The Real Creator of Batman

I recently found out myself while surfing wikipedia that the person who I had thought for many years to be the creator of Batman had very little to do with the creation of the character.

Kane created a character called "Birdman". His collaborator Bill Finger offered such suggestions as renaming the character "Batman", giving the character a cowl instead of a simple domino mask, giving him a cape instead of wings, giving him gloves, and removing bright red sections of the original costume. Finger wrote the first Batman story, while Kane provided art. Because Kane had already submitted the proposal for a Batman character to his editors at DC Comics, Kane was the only person given official credit at the time for the creation of Batman.

The character was a breakout hit, but National sought to improve sales even further. Editors suggested that the character receive a youthful sidekick who the readers could use as an audience surrogate. Kane initially suggested an impish character like Puck, while Finger suggested a more down-to-earth character, Robin.

Kane, the more business-savvy of the Kane-Finger creative team, negotiated a contract with National, signing away any ownership that he might have in the character in exchange for, among other compensations, a mandatory byline on all Batman comics stating "Batman created by Bob Kane", regardless of whether he was involved in the specific issue. Bill Finger's contract, by comparison, left him with a monetary pittance and no credit even on the stories that he wrote without Kane.

Just thought I'd share
😉

Same thing happened to me when i found out about the Ditko/Lee relationship.

I always thought of Stan Lee as a legend, but after watching a documentary about comics & specifically spiderman i came to realise that Steve Ditko was so much better than Stan Lee in terms of comic creativity it was unbelivable. Dont get me wrong i still respect Stan Lee & think everything he has done for comics will never be bettered, i just dont like the way Ditko got screwed over.

From what i remember of it, it was pretty much the same story as above. Ditko comong up with most of the specific details (the webbing pattern on the costume, etc) but because Lee had the actual idea in the first place he reaped all the rewards.

They also went on to say how they fell out over the commisions/money for the stories which ended up with Ditko leading a pretty meager life where as Lee pretty much became king of Marvel.

as i said, gawd bless you Ditko!!!!

as a side point, is it just me or is Stan Lee REALLY annoying when he does his interviews about comic characters. he's all arms, big eyes and scary hair. It just leaves me wanting to crack the guy right in the mouth. But the fear of his fragile body crumbling into dust puts me off.

But only just.

Oh, Stan Lee... apparently the X-Men were the result of writer's block. Seems fair enough, why come up with origin stories for every super-powered character when you can just say "hey, they were born like that". That's innovation.
Anyway, comics are a surprisingly cutthroat business. As I recall, the creators of Superman lost all rights to the character and received no credit whatsoever until much later on when they were awarded a yearly salary from DC and credited in Superman stories as the creators.

True...when I create my comic book company,I'm not handing over the rights until I get old.And Stan Lee's cool,he created some very original and unique characters and his writing was gold.

Stan Lee is ALWAYS giving Ditko credit for what he did.He calls him the co-creator,despite the fact that Stan truly believes that the person who comes up with the idea for the character is the creator.But Stan has enough respect for Ditko that he happily shares the title of co-creator.

Stan Lee is a great man.

Bill Finger never get's the credit for what he did for Batman and his villains.Bob Kane hogs all the glory.

Isn't Stan Lee 83 years old?And how old is Ditko and John Romita Sr.?John Romita Sr. did a lot of good work on Spider-Man,his drawing was just sensational.

Don't know how old they are.

I think Ditko is dead.....

Bob Kane drew Batman first...thus he's the creator of Batman. Writting and storylines are a different thing. Finger only made suggestions which Bob accepted. And let's not get into Stan Lee...or else we'll have the issue with Jack Kirby.

Im not saying Stan Lee is crap i just dont like the way his is considered a God.

I loved the guy when i first started to read comics but after i found out about all the old days stuff it kinda took the gleam off the guy in my opinion.

Its kinda like how you prefer the VW Beatle to begin with then after a coupla years you look at the camper van and think ''you know, thats pretty cool too''

Stan Lee is the god of Marvel

Originally posted by WindDancer
Bob Kane drew Batman first...thus he's the creator of Batman. Writting and storylines are a different thing. Finger only made suggestions which Bob accepted. And let's not get into Stan Lee...or else we'll have the issue with Jack Kirby.

If you read the quote you'll see what Kane drew and what batman is are two very different things. 😉

Im not sure what you mean about storylines and writing. The quote says finger wrote while kane drew. Doesnt say Kane had anything at all to do with any aspect of the writing.

By storyline and writting I was implying that Bill Finger was a writer. I'm not sure if he was an artist like Bob was. From what I know both are credited with the creation of Batman. However, Finger has been recognize for his collaborations and suggestions in writting stories for Batman and also certain changes to the character.

Here, from your same source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman#Publication_history

Originally posted by WindDancer
By storyline and writting I was implying that Bill Finger was a writer. I'm not sure if he was an artist like Bob was. From what I know both are credited with the creation of Batman. However, Finger has been recognize for his collaborations and suggestions in writting stories for Batman and also certain changes to the character.

Here, from your same source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman#Publication_history

Cuting out the areas that help support your point makes alot more sense than linking to enormous page like that. Though Im still not sure what your point is...

Fact is every Batman movie and comic contains the line created by bob kane. Or something to that effect, with no mention of Finger. When in reality Kane had very little to do with creating the character as we know him.

When in reality Kane had very little to do with creating the character as we know him.

That is disputable. We only know certain facts after all these years. My main objective was the publications history of the character. Like the article says:

"In early 1939, the success of Superman in Action Comics prompted editors at the comic book division of National Publications (later DC Comics, D.C. is short for Detective Comics, now a subsidiary of Time Warner) to request more superheroes for their titles. In response, Bob Kane created a character called "the Bat-Man". His collaborator Bill Finger offered such suggestions as giving the character a cowl instead of a simple domino mask, wearing a cape instead of wings, wearing gloves, and removing the red sections from the original costume. Finger wrote the first Batman story and Kane provided the art. Because Kane had already submitted the proposal for a Batman character to his editors at DC Comics, Kane was the only person given official credit at the time for the creation of Batman, and is still the sole creator listed to this day."

Originally posted by WindDancer
[b]

That is disputable. We only know certain facts after all these years. My main objective was the publications history of the character. Like the article says:

"In early 1939, the success of Superman in Action Comics prompted editors at the comic book division of National Publications (later DC Comics, D.C. is short for Detective Comics, now a subsidiary of Time Warner) to request more superheroes for their titles. In response, Bob Kane created a character called "the Bat-Man". His collaborator Bill Finger offered such suggestions as giving the character a cowl instead of a simple domino mask, wearing a cape instead of wings, wearing gloves, and removing the red sections from the original costume. Finger wrote the first Batman story and Kane provided the art. Because Kane had already submitted the proposal for a Batman character to his editors at DC Comics, Kane was the only person given official credit at the time for the creation of Batman, and is still the sole creator listed to this day."

Thats weird. seems wikipedia is contradicting itself. Your quote says Kane named the character batman. While mine says FInger did.

Kane created a character called "Birdman". His collaborator Bill Finger offered such suggestions as renaming the character "Batman",

Guess thats the risk of using a site that anyone can edit.

Yup!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051205/ap_on_hi_te/wikipedia_rules

Originally posted by Doc Ock
Stan Lee is the god of Marvel

Yeah,he is but I hated how he used so many damn exclamation marks.It's like,what happened to the beloved periods?

yeah thats what I read recently was that Bill Finger really got the shaft on the deal,that it was really him that was the creater of it.Bob Kane picked the name Bruce wayne and came up with the name Batman is what I read but Bill Finger did everything else with the comic.and yes,that is true what Ock says,stan Lee is always giving credit to steve ditko and has always said he is the co creater of spidey,that he was every bit just as much a part of the creation of spidey as he was,Bill Finger however got the shaft and Bob Kane recieved all the credit and glory when Finger should have gotten most of it.

Seriously though,why did Stan Lee use so many damn exclamation marks?