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Research peaks, rejection horrors, promotion gambles, and other adventures in publishing from a picture book author, "Nickelodeon" writer, and cartoonist.
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Interesting email over the transom recently: the man who wrote this article—who happens to be the father of the then-9-year-old boy the article is about—asked me if Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman is suitable for a now-12-year-old. Meaning is he too old for it.
My all-purpose answer: you’re never too old for Batman.
Nice to meet you, Darren, and thanks for writing. Ari, please let me know what you think of the book.
On 2/11/14, I had the pleasure of speaking at Buttonball Elementary School in Glastonbury and the next day at Wintergreen Interdistrict Magnet School in Hamden; both in Connecticut, both wonderful experiences, both arranged by longtime friends (thank you, Rachel Kramer Cohen and Ingrid Ellinger Doviak), and both, as noted in the post title, compound words.
At Buttonball, a class summarized what they got out of the presentation (and this is, of course, heartening):At Wintergreen, both students and staff dressed as superheroes for my visit; schools often create dynamic displays to welcome authors, but this was the first time any school got into the spirit sartorially:with Ingird/Batgirl and her daughter/Supergirl
Thank you again to all who made these visits possible.
My kind host from my January 2014 visit to an international school in Tanzania sent me the following a few weeks after:
It is at once humbling and heartening. I am most thrilled about seeing Bill, Jerry, and Joe on the list, in such distinguished company (not including me).
Thank you again, Robot 6.
Japanese pilot Nobuo Fujita’s flight over a U.S. state in 1942 was historic yet little-known; it was also quick—the title of my book about this postulates that it lasted only thirty minutes.
My journey to publish this book has lasted seven years.
And on 1/10/14, I finally reached the horizon: Jennifer Greene of Clarion Books made an offer.
I’m beyond thrilled to announce that the book will land in spring 2016.
Thank you to all who have believed in this story.
The best part of it starts now.
From Publishers Marketplace (2/10/14):
Boys of Steel author Marc Tyler Nobleman’s Thirty Minutes Over Oregon, the true story of Nobuo Fujita, the Japanese WWII pilot who became the first and still only person to bomb the United States mainland from a plane—and who returned twenty years later to apologize—to Jennifer Greene at Clarion, for publication in Spring 2016, by Emily van Beek at Folio Literary Management.
Bombs—and jaws—will drop.
Why no Google doodle for Batman co-creator Bill Finger on his 100th birthday yesterday?
Google has not responded to that question.
Possibilities:
- Because the campaign, however fervent and far-reaching, started too late for Google to design/schedule it?
- Because Bill is not officially credited?
- Because DC Comics got involved?
- Because Google prefers to acknowledge non-milestone birthdays (82nd, 103rd, etc.)?
- Because Google somehow didn’t see this as a cultural and moral obligation the way the thousands of fans who emailed them do?
- Because despite their motto, Google is evil after all?
Stepping up where Google let us down, the Bill Finger Appreciation Group not only produced a Google-esque doodle…
…but also a clever rationale behind it:
“We can certainly understand Google’s Olympic-themed doodle as it stands against injustice and discrimination but…that’s exactly what Bill wrote about in his stories. With that in mind, we’ve repurposed the shape of [the 2/7/14] doodle to say thanks to Bill once again for his immense contributions to our culture.”
More protest tweets:- No Google doodle for Bill Finger. That’s busted.
- So, wait, not only did we not get a Bill Finger Google Doodle, but there wasn’t even ANY Google Doodle today? That is some Finger luck
- I guess Google would rather have no doodle than one about the creator of #Batman, Bill Finger. And just when I was happy with them.
- Given the choice of doing a Google Doodle for Bill Finger or just giving us the finger, it looks like Google opted for the latter?
- It’s incredibly frustrating that Google didn’t recognize the importance of Bill Finger.
- So disappointing! Thank you for fighting this good fight & bringing Bill Finger’s story to the world!
- Shame Google didn’t come through, but in any case it you did a lot of good work putting the word out there.
- A shame Google didn’t do anything for Bill Finger’s birthday
- That’s truly a shame.
- I keep checking google just in case #BillFingerDoodle #UnreasonablyOptimistic
- My 8th grade students & I are Bill Finger fans! I share your book to inspire them to change the world & follow the truth!
- Way to drop the ball Google.Happy belated Bill Finger.
- No Google Doodle for Bill Finger. Still, let’s celebrate the co-creator of Batman (or the Bat-Man).
- you know this won’t deter batfans, resolve is everything from this point on #justiceforfinger now we go bigger than google!
- We did not get a Bill Finger Google Doodle today, but he still deserves one, so keep asking for it.
Thank you yet again to the untold thousands who joined this grassroots movement.I am thinking we should keep the effort going now to try again for next year…if all of us tweeted about this and sent an email, and asked our networks to do the same, so that Google is getting emails weekly about this…
At precisely midnight overlooking today, February 8, I tweeted this:
But as the world can see, the passionate movement to get Bill Finger the Google doodle for this milestone did not succeed.
Greatly appreciated support from The Hollywood Reporter, USA Today, Washington Post, Spectator Tribune, Tablet, The Beat, Comic Book Resources, IGN, Bleeding Cool, Comics Alliance, Den of Geek, ComicBook.com, many more sites, Kevin Smith (and his popular podcast Fat Man on Batman), Brad Meltzer, and other notables was not enough to convince Google how culturally significant this day—this man—is.
Most bafflingly, the tremendous outpouring of support from the public was not enough. I cannot thank you all enough. A sampling of early-morning tweets:
- Is there really no Google Doodle at all on Bill Finger’s birthday? Very disappointing.
- So sad that google didn’t come through.
- Insult to injury, @GoogleDoodles. All those proposals for Bill Finger’s 100th and you go with no doodle at all today.
- Your efforts for the likes of Finger, Siegel and Shuster remain incredible and admirable. Sorry Google didn’t come through.
- Well Happy 100th Birthday to Bill Finger. Pretty disappointed @google didn’t do a doodle to celebrate and honor the true Batman creator.
- So, Google hasn’t heeded the petition to have a Google Doodle to celebrate Bill Finger’s 100th birthday.
- happy birthday to Bill Finger, although google didn’t produce, you however did sir!
- Booooooogle
When I saw the (cool) Olympics opening day doodle yesterday, February 7, I worried.
So I did a quick study.
- The only years Google ran an Olympic doodle daily were 2000 and 2012 (both times for the summer games).
- In 2002, they ran a winter doodle on only some of the days.
- In 2010, they ran a winter doodle only on opening day.
- I reasoned that although this doodle actually went online on the evening of February 6, it was probably not technically running two days in a row. I believe it posted when it did because it was already the next day in Russia, where the Olympics are taking place.
It is bummer enough that there is no Bill doodle but somehow even worse that it’s not because there is an Olympic doodle. Seeing the regular Google logo sit motionlessly on the screen stings like a snub.
To be clear, I don’t feel Google owed me anything. But I do feel that we all owe Bill Finger something—and I thought Google was a bunch of geeks (term used lovingly)? Shouldn’t they have wanted to do this even without the massive petition?
Excerpt of my 1/31/14 email to the Google Doodle team leader Ryan Germick:
With only a week and a day till the proposed date for a doodle in honor of the 100th birthday of Batman co-creator Bill Finger, I realize that if it isn’t already in the works, it may be too late. But I’m an optimist.
Thus a brief update on the wildly enthusiastic and pervasive coverage this campaign has generated in the media (not to mention the thousands of tweets/posts/comments/etc.). As of the last time I wrote, the coverage was primarily in the pop culture press, but in the weeks since, it has crossed over into the mainstream. [I listed the press.]
Even some of the coverage is getting coverage. And I’m even seeing quite a few referrals on my blog from foreign-language sites that have run a story.
Huge, sincere thanks for your consideration. Fingers still crossed...
The e-mail I sent today:
Thank you for considering a doodle for Bill Finger, uncredited co-creator of Batman, on his 100th birthday (today). Many people are already contacting me disappointed that the campaign did not work.
Know you’re busy, and know it’s the weekend, but willing to squeeze in a two-minute interview for my blog to give the fans (including me) a pinch of rationale? If so, here are the questions:
- I tried to keep up with the many hundreds of tweets, posts, comments, etc., but do you have a sense of roughly how many emails you got requesting a doodle for Bill Finger?
- I didn’t find trace of any other doodle campaign that seemed to grow as large. In terms of size, how did this grassroots effort compare to others you’ve seen?
- Why did you decide not to do a doodle for Bill today?
- What about next year?
And a tweet to him (in response to a Batman-related tweet of his from just a week ago):[IMPORTANT NOTE: For Bill’s sake, please do not also tweet him!]Ultimately, Athena Finger, Bill’s lone grandchild, said something that made me feel a little better: “It would have been super cool if it happened but I really love the attention it brought to Bill and our cause; I have met some of the most amazing people in the last month and hearing their stories trumps anything Google did or didn’t do.”
On 2/6/14, I spoke at my third Virginia middle school of the week, and it was yet another engaged trio of audiences (6th, 7th, 8th grades). I was particularly struck by how empathetic the kids here were; several times during the talk, at points where I mentioned certain research triumphs that would have a positive effect on other people or on posterity, they applauded.
Before I was introduced by my kind host, I (and everyone in the auditorium) was treated to a classy, brassy piece performed by three student trumpeters:
I can’t recall any other time that a school visit intro included live music; the closest was a Kansas school that played a bit of the (recorded) theme from Superman: The Movie.
The school art teacher created this cool welcome poster.
I love this candor.
I love this cake.
Thank you, Patti, and thank you, Eagle Ridge, for a special day.
A month ago today, I posted videos of 53 kidlit authors/illustrators being good sports and reading aloud a particularly critical excerpt from a particularly harsh online review.
Those are episodes 1-3.
Turns out a lot of people agree that a bad review can equal a good laugh.
Thirty more authors have since enlisted in the cause.
Welcome to episodes 4-6.
All-new line-up! All-new beat downs!(Disclaimer: We lurve kids, of course, but this is for teens and adults only.)
The cast (not in order of appearance, so that you will watch all three):<!--[if gte mso 9]>
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 <![endif]-->
Kathi Appelt | David Lubar |
Gene Barretta | Eric Luper |
Michael Buckley | Maryann Macdonald |
Shana Corey | Marissa Moss |
Sharon Creech | Gae Polisner |
Doreen Cronin | Nora Raleigh Baskin |
Katie Davis | Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich |
Sue Fliess | Dan Santat |
Liz Garton Scanlon | Tammi Sauer |
Chris Grabenstein | Judy Schachner |
Alan Katz | Andrew Smith |
Laurie Keller | Elizabeth Rose Stanton |
Jarrett J. Krosoczka | David Ezra Stein |
Tara Lazar | Deborah Underwood |
Loren Long | Emma Walton Hamilton |
episode 4
episode 5
episode 6
“If you’re going to be able to look back on something and laugh about it, you might as well laugh about it now.” —Marie Osmond
On 2/4/14, I had the pleasure of speaking at Harmony Middle School in Hamilton, VA. My kind host, librarian Cori Rovang, completed the trinity of DC Comics for the day—I brought Superman and Batman, she provided Wonder Woman. (She’s a huge fan and had her WW mug in tow…a mug, it’s worth mentioning, that refers to the Greek goddess Athena, who shares a name with Bill Finger’s lone grandchild. Dizzy yet?)
Cori prepared a snazzy display for my visit, the first I can remember that emphasizes the mystery aspect of my approach.And speaking of mystery, principal Eric Stewart saw something in the opening slide of my presentation that I hadn’t in the two years I’ve been using it.
He asked if I show Easter Island because my superhero books are about unearthing mysteries. Easter Island, of course, is an almost mythically mysterious place, particularly in terms of this: how did the natives move the gigantic stone heads they carved?
Some of the heads are not only heads; they have torsos, too…torsos that have been buried over centuries. To see them whole, statueologists must literally unearth them.
Which brings me back to Eric’s astute theory as to why I included Easter Island on the splash screen. While wild, it was not my intention…at least not consciously.Boys of Steel, Men of Stone.
Dear Author made nice mention of my video series of kidlit authors performing bad reviews of their own books:
Has anyone does this for romance authors? It’s genius. 53 children’s and YA authors read their harshest or most critical reviews out loud, for “comic relief/catharsis.” Watch the videos, captured by author Marc Nobleman, here. And the “It’s All Right to Cry” song during the title sequence is hilarious, too.
A similar series but with romance writers? Yes! Yes! A thousand times yes!
Thank you, Librarian’s Quest, for including my funny/healing/chilling video series in a roundup. I particularly liked this comment:
This has to be one of the best series of author videos you will see this year. Your love and admiration for authors and illustrators will only increase after watching these.
Den of Geek kindly ran an interview with me about Bill Finger, Google doodles, and other doodles.
Talk to us about the campaign to get Bill Finger a Google Doodle in honor of his 100th birthday. Why a Google Doodle?It would mean that literally tens of millions of people would learn the name “Bill Finger” in a single day.
Devil’s advocate—and you can take that as literally as you would like—but does it diminish Bob Kane’s contributions to Batman when you classify him as the villain? And if that is the point, what informs the recent remarks that you made to the Spectator Tribune about Kane’s creative contribution to Batman, in which you said “maybe the name “Bat-Man,” but even that is disputed; besides, between pulps and film, bat-themed characters were nothing new by 1939. Finger gave Kane credit for Two-Face. Creatively, that’s about it.”
I am not diminishing Bob’s contributions; he did that himself—unintentionally, of course. When writing Bill the Boy Wonder, I realized that in simply spelling out what Bill did, it makes it all the more striking just how much Bob did not do.
The rest of the interview.
The opportunity to speak at a school brought me to Africa.
In the process, I got an education myself—largely from the passenger’s seat en route to and from the school every day for four days.
A bit of what I learned and experienced:
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory author Roald Dahl lived in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania for a short time beginning in 1934. We were going to drive by his former home but in all the excitement it slipped our mind.
- Lots of people wear T-shirts with logos of familiar brands, including American colleges and sports teams. This is at least in part because the Salvation Army regularly distributes used clothing.
- Lots of people try to sell goods on the street—the literal street. Almost anytime the car stopped, someone was there with handfuls of small electronics (cables, etc.), pirated DVDs, nuts, flowers…even individual eggs. At first their faces were inscrutable, but when we politely said no, we always got a smile. The people seem to have a kind soul.
- I was told of an incident when something disrupted the water at the school. The expats found that frustrating but the locals who worked there didn’t; some did not have running water at their homes.
- I was told of another incident in which, one night, several intended thieves climbed over a wall enclosing the school grounds. They landed on a generator, which shocked them, so they couldn’t help but let out shouts of pain. This brought residents to their windows and balconies, and they watched as the school guards beat the intruders as the intruders called out “But that’s where you told us to climb over!” Corruption is common, and it appeared these men paid off the guards to turn a blind eye, but once the residents learned of the intruders, the guards had to put on a show so the residents would feel the guards were doing their jobs.
- Before taking off from Africa, the flight attendants walked down the aisles spraying special airplane insecticide along the ceiling.
- I was told the malaria pills I had to take might induce nightmares. I wish they had. The closest instance occurred on the plane home; I dreamed of a large, brown, hairy spider-like creature, only it had a fan tail (almost like a peacock) and visible pincers. I was watching it slink along a wall until it took flight, circled around, then headed straight for my face. That jolted me awake.
Seen around town:
The “F”s are made out of flip flops.
The night watchman at my hotel was a Maasai man.
View from my hotel room of low tide, morning.
Tide, late morning.
Tide, afternoon.
Tide, late afternoon.
Spot the sign to the school.
Coco Beach. Sadly, not safe.
The Indian Ocean.
This was a band singing in a moving truck.
The one-night, two-day safari I was going to
spontaneously go on...until I got a fever.
Only once in his lifetime, Bill Finger received a “written by” credit on a first-run Batman story, and it wasn’t a comic book.
And though he wrote Superman stories, too (he created Lana Lang!), same deal—one credit, in TV:
This is from The New Adventures of Superman, a Filmation series of animated shorts that debuted in 1966.
Though there is currently almost no trace online that Bill wrote for this series, in 2006, I did follow a path to determine that this was the case. But I didn’t look for the visual proof until now.Thank you to Bill Davis of Toronto for prompting me to revisit this.
Adios, Señor Superhombre.
Bonus:
Excerpts from emails with Bill’s second wife Lyn Simmons, and one other, in figuring this out:From: Marc Tyler Nobleman
To: Lyn Simmons
Sent: Saturday, October 14, 2006 9:02 AM
Subject: Hi Lyn - Superman movie
You said they called Bill to ask him to come to California to write a script for the Superman movie. I've talked with a few people who were involved with the film and they don't remember that. Are you sure?
There was another writer named Alfred Bester who was friends with Bill who was definitely asked—there are written accounts online. Did you know Alfred? Is it possible you're confusing the two? Can you remember any more details?
From: Lyn Simmons
Sent: Saturday, October 14, 2006 4:25 PM
good to hear from you marc. bester's name rings a bell but don't think i ever met him. i'm pretty sure that bill received invitation to ca to write superman films. it's so long ago and i could be mistaken but I don't think so. in any event he never went. he had anxiety about flying and about leaving nyc.
bill may never have told his fellow writers about ca because he didn't want to explain why he wasn't going.
From: Pierre Spengler
Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 1:05 PM
We purchased the rights in november 1974 and therefore started hunting for writer in the beginning of 1975. Very soon thereafter we engaged Mario Puzo. Therefore we never approached Bill Finger.
From: Lyn Simmons
Date: Tuesday, December 19, 2006 10:18 AM
i believe he was asked to come out to ca in the late 60s. i'm pretty sure it was superman. maybe they wanted him out there for ideas or stories a year or so before he died which i think was in '74. but perhaps it was for cartoons.
And I like that song a lot and so I like that he favorited a tweet I sent him about Batman.
In honor of those whose lives were lost or affected twelve years ago today:
This makes it even more haunting:
Engine 26, New York City
Yesterday I challenged you to identity some of my childhood favorite fiction (and one nonfiction) picture books by a single page.
From Harry the Dirty Dog to Leo the Late Bloomer, here are the answers:
A Hole Is to Dig
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Are You My Mother?
Harry the Dirty Dog
Leo the Late Bloomer
Little Gorilla
Humbug Witch
Hubknuckles
Oliver
Dear Mr. Blueberry
I'll Teach My Dog a Lot of Words
Ten Apples Up on Top!
Stanley
Harry and the Terrible Whatzit
Duck, Death and the Tulip
Why the Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky
The Pilgrims' First Thanksgiving
The Story of Ferdinand
Presented for your enjoyment: a favorite page from some of my favorite picture books.
All are from my childhood, with two exceptions. All are fiction, again with two exceptions. It is not a comprehensive list of all of my favorites, though that does not matter in terms of what I am about to ask you to do...
Can you identify each book from a page?
Answers tomorrow.
Bill Finger, uncredited co-creator and original writer of Batman, often incorporated giant versions of everyday items (“oversized props”) into his scripts.
So I was intrigued to discover that another Bill Finger, a Seattle photographer, is currently focused on tiny versions of everyday items—in fact, tiny entire scenes. Making this even more fun, this headline makes him sound like a Batman villain—the Master of Miniatures.All photographs © Bill Finger.
One of the perks of doing a research-intensive project like “The Girl in the Video” is the semi-frequent opportunity to reconnect people who’d lost touch.
One of the most special reunions I’ve had some small part in: Wendy Frazier (star of ZZ Top’s “Legs”) and Julie Anne Rhodes (ex-wife of Duran Duran’s Nick Rhodes). Before my ‘80s series launched, these two onetime besties had not seen each other in about twenty years.
I’ll let Julie tell the rest of the story. But this photo (courtesy of Julie Anne) sets it up:
I am so happy about this that I feel like I knew them back when they were last hanging out. In reality, I have not met (or even talked on the phone with) either of them.
I've contributed cartoons to several Chicken Soup for the Soul books.
And now I've contributed a story to one as well.
I’m honored to report that Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman is among distinguished company in being named to the Bank Street College of Education list of the Best Children’s Books of the Year, 2013 (Nine to Twelve category).
I’m further honored that it also got a star for Outstanding Merit.
Thank you, Bank Street, for honoring Bill in the city in which he made pop culture history.
In the Batman creation story, there are two villains: Bob Kane (the cartoonist who, to this day, is the only person officially credited) and, to a lesser degree, Bill Finger (star of Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman).
In evaluating Bob’s actions toward Bill, I see three critical junctures.
1939 - the year in which Bill and Bob created Batman and the year in which Batman debutedAs my book (and numerous other sources) recount, Bill designed the costume and Bob alone took the design to editor Vin Sullivan; there was no backstory yet. When Vin expressed interest in running Batman, Bob went back to Bill and suggested that Bill write it, Bob draw it, and only Bob’s name appear on it; Bob would pay Bill out of the money the publisher paid Bob. Arrangements such as this were not uncommon in the comic book and comic strip world in 1939. Bill said yes. So in that case, Bob’s actions, while not admirable, are defensible by the standards of the time.
1965 - the year the truth about Bill Finger came out to fansThanks to fandom legend Jerry Bails, the public began to learn of Bill’s role in the creation of Batman. When Bob learned that Bill had (civilly) revealed that Bob was not alone at the beginning of Batman, Bob must have been terrified that his ruse would crumble. He responded combatively, still maintaining that he was the sole creator. In other words, in calling Bill a liar, Bob was actually the one lying. This is inexcusable by any standard.
1998 - the year Bob died In Bob’s 1989 autobiography, he credited Bill far more than he ever had before, going so far as to say he wished he could go back in time to when Bill was alive (he had died in 1974) and put Bill’s name on Batman. It seemed Bob, in his golden years, had embraced his conscience. Yet his gravestone undermines his autobiography.
It was then when Bob could have set the record straight for good and atoned for his sins, but instead he reverted back to the myth he had perpetuated for most of his life, and in doing so, disrespected Bill for posterity. The gravestone likens Bob to the wrong Batman character. Talk about Two-Faced. I’m quite sure that Bob had that copy written before he died. This is appalling and unforgivable. I need a stronger word, actually, but am failing to find one.
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