Bill Finger Created Batman (With A Tiny Contribution From Bob Kane)
A couple shows ago, I mentioned one of the hosts of a podcast I listen to said his Batman was Adam West. He also said how sick he was of the dark and brooding Batman characterizations. And that is his preference, but it’s my opinion that the fellow just doesn’t like Batman. Batman was created to be dark and brooding.
On this show, I talked about how Bill Finger created Batman and Gotham, the Batcave, the Batmobile, the murders of Bruce Wayne’s parents, even the Batsignal, just about everything really. Finger also improved upon the costume that Bob Kane created.
Yes, Bob Kane did design a costume and he did come up with the name Batman.
In recent years, fans of comic books have been learning of Bill Finger’s unsung genius in the creation of one of the medium’s greatest heroes. One thing Bob Kane was brilliant at was making certain he got credit for creating the Dark Knight, but his original version with the red tights and blonde hair just doesn’t quite work, does it?
This video gives more detail on Batman’s origins.
Neal Adams 1941-2022
Speaking of great comic book creators, one of the best artists just died a few days ago. He was Neal Adams. Adams was one of the giants in comic book art. His work for DC, on Green Lantern and Batman, is legendary. He, along with writer Denny O’Neil revitalized Batman. They moved him away from tamed down (because of the US Government’s crack down on comics turning kids into criminals) and the campy stories (due to the influence of TV’s Batman series with Adam West), and brought the character back to what his creators (Bill Finger and Bob Kane, but really Bill Finger) had initially intended. Dark and brooding!
That’s some damn good art!
I talked about how great an illustrator Adams was, but he wasn’t quite as good at science. He believe pretty much all science was wrong and that some crank whose book he read knew better than all the scientists.
“This whole gravity thing is nuts! The earth is expanding!” Not an exact quote, but he believed the earth expanding was why there was gravity. Nutty.
Oscar’s Best Moment
Yes, I know it’s even less timely than it was last week to talk about the Oscars, but it’s my show and wanted to give some love to Lady Gaga’s awesomeness and class when presenting the Best Movie award with legend Liza Minnelli. Minnelli was not in the best health and she was showing her age, but Gaga just said, “I got you.”
And she did.
I, and many others, found the moment touching and endearing. Lady Gaga is a class act.
However, a friend of Liza’s, singer Michael Feinstein, claimed that the legendary actor/singer’s appearance on the Oscar’s was sabotaged. According to Feinstein, the producers forced Liza to appear in the wheelchair, when she requested a director’s chair, and that got her flustered. He claimed The Slap shook up the producers so they insisted she use the wheelchair.
Hmm. I don’t know. I’m skeptical.
Cool Thing: That Kid Looks Familiar
Recently, the Minneapolis Teacher’s Union went on strike. In their coverage of the strike, local CBS affiliate WCCO went back into their vast film and video archives to find footage of their coverage of a Minneapolis teachers’ strike in 1970. In their search, they stumbled upon an 11 year student giving his thoughts on the strike. He sure looked familiar.
WCCO did some digging and confirmed that young fellow was Minnesota’s own – Prince. Yes, that Prince.
Very cool!
(So cool, in fact, I put my pedantry aside and refrained from pointing out the anchor got the phrase wrong. He said the footage was discovered “on accident”. Sigh. The phrase is by accident, not on accident. It’s by accident when unintended or unexpected. It’s on purpose when it is intentional.)
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Dimland Radio opening theme song: Ram by The Yoleus
First ad break bumpers: The One Thing by INXS and Rock ‘N’ Roll Is King by ELO
Second ad break bumpers: Seen & Not Seen by The Talking Heads and Tom Sawyer by Rush
Closing song: Angler’s Treble Hook by $5 Fiddle
That’s it! See you next Saturday night for Dimland Radio 11 Central, midnight Eastern on www.ztalkradio.com you can also download my show from the z talk show archives page. You can email your questions and comments to drdim@dimland.com
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