Does Batman Have A Co-Creater?

As a writer I would be remiss for not supporting the writer in this situation. I'm ashamed to admit I never really thought about it.

That's why we want him credited as a co-creator, Cheshire. Not taking credit away from Kane, but giving Finger credit too.

An excerpt from Eisner/Miller:

Miller: Did you ever read the story that Archie Goodwin wrote that was a parody of Bob Kane's career?

Eisner: No, he did a parody?

Miller: It was about a guy who said he was an artist and hired a writer then hired an artist, so he created a combo, but he wasn't there.

Eisner: I was on the phone the other day with Jerry Robinson who was kind of sad about the whole thing.

Miller: Oh yeah, I've talked with Robinson. Robinson livened an Eisner Awards ceremony when he proposed a new award named after Bill Finger that would be for uncredited writers and artists and would be called "The Finger" and then he flashed his middle finger at the crowd (laughter)!

Eisner: The big thing I remember about Jerry Robinson is that he once said to Bob, "Look, you're very successful now, and you can afford to give me credit for what I did," and Bob said, "I don't see it that way." That was the end of the conversation.

Miller: Geez.

I say we should give Finger credit.

Kane did come up with the idea, true. That's not in dispute.

However, Bill Finger did come up with ideas for the Batman's look that helped make him iconic. I heard that Kane wanted to give Bats a RED costume and more of a domino mask, but Finger gave him a cowl and the black-and-grey outfit.

I got the Batman Begins DVD, and in it was a card with a correction on it:

Art by Bob Kane
Story by Bill Finger

That made me smile.

Truth gets out in the end.

Hmmm... Well, reading the replies I guess I've got the unpopular opinion.

First, I don't want to sound like I don't respect the work of Bill Finger. I do. I know Bob Kane hired a bunch of artists and writers to produce work that he was getting paid for. Bob Kane screwed a lot of people over.

However, almost every writer that embarks onto a title changes and refines a character a little more than what it was before. Batman had a lot of contributors throughout his history that made the Batman what he is today. Same for Superman. Today's Superman is not the same Superman that was created by Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel.

In brief, if you want to credit Bill Finger, you'll have to credit every other contributor who has created any significant part of Batman's legacy. Or you can just credit the man who created the original (and somewhat crude) concept, Bob Kane.

Yeah, I have to agree with Jay. It's not like Finger came along five years later and continued the Batman series. He was with Kane from the beginning s'far as I know...and what i mean when i say that is that before it became a comic Finger had joined in. Kane created the lightbulb, Finger put electricity to it.

With that said, I believed he deserves credit. Any character made nowadays between a creative team is made by both members of the team, unless one person write and drew the character. If a writer makes a character and the artist happens to draw that issue, they both created it. If an artist draws a cool character and the writer pens him in, they are both the creative team. Even more for Finger, he was instrumental in shaping Batman into what he was in Detective Comics, helping Kane to smooth out the rough edges.

And this is why Finger deserves credit.

I think Wizard did an article a few years ago on this too...maybe on the verge of the creation of Batman Begins...I forget...

I have to admit that before that article I had no idea who Bill Finger was. I had never ever heard of him. Now I feel like he has been cheated so bad. Kane is infamous for taking the sole credit of creations...if Siegal and Shuster deserved credit for Superman, and they did, so does Finger.