Athena Finger is Bill Fingers' only grandchild. That being said, the two have never met due to Bills' passing just two years before Athena was born. What she knows about him, she knows only from her father, Bills' friends and his fans. Now Athena uses that knowledge to shed light on the darkness that has covered Bills' career and share what she knows with Bat-fans everywhere. This is what she had to say during our interview.
"What was it that made you want to shy away from the Batman legacy your grandfather helped build over the years?"
Finger- "Unfortunately, I just got tired of being called a lair. So I kind of stopped talking about it in general and would only tell select people about who my family was and the back story and things like that but now that the internet and the book that came out (Bill: The Boy Wonder. The Secret Co-Creator of Batman), it’s been more of a push for me to come out and be like, “Alright! It’s time!” people are starting to talk about it, know about it more, so I don’t have to shy away from it. I can actually be proud of it and speak about it."
Being Bill Fingers' granddaughter, I assumed she knew alot about him during the time of the interview, but sadly, she seems to only know as much as the fans do.
Finger- " I wish I knew more. Actually, the fans know more than I do. My father died when I was fifteen, so I didn’t have him around for a long time to answer the questions and rehear the stories and things like that. So it’s a lot of what my father told me when I was very young and it’s not in my memory anymore. Haven’t talked about it in such a long time. People who are passionate about the character have shared their knowledge about it with me and their stories, which has been great. It’s been kind of an awakening for me with the whole thing because, like I said, I would shy away from it and kind of kept myself hidden from the whole thing. Again, I didn’t want to be considered a lair or try to deceive people or whatever you know. There was negative tone to it but now it’s not. It’s completely different and now I wanna be apart of it, I want to get out there and I wanna share in the excitement, celebration and great characters and the work that was done."
Bob Kane, the much more popular and credited Batman co-creator, lived a rather comfortable life style because of Batman's fame. The exact opposite is true of Bill Finger, who died broke and unknown to the world. I felt the need to ask how she felt when she learned about Bob's acknowledgement of his partner.
"It was in 1989, although it was a while after your grandfather passed away that he finally acknowledged your grandfathers contributions to the Batman franchise and…"
Finger- "Yea, but in a small, small, small manner."
"I was gonna say, it was a little late. There were still so many comic books associated with his name alone and even if he was still alive today, do you think there would ever be any way of him…"
Finger- "No, because he had opportunities to add Bills name at any time he wanted to and he never did."
"Are there any harsh feelings towards the former DC Comics despite the fact that he (Finger) did actually sign away ownership of his character just so he could get a bi-line on the comics that he helped create. Was it kind of like him selling his soul just for credit?"
Finger- "I guess. I mean that’s one way of looking at it. He just got good advice from somebody. I think that’s basically what it came down to. He got good advice and he went with it and he left everybody out. And again, he (Kane) could have changed it at anytime and he chose not to."
We moved on to discuss some of his other works and the some of eventual recognition Bill received.
"A lot of his characters have really blown up over the years, one in particular would be Green Lantern and then, of course, Lana Lang who has really come out and blossomed thanks to Smallville and I thinks it’s good that a lot of people know about these other characters that he helped create. With comic books blowing up the way they are, his characters, his legacy, is moving far beyond the Batman franchise."
Finger- "It’s true. I mean he did write for most comic book agencies that were around at that time. He worked with Stan Lee, he wrote the Green Lantern, Wild Cat, he wrote Superman. I mean he did so in the industry and it’s just so sad he isn’t as known as he should be because he did contribute a lot."
"Well we found out that in 94, he did win the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame, he was inducted in that…"
Finger-"Right."
" …and then in 99’ he was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame"
Finger- "Ok."
"… and then, if I have my information correct, they now have a Bill Finger Award at the San Diego Comic-Con that’s given out every year. How did it feel to know your grandfather was finally being honored in the right way and that honor is being passed on every single year at the biggest convention there is for other comic book artists?"
Finger-" That blew me away when I found that out. I did speak with Jerry Robinson before he passed away, I got to meet him a couple of times and speak with him. When he told me that he started the whole Bill Finger Award, I was so touched. I was like ,”What do mean there’s an award out there in his name?” He was like,” Yea, of course!” I mean he was so important to the industry and did so much for the industry that yea, we made an award in his name and it’s been going strong ever since they started."
During the rest of the interview, I asked a few questions that were a bit more light-hearted. I discovered that Athena takes a bit more of a liking to the Joker than to Batman. She is somewhat of an artist and has been approached to get involved with some Batman related projects but she doesn''t feel she would be comfortable doing that kind of work. She is a Tim Burton fan and, of course, Michael Keaton is her pick for best live action Batman. She admires the performance by other Batman actor Christian Bale, but she discovered his harsh reputation was true to form after personally meeting him. Athena was also present at the San Diego International Comic-Con last year as a special guest at the Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing ceremony. It was her first SDCC experience and it was one to remember.
Having been a Batman fan since I was a baby, I can understand her desire to bring credit where credit is due. I felt alot of guilt having gone alot of my life acknowledging only Bob Kane and never knowing about Bill Finger. I hope by spreading the message about Athena's fight that I redeem myself as a Bat-fan.
Check out Bill: The Boy Wonder. The Secret Co-Creator of Batman. for more information about the relationship between Bob and Bill and the creation of the Dark Knight.