite what some comics folks told me, there were more photos of Bill...quite a few more. To date I have turned up 12, plus a 13th surfaced in DC Vault, a 2008 book. Speaking of 2008, starting then I've posted most of the ones I uncovered. Here they all are in one shot: 


There is at least one other we know of that may be Bill, but I didn't include it because both Bill's longtime writing partner Charles Sinclair and his second wife Lyn Simmons independently said that it is not Bill. Still, you may see it this fall...

Rooftop twilight photo shoot

On 7/6/16, at 8 pm, a clandestine meeting took place on the top floor of an otherwise deserted DC-area parking garage...and neither party was named Deep Throat II.

It was much more mundane—but still fun. Bethesda Magazine is doing a story on my Bill Finger efforts for the September/October 2016 issue and wanted some dramatic, Gothamesque photos to go along with it.

Moody twilight sky: check.
Sleek, tall(ish) buildings: check.
Imposing physique with intimidating expression: oops.

Two out of three was good enough. 






The photographer, Michael, took some shots with me standing with one foot on a small guard rail and the other on a small stepladder he'd brought. When I suggested I stand instead on a (fairly wide) ledge that would offer a more striking skyline background, he nervously agreed, saying it's usually the other way around: usually he is asking the subject to do something anxiety-producing.



Not your father's—or anyone else's—Batman.
The shoot mildly and temporarily freaked out a couple of people who had just moved into the building behind me (which is new and which Michael thought was still vacant).

In an hour's span, from sunset to near-dark, we were done.

Thank you, Michael and son, for your time and graciousness. 

Meet the "Flintstones" routine

In high school, I was also in the international Jewish youth group B'nai B'rith Youth Organization. Just like I now compile stray thoughts as possible fodder for books I write, I then compiled random ideas as possible fodder for the skits my friends and I would do at the biannual BBYO conventions—two highly-anticipated nights in a hotel with no parents.

I reminisced about one of those skits after Michael Jackson died.

Another came about almost subconsciously, inspired by a cartoon I didn't even like—The Flintstones. (The main thing it had going against it: it was not Scooby-Doo.)

I had a cassette of classic TV show theme songs, and one, of course, was The Flintstones. (Though I found the show meh, how can you not like that theme?) 

One day when it came on, I found myself doing a (for lack of a better word) "routine" along with it. It wasn't a dance—that's above my pay grade. Almost nothing more than my hands were involved. When the music spiked up, so did my right hand. When it spiked down, so did my left hand. It all felt natural, like a universal script everyone would immediately understand. I unlocked a more "complex" routine for the closing theme and did them back-to-back—for no one.

That is, until I showed my friends. Through a turn of events lost to memory, my "Flintstones" bit became our next BBYO skit (the night of 11/19/88). It was relatively easy to learn. I thought that the more people who did it in sync, the funnier it was. Our skit had nine, all boys. We wore Ruach shorts ("Ruach," Hebrew for "spirit," was the name of our Connecticut chapter)—and nothing else. I'll spare you those photos.

So simple, so silly…and so well-received. In its favor: it was unexpected and it revolved around a catchy song everyone had known most of their lives.

On 4/28/90, during the talent show at our final convention, my friends and I redid every skit we'd put on during our time in BBYO. We called it "Ruach's Greatest Skits." (That selfishly ate up about 30 minutes of an event that was probably supposed to last only an hour.) For "Flintstones," we wore the same shorts…but also a sweatshirt from the respective colleges we'd be attending in the fall. (It was an act of mercy for the audience.)




One of those friends, Seth, went to the same college as I did (Brandeis University). Seth and I joined the college comedy troupe. As a duet, in sensible pants, almost two years to the day we first did "Flintstones," we delivered its final performance.


That is, until I showed my kids almost 25 years later.

And this time, it was filmed.

(I bring this up now partly just because and partly because this week, DC Comics launched a reimagined Flintstones series—which has gotten some scathing reviews but also some decent ones. I haven't read it but presume it's sorely lacking in hand jive.)


My bit has also gone through a bit of a reimagining. Well, I changed one gesture (and did not shout out "yabba dabba doo" with Fred): what was originally a slap is now the more sensitive snapping of a stick. (And I'm back to shorts.)  

Return with me now to the silly days of yesteryear...

When two heroes aren't enough

Team-up stories with more than two superhero (or villain) logos on the cover:

 1964; not quite logos

 1972; no logos but perhaps because there
wouldn't have been room

 1973; the "Plus?" was Two-Face,
who I'm counting even though it's
only a tease

 1975; all three headliners are Bill Finger creations

 1975

 1976; only one co-star logo but the
other three are named and do appear 
more prominently on the cover of the
next issue (part 2)


 1977; in most of the Brave and Bold team-ups
with multiple co-stars, one of them was
Green Arrow

 1978; the fourth co-star was...
no, not Green Arrow...Sherlock Holmes

 1983; also made this list

 1984

 1986; one of the weirder
type treatments...why not just
use the existing logos?

 1986

2010

Am I missing any?

Superman and Robin/Nightwing cover team-ups

If Superman and Batman are the World's Finest, let's say Superman and Robin/Nightwing are the Globe's Greatest.

 strikingly illustrated by Evan "Doc" Shaner
The start:

1955(thanks J.L. Bell!)
And then...

 1971
 1981
 1983, with Elongated Manbeing the exception to "solely";
also made this list 
 1992
 1992
 1998
 1999
 2000
 2005
2016 

A few covers focusing on Superman/Robin but also including other heroes:
 1969
 1981
 1999
Superman/Robin co-starring in other media:
 Superman: The Animated Series, "Knight Time"1998
Sorry, Ralph.

A few fun interiors showing the relationship between the Man of Steel and the Boy Wonder.

Am I missing any covers that focus solely on Superman and Robin or Nightwing?

"Survivor"-themed 12th birthday party

Twelve 12-year-olds.

Nine challenges.

Four hours.

One Survivor!

plates for eating large or small pig snouts
For the second time, we threw our daughter a Survivor-themed birthday party.

I thought the planning would be easier because I already had a blueprint from two years ago, and that did help, but I couldn't simply rinse and repeat. First of all, the participants were two years older so some challenges had to be a bit harder. Second, seven of the twelve participants had played the first time and I wanted to give them a different experience.

Of the nine challenges, five were new. Of the five new, two were multi-step.

The day ended up being quite a bit more humid this time (so we skipped applying tribal face paint), but luckily the threat of a thunderstorm evaporated.

Also this time, the girls were considerably savvier. They made valuable suggestions on how to improve the game. For example, they advised me to shuffle the votes before reading them to prevent players from figuring out who voted for whom.

Last time I forgot to tell the girls about the hidden immunity idol (but one found it anyway).

This time I forgot to take a photo of the rewards, which included a Survivor board game, Survivor-style middle grade novels by Jeff Probst and Chris Tebbetts (signed by Chris!), and a disposable underwater camera (which will require the winner to get photos developed the old-fashioned way for the first time in her life).

See the recap from last time for the overall structure and fun details.

See here for highlights from this time:

 blue (water) tribe, which they named Einhorn(tribe names could not be an English word;"einhorn" means "unicorn" in German)
  orange (fire) tribe, which they named Bae("poop" in Danish)

 tribal council
(tiki torches were on site—see previous photo—but not snuffed out for each person voted out; they looked too cool lit)
 voting table; can you spot the hidden immunity idol?
 there it is
 tribe and individual immunity, same as last time(both from Guam, my first international author trip)
 table for water and two individual challenges
 dinner and Survivor clips so they know what they're getting into
 challenge 1: communication; tribes had to complete five tasks without talking; winner was the tribe that was faster three out of five times; here they're building a human pyramid;other tasks: put yourselves in order of birth date
(month/day only), then house number
 using their bodies to spell out answer to question"What day in June marks the end of school?"


 tribal council
 voting
 challenge 2: coordination;one Survivor had to assemble a cardboard box, then rest of the tribe had to pass five tribe-colored popsicle sticks down the line one at a time and drop them in the box—
without using their hands;if box assembler couldn't finish it, she could tag in someone else—but they'd have to add a sixth stick

 challenge 3: aim;tribes had to complete three challenges that required aim;winner was the tribe that was faster two out of three times; here they are on second-floor deck trying to throw a cardboard roll into the relatively small opening of a patio umbrella cover held by their tribemates below (each tribe member had to get it in once)


 challenge 4: puzzle;a repeat from the first time, and a personal favorite; tribes had to complete identical, 100-piece, jungle-themed puzzles;only when they got to the end could they tell that one piece was missing;to win, they had to find the piece, hidden somewhere in the yard (some players remembered from last time that there was a hidden piece but still had to complete 99 pieces before searching)
 I did not hide the same piece from each puzzle so a tribemight find and try to use the wrong piece (which did indeed happen);however, one piece I hid was mostly green and the other had some blue,so the girls rightfully pointed out that this was not fair becausethe blue one was easier to spot

challenge 5 (first individual challenge): unusual food;round 1: rhubarb/fish sauce/curry powder mixture;round 2: anchovies;round 3 (same as last time): crickets; yes, bugs (but bugs that are flavored and sold in candy stores)


 tribal council tiebreaker: walk while balancing a cup of water (thought up on the spot; we had no ties last time and I didn't expect any this time)
 the only snag (literally): the individual immunity idol necklacegot stuck in the hair of one Survivor;another Survivor rescued her
challenge 6 (no photo): knowledge/deduction; I asked series of Survivor-related true or false questions; Survivors who thought the answer was true moved to my left,false to my right;the process of elimination was fairly quick (on the second question!)
 challenge 7: strength/stamina;Survivors had to hold themselves up by one arm
 challenge 8: balance;Survivors had to stack candy hearts; winner was Survivor who stacked the most (but it was not a race); prior to this, the highest I'd seen was 11; here, one Survivor (who had already been voted out, unfortunately)stacked 23!
 challenge 9: memory;I showed Survivors a sequence of island-related images(palm tree, turtle, campfire, footprint, shell, spear, skull); they had to recreate the order with their matching set;I started with sequences of four and worked up to seven

 final three (the winner is on the right)

Fierce competitors!Girl power!Survivors all!

"Tension escalates" - "Publishers Weekly" on "Brave Like My Brother"

Blurb about Brave Like My Brother in Publishers Weekly (6/13/16):



The structure of the book—namely, that most of the letters are from the older brother to the younger brother—was designed to challenge kids to read context clues and employ deductive reasoning to fill in blanks, and teachers are reporting that this is indeed what is happening. One reader noted that the "gaps that only help recreate the war correspondence feel."

Thank you!

Soundtrack to the Bill Finger film in my head

While researching and writing Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman beginning in the summer of 2006, I regularly did something else solitary: went running. Music is one of my top passions but I can't listen while writing, so running provides a triple win: the chance to listen to music; exercise, of course; and the chance to be in nature (which is not where I keep my computer and desk).

Several songs came to symbolize Bill Finger's story for me, and when they came on my iPod while I was running, I sometimes imagined them running along with the end credits of a feature film about Bill's life: 

  "Live in a Hiding Place" by Idlewild
(aptly, the video starts with a man typing)
 "Lousy Reputation" by We Are Scientists
"Try" by Billy Pilgrim (eventually used in the book trailer)
A movie that could happen…