Thursday, April 5, 2012

Google doodle: Bill Finger

As anyone with a computer knows, Google is one of those rare brands willing to vary its logo. They have tweaked it to pay tribute to everyone and everything from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry to Pac-Man.


 
So on 3/27/12, I pitched them (proposals@google.com) this:

You'd be lavished with undying praise by legions of geeks everywhere if you did a doodle in honor of writer Bill Finger (2/8/14 - 1/18/74), the uncredited co-creator (and, objectively, dominant creative force) behind Batman, even though cartoonist Bob Kane unconscionably took all the credit. Bill is widely considered to be the greatest comics writer of his generation (the Golden Age)...and the biggest martyr in comics history.

Bill died alone, poor, and unrecognized (no obituary, no funeral). I wrote a book on him to help preserve his culturally significant legacy.

While we are too late for this year's birth and death anniversaries, I think a date that would make an even bigger statement would be July 20—the date The Dark Knight Rises, the next Batman movie, comes out. It would be poignantly appropriate since it was Bill who first called Batman the "Dark Knight" back in Batman #1 in 1940...yet Bill’s name will not be in the film credits...

To be continued…I hope.

I'm feeling lucky.

12/9/13 addendum: I have since proposed this again, now emphasizing that 2014 is a triple Batman anniversary:

  • 75th anniversary of Batman
  • 100th anniversary of birth of Bill Finger
  • 40th anniversary of death of Bill Finger

Please show your support for this idea by emailing proposals@google.com.

1 comment:

Daniel Best said...

I hope they do it - it'd be brilliant to see.