Batman Writer Tom King Believes Frank Miller, Neal Adams, Denny O’Neil and Others Should be Credited as Batman Creators

Batman writer Tom King expressed his controversial opinion that other Batman creatives “should be credited as creators of Batman.”

King took to Twitter to respond to a tweet from TNT Drama asking folks to “quote tweet this with your most controversial Batman opinion.”

Tom King stated, “O’Neil/Adams, Englehart/Rogers, and Frank Miller should be credited as creators of Batman.”

He added, “At this point their contributions to who “Batman” is equal and maybe surpass Kane/Finger.”

King’s opinion was met with skepticism.

Batman’s Origin

Batman was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane. In The Steranko History of Comics, Bill Finger details a phone conversation with Bob Kane about how Batman came to be.

“[Kane] had an idea for a character called Batman, and he’d like me to see the drawings, I went over to Kane’s and he had drawn a character who looked very much like Superman with kind of…reddish tights, I believe, with boots… no gloves, no gauntlets…with a small domino mask, swinging on a rope.”

Finger continued:

“He had two stiff wings sticking out, looking like bat wings. And under it was a big sign…Batman.”

He then details how they made adjustments to the character’s design:

“I got Webster’s Dictionary down off the shelf and was hoping they would have a drawing of a bat, and sure enough they did. I said, ‘Notice the ears, why don’t we duplicate the ears?’ I suggested he draw what looked like a cowl. He experimented with various cowls. I suggested he bring the cowl nosepiece down and make him mysterious and how show any eyes at all. I was very much influence by The Shadow and Doc Savage, The Phantom, things of that sort.”

He continued:

“I didn’t like the wings, so I suggested he make a cape and scallop the edges so it would flow out behind him when he ran and would look like bat wings. He didn’t have any gloves on. We gave him gloves because naturally he’d leave fingerprints. They weren’t the gauntlet type; the came later on. We discussed Batman’s potential. My idea was to have Batman be a combination of Douglas Fairbanks, Sherlock Holmes, The Shadow, and Doc Savage as well.”

What do you make of Tom King’s comments? Do you think other Batman creatives should be credited as creators of the character?

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