Thursday, June 7, 2012

Thank you, Ty Templeton

Bob Kane had Bill Finger.

Batman had Robin.

I had Ty Templeton.

We all lucked out.

Technically, the above is not a seamless parallel; Ty was not my anonymous contributor nor my sidekick, but rather my always-reliable partner in creating Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman.

(Batman has actually had multiple "work partners"—Commissioner Gordon, Batgirl, Nightwing, Ace the Bat-Hound, to name a few—and I did, too; all of them are thanked in the book and some will be thanked again here.)

But back to Ty...

I first e-mailed him on 3/11/10 to tell him that I was looking for an illustrator for the project and that he was on my short list. An excerpt from his kind reply: "You couldn't find a more sympathetic soul for the plight of Finger's legacy than myself."

If that (plus talent) wouldn't sell you, nothing would.

(To be clear, the illustrator decision was not mine alone, but it did not take much convincing.)

As of this writing, Ty and I have not met in person or even talked on the phone. The vagaries of illustrated publishing...

Here is a photo I lifted from Ty's blog. I hope to be able to post a similar photo but with me as well, before long.

A public thank you, Ty, for acing this book.

2 comments:

Jamie Coville said...

I've met Ty at many conventions. If you ever go to one in Toronto you'll likely see him there.

He's typically has an audience around him as he's a great storyteller and has lots of entertaining stories to tell.

Bill said...

I totally agree, Jamie! I finally met Ty at the last Toronto ComicCon in March, 2013, specifically so I could have him autograph/personalize my copy of Bill the Boy Wonder.

One of the nicest guys and a great storyteller. I spent over an hour at his table, just listening and laughing. I finally had to pull myself away, so I could check out the rest of the Con! But I would have been happy to just listen to him.

I suggest anyone that does meet Ty, ask him about his visit to Jim Morrison's grave. Funny story.