This past month I have started to mention the upcoming 2010 Comic-Con International: San Diego by posting comments on my Facebook Group Page, (found at Hamersky.com), and brief mentions in this Blog. 

As noted yesterday at my Facebook Group Page, I will be starting to blog more about upcoming events, panels, guests, etc., that are scheduled to be at this Comic-Con.  Forgive me if I refer to it at the SDCC (San Diego Comic Con), as that is what it was basically called since I started attending it as a dealer back in 1972.

Today's blog post is about Gary Friedrich and Otto Binder Who Will Receive the 2010 Bill Finger Award!

I am going to center this blog post just on Gary Friedrich, as he is the person whose works I am more familar with, as I was a 'Marvel Maniac' for about two decades starting in the 1960's:

This is from the Comic-Con International (CCI) web site itself, about the Award & Why it is given each year:

"Comic-Con International is proud to announce that Otto Binder and Gary Friedrich have been selected to receive the 2010 Bill Finger Award for Achievement in Comic Book Writing. The choices made by a blue-ribbon committee chaired by writer-historian Mark Evanier were unanimous.

This is an award about excellence and about contributions to the field which have not received the recognition they deserve," Evanier explains. "Bill Finger sure merited more acclaim than he got and in his name, we try to honor others who have been similarly overlooked. Many people know of and love the work of Otto Binder and Gary Friedrich. Not nearly enough know the names of the men who created that work."

I remember reading a LOT of Gary's works during the mid 1960's.  That's because:

"Gary Friedrich was a member of the legendary Marvel Bullpen of the sixties, joining the company in 1967 after a brief stint working for Charlton Comics on strips that included Blue Beetle and The Sentinels. For Marvel, he began with westerns and quickly segued to super-hero features including The X-Men, The Incredible Hulk, and Marvel's version of Captain Marvel. He distinguished himself with a long, memorable run writing Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos, and in 1972 he introduced a new, memorable character with the name of Ghost Rider, which has had a successful run in publishing and which in 2007 resulted in a major motion picture bringing Friedrich's fiery hero to the screen."

So that's just some of the reasons why Gary Friedrich was selected to be the co-receipient this year!

So you ask, what about Bill Finger, whom the Award is named for?  Especially if YOU aren't a long time comics reader or collector. Well, the CCI states the following:

Bill Finger (1914-1974), the unsung hero and co-creator of Batman, scripted the first and many of the best Batman stories during the Golden Age of comic books. He created many of the series' most notable characters, including the Penguin, Riddler, Catwoman, and Two-Face, and he made significant refinements to Batman's concept and persona. Finger wrote the scripts that introduced the Bat Cave, Batmobile, Batplane, and Batsignal. Many terms he created, such as the Dynamic Duo and Gotham City, have become part of our lexicon. Finger was a craftsman, and his Batman's adventures were carefully plotted, as well as being imbued with humor and sprightly repartee. Above all, he was a visual writer-he knew instinctively what the artist could translate into compelling pictures and sequential narrative.

Finger's comics writing credits include many other DC characters, including the Green Lantern and Wildcat, and many titles for Quality Comics, Fawcett Publications, and Timely Comics. His television credits include episodes of 77 Sunset Strip, Hawaiian Eye, the animated New Adventures of Superman, and the primetime Batman series."

So now you know who Bill Finger was, and why this Award is named after him. Plus this year's receipients. 

You may be thinking...What about any earlier receipients of this Award?  Well those include:

2009:  John Broome & Frank Jacobs
2008:  Archie Goodwin &Larry Lieber
2007:  Gardner Fox & George Gladir
2006:  Alvin Schwartz & Harvey Kurtzman
2005:  Jerry Siegel & Arnold Drake.

The past couple of months I have mentioning an upcoming book that I have written a chapter (essay) for.

That book is pictured above with a provisional cover, to show you what the book is all about.

The book is titled 'Gotham City 14 Miles'.

This blog post is titled 'Mile Marker #10...'. That is a neat way of saying that Chapter (Essay) #10 has been hi-lited at the Facebook Fan Page for this book, as seen here: 'Gotham City 14 Miles'. And yeah...Mile Marker #10 is 'marking' my essay / chapter I submitted to this book!

The really cool thing is that even after my chapter is hi-lited...we've got 4 more Mile Markers to go to list all the chapters!  Great promotional idea, Jim Beard!  Jim is the Editor of this project, and asked me if I would like to get involved in submitting an essay.

Well...Do the photos that I've published above from the 1996 San Diego Comic Con and the 2010 Wizard World Anaheim give you the idea that the Batman TV Series from the mid 1960's holds some interest for me???  LOL!

The series does hold interest for me, and I've been embarking on covering more pop culture type of comic cons since last year.  Mainly to see the stars of that TV Series to blog about here in my blog. I've already posted a few, and this is just one more in a series of those to be published before the 'Gotham City 14 Miles' is finally released at the end of 2010!

Here's the promo that Jim posted on yesterday's wall post at 'Gotham City 14 Miles' Facebook Fan Page:

"Mile Marker #10 - “Holy Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor!” - by Michael D Hamersky. Veteran blogger and comic book showman Hamersky address the topic of youthculture as presented in BATMAN '66, zeroing in on Robin's presence and education as well as other examples of youth in the show and adult perception of them. Hamersky uses personal anecdotes to skewer a few teen-age 1960s tropes".

Thanks Jim for the great write up! I do appreciate that, and I also look forward to reading the other 13 essays / chapters that are being shown as 'Mile Markers' at the Fan Page!

So, I'm going to wrap this up for now, by displaying a few links related to the Batman TV Show and / or TV Stars that had a role in the series:

'Gotham City 14 Miles' Facebook Fan Page

'Gotham City Mile Marker #10' at the Facebook Fan Page

My own Blog's recent blog post on Yvonne (Batgirl) Craig

My own Blog's recent post on Malachi (False Face) Throne

Friday Night's BRAVE AND THE BOLD TV Episode Features...

AND My Thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now totalling over 3,170 posts in number! 

~ Michael D Hamersky @ ComicBookCollectorsBlog.com

Note: Batman Comic books that the TV Series was based on can be found for sale at our own online comic book store at:

http://www.comicbookscircus.com/

 

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Check Out More Of Our Own Endeavors:   Yeah, that's me in the photo shown to the left, taken at the 1973 San Diego Comic Con at the Sheraton Hotel at Harbor Island in San Diego! I first set up as a 'dealer' at the 1972 SDCC at the El Cortez Hotel. So I've been around comic conventions for a little while, LOL! Tina and I now have an on-line exhibitor table at the first "virtual" comic con titled the "Facebook Comic Con" (FBCC)! You can view our table and interact with us there on Facebook by clicking this link. So if YOU are a Facebook member, please 'join' our Facebook Comic Con - Make It So Marketing exhibitor table for updates, specials, links to this blog, and other wall comments that we post every day!    Also, if you are a Facebook member and would like to join my Facebook Network, feel free to send a 'friend request' to 'Michael D Hamersky'.         ------------------- Talking about comics: if YOU are a comics creator, (writer, penciler, inker, colorist, letterer, etc.), OR even a Comics / Magazine Publisher, feel free to contact me regarding YOUR works for a possible mention / review! I've made a special blog post about: "How To Best Submit YOUR Publication For Possible Review!" for those creators / publishers that would like to possibly have their publications mentioned or reviewed. Just click on the link provided in this paragraph! ~Michael @ ComicBookCollectorsBlog.com   WEB PAGE NOTE:  This blog post is written for the IE Browser standards. Chrome, Safarai, Netscape, Firefox and the others serve the page up differently. The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768. NOTE; All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.