The April Ramble

Eisner-nominated author sounds good doesn’t it? A few weeks ago I came the closest to that accolade as I’m sure I’ll ever get with the fantastic news that the four volume Comics Through Time encyclopedia project (to which had a small part in penning the entry on uncredited Batman co-creator Bill Finger) has been nominated for a 2015 Eisner Award in the “Best Comics Related Book” category – Congratulations to everyone on the production and publishing team, and all who participated in the project.

Convention News:

Just to confirm that I have to have to pull out of the first Peoria Artist and Comics Expo in May due to family commitments (But it’s for a happy reason – the birth of our grand-daughter is now scheduled on the same weekend) – I wish the organizers all the best for the show.

I had a great time at the Windy City Pulp convention in Chicago, where as well as participating on a fun panel on the future of New Pulp , I was lucky enough to spend time chatting with publishers Ron Frontier (Airship27), and Tommy Hancock (ProSe Press).

My next convention appearance will be:

• July 24-26 – ArmadilloCon – Austin, TX.

For more frequent updates, comments, and general observations on life you can follow me on Twitter @alanjporter or on Instagram. For a full list of published work to date check out my website at AlanJPorter.com

SHORT STORIES

Initial feedback on  Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective Vol 7. that includes my story “The Case of the Rotten Corpse,” has been very positive so far. – Thanks to anyone whose picked up a copy over the last few months

Coming Soon

• Rick Ruby: The latest volume of stories featuring 1930s New York based P.I. Rick Ruby is in production. No information on a release date yet.
• Lotus Ronin: The new Asian Pulp anthology from prose ProSe Press is in production. I’ve done the final copy edits on the debut tale of my new pulp character, The Lotus Ronin, and am waiting for news on a possible publication date.
• Allan Quartermain: Stones of Blood: I’m currently still writing new short-story featuring the classic jungle adventurer in a tale that takes him from the streets of London to the battlefields of the First Boer War. More on this one as it develops.

THE LEXICON PROJECTS

James Bond Lexicon: A Guide to the Worlds of 007: The manuscript for our upcoming James Bond Lexicon has been delivered to the fine folks at Hasslein Books for copy-editing. If things stick to schedule we are aiming for publication around the end of September or early October.

Meanwhile work continues on our  U.N.C.L.E. Lexicon project, “The Lexicon Affair” – look for more updates on this next month.

COMICS

FORGOTTEN CITY – The second story arc issues (#6-10) are in various stages of production as the Kid Domino team get them ready for uploading to comiXology for digital distribution. I have turned in the detailed page-by-page outline for issues #11-15 and I continue to work on the full script for issue #11

Work is also underway on pulling together the first story-arc (issues #1-5) in a trade-paperback for eventual print distribution. In the meantime don’t forget that issues #1 thru 5 are still available as digital downloads at comiXology for just $1.99 each

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Batman, Bill Finger and Me

Today is #BatmanDay a nationwide promotional event being driven by DC Comics to mark the 75^th Anniversary of the creation of the Batman. At one time I would have been all over this, making sure I had stuff ready to post, and doing everything I could to attend the anniversary events at San Diego ComicCon.

In case you don’t know at one time I was one of the leading Batman fans online. I was the guy who created and ran one of the first Batman websites (I think we were the third or fourth to get started) “GOTHAM GAZETTE – The Batman Magazine on the Web”, as well as the GOTHAM WEEKLY NEWS email newsletter which had a massive circulation. Both ran for around seven years. I wanted nothing more than to write Batman, and to write about Batman. And I did – my first published book, back in 1999, was “The BATMAN Collectors Guide*.

 

Then one day I was on a panel at a comics convention with the Batman group editor, and he gave me one of the best pieces of advice I have ever been lucky enough to receive: “If you seriously want to be a writer, stop the fanboy stuff and go write other things. You need to make a name for yourself, not piggyback on Batman’s.”

He was right of course. But there was one aspect of the Batman story I didn’t want to let go. The story of Bill Finger, the un-credited co-creator of Batman. I would tell Bill’s story to anyone who would listen. I started to do research. In 2005 I put together what I had in a proposal for a book to be called KANE & FINGER: The Men Behind The Bat, that would tell the parallel stories of the two men who gave birth to arguably the best known pop-culture icon of the last 75 years.

Here’s a little extract from that proposal:

Together they created one of the most enduring pop-culture icons of the last seventy years. Their creation spawned a multi-billion dollar merchandising industry and is instantly recognizable around the world. They created images and catch-phrases that entered everyday usage.

One became a millionaire playboy living his Hollywood dream, courting and marrying starlets while others did his work. His passing marked by eulogies and obituaries in all the leading newspapers and news channels.

The other, considered to be among the greatest ever by his peers, was ignored and shunned by his one time friend. Fired by the company who made billions from his creation for asking for basic workers rights, he died destitute and forgotten by all but a few.

This is their story.

The story of Bob Kane and Bill Finger – the men who created The Batman.

 

It’s a story of human drama, friendship and betrayal.

It’s a story of ego and self-importance.

It’s also a story of insecurity and personal demons.

It’s a story of opportunism, legal maneuvering, cover ups and lies.

It’s the shameful story of an industry that stayed quiet and the belated efforts to correct its heritage.

I shopped the proposal around, people loved the idea, people wanted to read the book, but no-one was willing to publish it.**

I ended up using some of the research as the basis for an essay entitled “The Dubious Origins of Batman” that was published in BenBella’s 2008 anthology “Batman Unauthorized: Vigilantes, Jokers and Heroes in Gotham City.” While I was working on that essay I got to know fellow Bill Finger researcher Marc Tylor Nobleman. – Marc went on to write and, more importantly, get published a young readers biography on Bill, the excellent “Bill The Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman.”

Which sort of brings me to the point of this blog post.

The other week an old friend asked me if I was ever bothered by the fact that Marc’s book got published first, and that he is now publicly seen as the guy who is spearheading the campaign to get Bill Finger the recognition he deserves.

My answer was a resounding “No.”

Marc’s research on Bill went a lot further and deeper than anything I’d done at that point. He did an amazing job, and he has rightly become the focal point of the growing publicity and awareness of the Bill Finger story. I applaud and support everything he does.

For me, I’ve gone on to do other projects, work on other properties. I’m still a Batman fan, but not to the degree I once was. I don’t read the regular Batman comics anymore, and I wasn’t that big a fan of the Nolan movies, .…

… but yes, I’d still love to get the opportunity to tell the full stories of both Bob Kane and Bill Finger.

I want to wish Marc, the Finger family, and all those involved in the events at San Diego this week a great time, and I wish I was there with you.

But most of all thanks to Bill, Bob, and all the creative people who came after them for 75 years of the greatest hero.

 

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* GOTHAM GAZETTE, GOTHAM WEEKLY NEWS, and The BATMAN Collectors Guide all carried the credit line “Batman created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane.” I believe that the Collectors Guide was the first place that was ever used in print.

** I may not have got the KANE & FINGER biography published (yet), but that proposal lead directly to my deal with HERMES PRess that resulted in books on James Bond and Star Trek.

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