Marc Tyler Nobleman's Blog, page 89

Ty Templeton shows us Batman if Bill Finger did not exist

Inspired in some part by my campaign to see a Bill Finger Google doodle on his 100th birthday (2/8/14), Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman artist Ty Templeton, my partner in Crime Alley, gifted the world with something no one I know of has thought of before: a comic sequence starring Batman as created by Bob Kane.


Think of it as It’s a Wonderful Life, comic book edition.

The uninformed may be scratching their heads saying “Wait, every Batman story features Batman as created by Bob Kane.”

Not even close.

In this case, the revisionist history came first—Kane is not the sole creator, or even the main creator, of the Dark Knight.

Ty did not stop with the cartoon. He also offers a number of custom badges that anyone can freely use to spread the word. Here are a couple of my favorites:



Of course, should you use any, please credit Ty. This is, after all, for a guy who was not credited...

Thanks to Ty, and these kind folks, and what feels like a quarter of everyone on Twitter, the truth is finally breaking up from the underground, cracking Kane’s gravestone to reach the light.

Bill Finger Google doodle: "Hollywood Reporter"

Bill Finger never saw California in person, but now, forty years after his death, he is going Hollywood.

Hollywood Reporter , that is.

Batman supports the underdog so let’s keep supporting the underdog behind Batman...

Skyping with the “Addicted to Love” women

Building up to the Grammys, Yahoo did a short video interview with four of the five “Addicted to Love” women I tracked down and interviewed for my “girl in the video” series last year. (Where are you, Julie Pankhurst?)

As of this writing, there are close to 1,000 comments, most of which I did not read, but this one made me laugh: “THEY WENT ON TO LIVE DIFFERENT LIVES??! You mean they don’t all live together in a house, walking around all slinky like in short black dresses!?”

Bill Finger Google doodle: Comic Book Resources on "Washington Post" coverage

A week after first covering my push to honor Bill Finger with the Google doodle on 2/8/14, his 100th birthday, the Robot 6 column on Comic Book Resources again covered it, this time focusing on the Washington Post coverage of the same!

Bill Finger Google doodle: "USA Today"

“I hope Finger gets his day, even if the attention comes several decades too late. Props to Marc for working so hard to make sure he's remembered.”

On 1/21/14, Whitney Matheson of USA Today ’s “Pop Candy” kindly threw heavyweight support behind my home-stretch effort to honor Bill Finger’s 100th birthday slash staggering cultural contribution with the 2/8/14 Google doodle.

 

Thank you again, Whitney. So appreciated.

Kevin Smith and I talk about Bill Finger for an hour

KEVIN SMITH.

That is all.


Who am I kidding? That is not all.

I was the guest for the 1/20/14 Fat Man on Batman podcast—first of the new year, first of the year of Bill’s 100th birthday.



Though Kevin prefers in-studio interviews, we have tried and failed for months to be in the same city at the same time; given the time-sensitive nature of lobbying Google about my idea for the 2/8/14 doodle, Kevin for the first time recorded over Skype.

We had the video on for only a moment before shutting it off to improve sound quality. In that one moment, I did not look good:


Apparently, kibitzing with Kevin about one’s book does wonders for one’s Amazon rank (screen shot from a few hours after the podcast went online):

 (Before the show, it was six figures.)
And, if one of the comments can be taken as omen, it could also be good for one’s nonexistent film career:

“This has to be a film. Starring and directed by Ben Affleck. Guaranteed Oscar gold.”
People seemed to like the podcast.
Thank you again, Kevin (and Meg, Will, and Ashley). I look forward to seeing you soon...

Tanzania school, day 1: UFO crash

My first day of speaking at a school in Tanzania was hugely memorable on two counts.

First, because I was speaking at a school in Tanzania.

Second, because the night before I arrived, a UFO crashed on the grounds.

The story:

On 1/20/14, I presented to four groups on my first of four days at the International School of Tanganyika in Dar es Salaam—one large assembly and three humor workshops.
 
gym in which the group assembly was held
 spacious library in which the workshops were held
This library so far from home held many reminders of home—books by (and, in at least one case, about) author/illustrator friends of mine:




(Not pictured: books by other friends including Jenni and Matt Holm and Chris Barton.)

Seen around the campus:

 

I loved the school and the kids seemed wonderfully engaged during my talks. 

But I was not the biggest buzz on campus.

It’s hard to compete with evidence of alien life.

Upon arriving (just shy of 7:30 a.m.), we saw a phalanx of heavy-duty guards standing around something covered by a tarp and blocked off by yellow caution tape:


I heard kids speculating it was a fallen satellite, a bomb, or a big crab…any of which would have been scary in their own ways.

At some point during my assembly, the tarp came off and the jaws dropped:





Because it sure looked like a UFO. And I had just talked about Superman, who was sent to Earth in a small spaceship...not unlike what this resembles.

Part of the ground around it was scorched. The kicked-up soil was reddish, different than the brown dirt underneath. Some kids even reported seeing something white moving inside, and some found green goo on the ground nearby.

Some brave boys took soil samples.
By day’s end, even parents were crowding around the mysterious, metallic object. 
We were told scientists would be coming out later this week to examine it.

One scientist, however, had been on the scene from the start. She is in 1st grade:


Soon after the staff and kids learned of the object, one enterprising teacher put up canvases nearby for people to write what they thought it was. The answers are fascinating and often funny:  



I am hoping the mystery will be solved by my last day here…

Tanzania, day 1

On 1/18/74 (the 40th anniversary of the death of Bill Finger, not that that is related), I stepped foot on both Asian and African soil for the first time.

En route to four days of author presentations at the International School of Tanganyika in Tanzania, I had a layover in Dubai (where, I learned in late December, I will be returning to in April).

Upon landing in Tanzania after nearly a day of travel, Karen Choan, my kind and thorough host, greeted me at the chaotic airport. American born, she’s worked at schools in Peru and China, among other far-flung locales.

Notes from my first day in Africa:

As per the prescription, I began taking my malaria pills two days before travel. They say a side effect of these pills is nightmares. So far, nada. But I actually hope I get one...it has been a while.

I learned that the entire country of Tanzania has only four movie theaters.

The Tanzanian woman at the front desk of my hotel asked if I would bring a pair of shoes to her friend who lives in Maryland.

In the city of Dar es Salaam, traffic at some intersections (even ones with traffic lights) is directed by police officers, and some don’t seem to be doing an especially efficient job. At one light, we waited for about ten minutes.

Police corruption is pervasive; I am told of an incident in which an officer opened the passenger side door of a car in a parking lot, got in, and would not leave until the driver paid him off.

“Mambo” is a greeting meaning “hello.”

I will first be saying  “mambo” at 6:30 a.m. each day I speak at the school, since that is my pick-up time.

  Virtually the first thing I saw deplaning. I, unfortunately, am here as an MTN Tanzania customer.

 The shopping complex my hotel, Slipway, is in. (The hotel is in the background, 
with that blue, curved overhang. That triple-domed pavilion is 
a restaurant where apparently I will be eating a lot.)

  Kilimanjaro-brand water, and bed draped with mosquito netting. (So far, not a one, inside or out.)


An English-language bookshop right below the hotel. It had a section of books for young readers, but almost none by authors I know.

The other restaurant where I will eat most days; it's on a bay off the Indian Ocean.
  Deciding which style to go for. Imagine each overlaid on the next photo 
and send suggestions. Seriously, most anything is better than this:




The pool at the hotel. Where I am going now. Seriously, my family will shake their heads (and maybe smack mine) when they find out I worked during off-duty hours while in Africa.

Bill Finger Google doodle: "Washington Post" coverage

Thank you, Michael Cavna, for covering in the Washington Post the campaign to score Bill Finger the Google doodle for his 100th birthday (and clever to run it on the 40th anniversary on his death):

Kidlit authors reading bad reviews on "School Library Journal" and Fuse #8

I put together a series of videos in which authors of books for young people confront their demons by reading aloud their worst reviews posted online.

The Fuse #8 blog at School Library Journal mentioned our misery.

Thank you, Betsy! Join us, Betsy!


And School Library Journal itself also covered this: