Batman: 80 Greatest Ever Moments
12. Bill Finger Receives Credit For Co-Creating Batman
Growing up, consuming any piece of Bat-related media, you were likely to see one thing - "Batman created by Bob Kane." Sadly, that statement wasn't true, or at least nowhere near as accurate as Kane himself had led people to believe in the years following Batman's creation.
The actual reality is that Bill Finger created most of Batman's defining characteristics. He created the secret identity of Bruce Wayne, the classic black and grey costume (Kane's original sketch sported a blond-haired man in a red suit with mechanical wings), and most his rogues gallery. Other figures, such as Gardner Fox and Jerry Robinson, were instrumental in establishing the world that would later become one of pop culture's most famous.
Tragically, Finger would never receive the rewards for his instrumental influence on Batman. Kane took all the credit, and only acknowledged Finger's contributions after the writer passed away in 1992.
Renewed pressure has thankfully seen Warner Bros. credit Finger appropriately. The first credit came in 2016's Batman v Superman, and Finger's name can now be seen on all Batman comics, films and video games, as it always should've been.
[EP]
11. Half A Life - Gotham Central
Gotham Central was, quite simply, genius. Greg Rucka, Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark's comic centred around the officers of the GCPD and in doing so enabled readers to experience Gotham from a completely different perspective. It was procedural, character driven, and easily one of the best ever Bat-books to have been published.
Arguably the best story-arc from Gotham Central was Half a Life. Picking up a GLAAD award for its depiction of Renee Montoya as a lesbian outed in the workplace, Central tackled homophobia head on and turned Montoya into one of Batman's most important supporting characters.
[EP]