does bob kane get too much fame for makeing batman
- Thread starter drychlick
- Start date
Same can be said of Stan Lee and Kirby/Ditko/Romita/Heck/et al.
Hey Original Poster... you just TRYING to be 'cool' or are you really think we're gonna just go 'Yeah Kane issa hack he shuld fuck off'. First, dude's dead. Second. Ideas are ideas. Kane wrote the stories Finger and the others drew them. They're all important. Kind of a useless nothing thread.
Hey Original Poster... you just TRYING to be 'cool' or are you really think we're gonna just go 'Yeah Kane issa hack he shuld fuck off'. First, dude's dead. Second. Ideas are ideas. Kane wrote the stories Finger and the others drew them. They're all important. Kind of a useless nothing thread.
Settle the hell down, it was a legitimate question as there has been question in the past as to the proper credits for the Batman comics and origin.
Your ignorance is astounding! Bob Kane was an artist NOT a writer! Bill Finger was the writer!
Nardpuncher
Rear Admiral
Bottom line is that Bob Kane's father got a lawyer to go over his first Batman contact. Which is why Kane had a much better deal than Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Bill Finger was considered an employee of Bob Kane. So while Finger did as much, likely more, in the creation of Batman only Kane got credit. Bill Finger died in 1974. IF he had lived he may have fought and earned credit along with with Siegel and Shuster in the late 1970s. He had no children either.
We don't really know how much Bill Finger contributed. Kane did come up with the idea for the character and the character designs were all his and he was the guy who hired Bill Finger to write the book for him. Still how much imput did Kane have on the storylines? It's possible that he and Finger were equal contributors in coming up with the stories or that Kane may have come up with the stories himself but lacked a flair for writing and Finger simply wrote dialogue for them. We don't really know. More than likely it was an equal partnership as far as the book goes if not the profits. I do know that over the years that Kane has stated that he wished he had given Bill Finger more credit while he was still alive. So while it's clear that Kane had a bit of an ego it's just as clear that he wasn't completely heartless.
That is faint praise. Yes he did express those regrets but even until his later years Kane took credit for others work. Until the 60s he was still the sole artist credited to the Batman books. Long after he was working on the titles. That was a legal thing. But he perpetuated this fiction to fans who where unaware. Only speaking candidly about it with people who had foreknowledge of the situation.
Much is documented about Bill Finger's contributions to Batman. Suggesting changes to Kane's design. Making a domino mask into a cowl. Hard rigid batwings became a cape that only looked like batwings when he was swinging on a rope.
Bill Finger came up with the character that we know today. Kane's original idea had something to do with Batman in a bright red costume. Finger is the man behind the curtain if you ask me. He got screwed over. It's very common in the comic industry to refer to being "Fingered" if a writer feels they aren't getting enough credit.
Considering a handful of your most recent posts, this isn't exactly a good pattern to be developing, Nick. Lose the personal attacks.
As I understand it from reading the History of Batman book published about ten years ago, Bill Finger was the one who came up with the idea that Batman was a crime fighter because his parents had been murdered. In other words, he established the psychological core of the character. To that end, it seems to me that he ought to get co-creator credit.
Hell, same can be said of Gene Roddenberry.
Seminal ideas matter most. Some thirty years ago there was a book ranking the "100 most influential people in history" that started a lot of arguments (that's what it was intended to do, I think). The author listed Mohammed as more influential than Christ based on the fact that Mohammed was directly involved in the formation of the religion based on his teachings. That's a fair point, but nonetheless Christ remains a far better known figure than St Paul.
In this case, I think Finger's contributions equal, or possibly even outweigh, Kane's. Finger reconcieved the character near completely from Kane's original concept. The only things that remained were a name and that he was a vigilante. Kane still contributed to the revisions of course, but Finger was the creative force behind the character and his themes. Without both of them, the character would either not exist or be completely unrecognizable (even in the first issue), which is a fair argument for equal credit for both.
Kane was a hack, liar, plagiarist, scoundrel, scam artist. I highly recommend those still believing Kane "created Batman" read the three part series over at Dial B for Blog which sheds ample light on Mr. Kane:
Part 1 is here:
http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/389/
Part 1 is here:
http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/389/
It was the other way around.
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