Chapter 83 Poor Genius

After hearing from the little girl Athena that the uncle who came in was her grandfather, Su Yun let down his guard and lowered his head to scan the ground with his eyes.

All the naughty kids who were swept by her eyes shuddered, and the pain from Su Yun's beating with the mop seemed to be covered by the chill from the bottom of their hearts.

Who would have thought that the poor little guy in the movie is actually a super scary Kung Fu master? Are all Chinese people really so secretive?

After finally hearing Su Yun telling them to get out, these naughty kids quickly supported each other and rushed out of the toilet in a terrified state.

Three of the boys rushed in faster than anyone else - after all, this was a women's restroom, and they had been showing off with the intention of letting the girls in the team drag the people out and put them in a corner before taking action. However, they ended up losing more than they gained, as Su Yun instead swept them all in with a mop.

Knowing that this kind of clique-forming kid would not give up and would only bear more grudges, Su Yun, who felt that she could not save her forever, suggested to Athena after she and the other two reached the agreed corner: "If conditions permit, it would be better to change her school."

Bill sighed, "I'm already working hard to make money. The main reason is that we don't feel comfortable with schools that are far away. If it's close... there are some reasons at home, so it's not very convenient either."

It is difficult to talk about deep things with someone you are not familiar with, so Bill did not tell her the reason why Athena was bullied in the beginning: Athena's father, his son Fred, was actually a homosexual.

In fact, Fred didn't understand his true orientation at first, which is why he and his girlfriend had Athena when he was young. After the breakup, he gradually discovered his true orientation.

But his son had the same introverted personality as him, and even though he knew it, he didn't dare to pursue true love anymore. Instead, he worked hard to do some odd jobs at home to help support the family. People's concepts were not so open back then, and Fred's identity as a homosexual made the nearby residents more or less resistant to him as something strange and unspeakable, so he could only take on some difficult manual work outside.

Athena was also insulted and bullied by the naughty kids in the school because of her father Fred.

As a father, Fred also tried to seek justice for his daughter with his frail body, but he was insulted even more severely by the other party's parents, who called him disgusting, dirty, and crazy...

There were even parents who hated this and signed a letter asking the school to cancel Athena's study qualifications.

Although the school did not agree, Athena's life in school became even more difficult.

Moreover, Fred was implicated and lost his odd jobs that could barely support himself. In the end, he had to pack up his luggage and bid farewell to his family, and go to live temporarily in another place where no one knew him, in the hope that his father and daughter would have a better life in his hometown.

Su Yun, who didn't know the truth, could only comfort Athena with the thought that every family has its own problems. Then she opened her backpack and prepared to take out her powder box to touch up her makeup.

Seeing a flash of silver in the backpack, Bill's eyes widened: "What is this?!"

"Oh, this is a gift from a good friend of mine who lives in New Jersey. After he helped an old man who suddenly fell ill, the old man gave it to him as a reward. But my friend thought that I had to pay for the medical expenses, so he gave it to me." Su Yun took out the bat pendant that she had taken off and put in her backpack because she was going to perform. "Look, it's in the shape of Batman, it's very cute."

"It turned out that you and your friend saved me!" Bill was immediately excited: the small apartment where he lived in Manhattan was adjacent to New Jersey, and he fainted in a small town in New Jersey that day because he was out collecting materials for a manuscript.

"So this bat pendant is yours?" Su Yun was also very surprised.

"Yes - let me formally introduce myself. My name is Bill, Bill Finger, and this is my granddaughter Athena." Bill unexpectedly met his savior at the comic convention. He immediately said a few words to Athena, and the eyes of the old and the young were full of gratitude.

"You are Bill Finger?!" Su Yun was even more surprised.

As a geek who has some exposure to American comics, I am naturally aware of the feud between Bill Finger and Bob Kane.

Batman, one of the most popular works in DC comics, was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane.

Moreover, because Bill is the main script writer and Bob is responsible for drawing the story into comics, it can be said that Bill is the main contributor to the popular character of Batman. Basically 80% of Batman's most classic image, life experience, personality and story tone come from his creation.

In addition to Batman, he also participated in the roles of Robin Hood, the first Green Lantern, Clowney, Catwoman, The Whisperer, Two-Face and other positive and villain characters.

Unfortunately, such a genius with amazing imagination is actually a poor person with a very weak character.

After getting to know Bob, who is known as the "Father of Batman", Bill referred to the popular character Superman at that time and changed the appearance and settings of Bob's "red and gold Batman", which was almost a copy of Superman's appearance. This is how the "dark Batman" that later generations saw came into being.

Then Bob took the manuscript of the new Batman, in which all other designs except the name were not his, to the editor to sign a publishing contract.

Then, Bob asked Bill to continue writing Batman stories for him in the name of "cooperation", but he never mentioned giving Bill a credit - to put it bluntly, he made Bill one of his ghostwriters.

This kind of ghostwriting arrangement was quite common at the time, so Bill, who was poor and easy to talk to, did not think carefully and was deceived into becoming a secret collaborator with no status at all.

As "Batman" became more and more popular, the smart Bob founded a studio and further intensified the practice of hiring ghostwriters. He began to directly invite a team of painters to help him adapt Bill's story into comics - and these painters were also required to work anonymously.

In their work with Bill, the anonymous artists gradually realized Bob's despicable behavior of stealing all the reputation of Batman.

After reporting the incident to the editor, Bill was able to leave Bob's studio and work directly for DC.

But his name is still not on Batman.

Having been writing for 25 years, this man, who is recognized by his colleagues as the most outstanding comic screenwriter of their generation, has never been able to reveal his identity to the fans who love this comic.

With the encouragement and help of his friends, the editor began to publicize Bill's creative contribution, and Bill also mustered up the courage to declare to the world that he was the co-creator of Batman... Unfortunately, things did not go as he wished. Bob, who had obtained the exclusive copyright of Batman from DC early on and became a millionaire with both fame and fortune, bluntly accused Bill of exaggerating the facts. Not only did he angrily denounce him as a liar who deceived the world and stole his reputation, he also confidently stated: "I am the only creator of "Batman"! Not only that, the entire Golden Age of Batman was drawn by me!"

As the only Batman creator officially acknowledged by DC at the time, Bob's words were both unreasonable and powerful.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that it is impossible that all the Batman comic series in the golden age were written by him - even if the ghostwriters hired by Bob to draw did not have the right to sign their names, the difference in the comic style is still quite obvious.

Therefore, this chilling statement not only caused an uproar, but also attracted criticism from other authors of the same generation. Even the main co-operating artist Jerry Robinson broke with Bob after hearing it.

But even though many fans who were informed of the inside story privately expressed their trust and support for Bill, Bill, who was disheartened by Bob's public attack, retreated into his snail shell again, no longer daring to fight for himself.

So he continued to work hard until the famous anti-comics wave of "comics are harmful" swept the comics industry in the 1950s.

After the comic book industry suffered a heavy blow, Bob lived a comfortable life on the compensation from Batman, while Bill continued to work for DC, earning a meager salary to support his family.

To make matters worse, Bill and several other cartoonists applied for medical insurance from their company under the influence of the wave of demands for medical insurance. However, they were not only rejected but also ruthlessly fired.

Bill, who had survived his unemployment period with difficulty, injected new vitality into the comics industry. When DC tried to reshape the image of superheroes but found that no one could do it better than Bill at the time, he was shamelessly re-hired to continue writing scripts.

As for the salary, Bill is too cowardly to resist, and he has a little granddaughter to burden him, so he can just keep it as it is, and he doesn't even have to buy medical insurance.

Capitalists are vampires in every era, relying on the fact that middle-aged and elderly people have family ties and cannot escape, so they can devour the flesh and blood of low-level workers with impunity.

The more Su Yun thought about it, the sadder she felt: once upon a time, when she was a newcomer in the workplace, she had also been exploited and oppressed by those "smart guys" and vampire bosses.

Fortunately, she is not as soft-hearted as Bill. After learning and gaining qualifications, she changed jobs directly and then started her own studio. Then, she drank coffee and watched those stupid companies that engaged in workplace PUA destroy themselves.

After reminiscing, Su Yun searched through her memory, and combined with the news that Bill died unexpectedly in his old age when he was in poverty and unable to redeem himself, she roughly analyzed that it was Tom's temporary help that allowed Bill, who should have left at the beginning of the year, to survive the accident.

Thinking of this, Su Yun looked at Bill again: "I remember my friend said - if you can successfully get back what belongs to you, then I can take this bat and ask you for a reward?"

Bill's expression froze for a moment, and then he looked miserable again: "After that accident, I did have the idea of ​​fighting again..."

"But even if I go to comic conventions everywhere to seek support from fans, it doesn't help much." Bill sighed deeply, "Also, after so many years, those fans who believed in me back then can basically no longer be contacted..."

If the original world line had developed, fifteen years after Bill's death, I don't know whether it was because he considered that a dead man could not claim credit, or whether it was because the elderly Bob wanted to reduce his guilt, so he justified his title as the co-creator of Batman in his autobiography.

But what Bob wrote - if I could go back fifteen years, before Bill died, I would say, I'm putting your name on it now, you deserve it.

These words, which seemed to be a revelation of conscience but were actually speechless, not only made Su Yun, a bystander, have a lot of questions in her mind when she read them, but the hot-tempered Robinson, who broke up with him that year, even directly tore him apart in the media: From the very beginning, Bill's contribution far exceeded yours, and you not only enslaved his creation but also deliberately excluded his credit, and finally caused Bill to die in obscurity. On this matter, I will never forgive you, a lying villain!

But no matter how much heated discussion this sparked, it had nothing to do with the poor genius Bill.

"I believe you!" Su Yun stood up with a serious expression, "I am also a fan of Batman. Let me express my deepest gratitude to you here - thank you for creating Batman."

Seeing this, Bill was so frightened that he stood up as well, his lips moved, but he was so nervous that he couldn't utter a word.

That's the way he is—he can write great battle scenes, but he never seems to be able to fight his own battles.

Even though they are old enough to be Su Yun's uncles or even grandfathers, they are far inferior to Su Yun, the "child", in terms of social skills and self-expression.

“Maybe the fans back then can no longer help you, but I, the fan now - maybe not just me, we will all help you again!”

"As long as you dare to fight for yourself."

Seeing this scene, Athena, who probably knew something, pulled the hand of the stunned Bill.

Su Yun couldn't help but look at her: In the future, it was Athena, the granddaughter, who, with the encouragement and help of future fans, started negotiations with DC, and finally succeeded in obtaining the official legal recognition of Bill's status by DC, and Bill's name was listed alongside Bob as the "Father of Batman".

At the same time, the signature that has been controversial for many years will be changed from "Batman created by Bob Kane" to "Batman created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger".

"If you continue to be so depressed, do you have to wait for a dozen or even dozens of years, after you pass away, for your descendants to vindicate you?"

"Are you willing to let Athena continue to be bullied, or spend the rest of her life running for her cowardly grandfather?"

"Grandpa, don't be afraid. When I grow up, I will definitely help you get back what you deserve!" Hearing this, Athena, who knew that her grandfather had been bullied for many years, hurriedly pulled Rabbi's hand again with a determined look.

However, it was this appearance that prompted an old man to muster up his courage again and fight for himself and future generations.

"Excuse me...what should I do?" He looked at Su Yun with sharp eyes, gritted his teeth and took the first step to protect his rights after many years.