Batman & Bill

This is a first for me…reviewing a made for Hulu documentary. Heck, up until very recently, I had no idea Hulu was releasing anything themselves. Fortunately, "Batman & Bill" turns out to be a really exciting and engaging film…one that comic book fans absolutely must see. The problem is that to see it, you need to have Hulu.

If you are a comic book lover, you probably know who Bob Kane is. He's been credited for decades as the creator of Batman and during his lifetime he made a fortune because of it. He also achieved a god- like status by some fans. After all, he came up with the story idea, the costume, the Batmobile, the villains and the back story about Bruce Wayne losing his parents to some murderous thieves… right? Well, not exactly according to this film…as well as according to Warner Brothers, the folks who own DC Comics. The story is about another man who created much of what Batman was but was never credited during his lifetime for this…and a man who died pretty much penniless and forgotten. The film does an excellent job explaining who Bob Finger was and how he actually is at least half responsible for creating the comic strip hero…as well as the fight that his granddaughter had to go through to get this acknowledged. It's all quite enlightening…at least for me, a guy who isn't exactly a huge comic book fan.

The film is excellent on just about every level. Technically, it's well made. It's obvious they did a lot of research to make the film and, most importantly, the documentary really packs a strong emotional wallop. You find yourself being emotionally pulled into the film and this is also the sign of an exceptional documentary. Well worth seeing…and satisfying to see the man finally getting the recognition he so well deserved.

This is an interesting one-sided argument. However it does ignore any investigation towards Bob Kane's contribution to the creation. Focusing purely on the speculative works of Bill.

A statement is made early on in the film, that Bill was paid as a "Ghost Writer". Perhaps he forgot to look up the definition of that, because if true, it justifies everything Bob did, even if Bill did create it.

And later on, the film shows early design templates that Bob came up with, that apparently Bill developed further. A friend offering ideas and suggestions to someone else's work, is a bit different to plagiarism or whatever else they are trying to suggest. The original templates were developed by Bob, regardless of what changes were made along the journey to publication.

And lets just say for arguments sake, Bill came up with the design. Bob was the marketing business expert who risked actual money and time into publishing him. Comics books were a new medium, and other superheroes had failed. He was the risk taker, who compiled the team of writers, artists and colourist and steered the ship as it were through war time and kept the dream alive.

This documentary needed a deeper look at what Bob Kane added the equation, to balance out the argument and allow the viewer a clearer understanding of how much credit Bill deserves, and for what.

If you are a Batman fan, this is the best 90 minutes you can spend learning about the history of the Caped Crusader. This is great story telling straight from the heart. The doc contains all kinds of trivia and history you never knew before. From the creation of the Batman character to the most recent movie, you'll find out things you never knew before.

Growing up as a child, I always saw the name of Bob Kane as the creator of Batman. I never imagined someone else was working with him or had contributed to the concept of creating Batman. I'd seen interviews with Bob Kane, and it always seemed that the Kane wanted to talk about himself and never said much about Bill Finger or Jerry Robinson, although they certainly contributed.

The key word here is contributed. From other documentaries, it comes across as though Kane had the main idea, and that Finger and Robinson helped out. But how much? It's a toss of the dice, but if you're to believe this documentary by Nobleman--who did the research--and Argott, who filmed it--then Finger had a greater hand in the creation of Batman than anyone else realized, as did Robinson.

When I watched Batman & Bill, it came across to me as a well-balanced, insightful, and rather sad look at how the comic book industry was run, and also the characters in that industry who would do each other out of the credit in order to get a larger paycheck. That was Bob Kane. I'm not disputing that Kane was the one who originally came up with the idea. His idea, his risk, yes.

But Finger, apparently, suggested the major changes in the costume, the cowl (Kane originally had a domino mask and the costume was red), and the gadgets that Batman used, many of the rogues gallery, all of which Kane seemed--seemed--only too happy to take on as his own creative ideas. It is sad that Finger was--and there is no other word for it--cheated, IMO, out of what should have been half his legacy.

This documentary sheds new light on the legend of Batman, its creators, and the men who created him and brought him to life. Highly recommended.

Incredibly touching. After watching a similar documentary on Superman, I was skeptical I would get anything out of this other than some mild entertainment.

The two stories are similar but this documentary was so well done, that I was almost moved to tears by the end.

I highly recommend this film.