Victor Rodgers wrote "I think it's because Eisner actually created the Spirit."

Touche!

Dang, I knew I left something off that list of questions!

Another factor in Kane's case (At least according to Gerard Jones in "Men of Tomorrow", and he seems to have solid sources among the "non-creative" staff at DC that no-one else has pursued)  is that when he did , retroactively, secure certain of the rights to Batman, it was through falsely claiming that he was not of age when he signed away the rights.

So we have him 1) Doing very little of the actual work of creating and developing the character 2) Actively barring other significant creators from getting proper, official credit for contributions to the creation of Batman (and his supporting cast) that greatly exceeded his own and 3) Lying in order to extort certain rights and monetary compensation from the company, in a way that negatively impacted on his de-facto co-creators (see 2).

Hey, I'll go so far as to say I wouldn't normally hold it against a guy to use an underhanded trick to get leverage so he could get fairly compensated for his creation. I wouldn't applaud it, but I can understand his motivation. But he used that leverage to exclude Bill Finger from getting the same kind of credit. And once he screwed over his partner ...

I have no sympathy for that.

But, gee whiz, Knut, in Batman and Me published in 1989 Bob Kane (or at very least his ghostwriter) wrote "Bill Finger was a contributing force on Batman right from the beginning." Admittedly it took 60 years to make it into print, but gosh almighty, isn't that enough credit for Mr. Finger? What more recognition for his contribution could the man possibly need? Can't be any fairer than that...

Matter of fact, let's look at Bill Finger's own words on the matter, as quoted in Jim Steranko's The Steranko History of Comics. According to Bill, 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. He had two stiff wings that were sticking out, looking like bat wings. And under it was a big sign ... BATMAN."

Now, all Bill Finger did was offer some suggestions like giving Batman a cowl and scalloped cape instead of wings, putting gloves on him, leaving the mask's eyeholes blank to connote mystery, swapping the bright red sections of the original costume for a gray-and-black color scheme, and naming the character Bruce Wayne. Pretty inconsequential stuff if you ask me...

I mean, really, if you change the names from "Kane" and "Finger" to "Lee" and "Ditko", it almost reads like the creation of Spider-Man, doesn't it?

(For those leaping to bang out a nasty reply, please pause to note the dripping sarcasm from this posting.)

Holy Tombstone, Batman!

I've read about this, saw the inscription printed somewhere, but never actually bothered to look up an actual picture until now. You don't think Bob was the least bit full of himself, do you?

If (I said IF) the inclusion of Spider-Man in their claims is a deliberate negotiating ploy by the heirs...knowing that they have no legitimate rights to the character...they are slimey and pathetic. 

If you have a legitimate claim against someone, you don't outright lie about other stuff.  It's not right. 

Brandon Tartikoff, head of NBC's Entertainment Division, scribbled two words on a brainstorming memo: MTV Cops. From that came Miami Vice. Nowhere in those two words -- MTV Cops -- do you have Crochett or Tubbs or Miami or neon. That was left up to Anthony Yerkovich to figure out. So, does Tartikoff qualify as the creator? Or is he merely the inspiration?

For those who like to turn to the end of the book for answers, Anthony Yerkovich is credited as the creator of Miami Vice, not Brandon Tartikoff. But consider this: those two words from Tartikoff held a very powerful concept. It's expression is arguably less important than the concept itself. And while Akron Meter Patrol probably would have been a less successful program, that expression of the concept does not invalidate the concept itself.

==============================================

Watching an interview with Stephen J. Cannell, he states The A-Team came about through a meeting he and Frank Lupo had with Tartikoff saying he imagined a series that was "not like The Magnificent Seven, but wasn't The Dirty Dozen but needed soldiers for hire". Cannell and Lupo created The A-Team from  this. Who gets the credit? The guy who concepted the idea or the two guys who made the whole thing happen?

As another aside, both Yerkovich and Mann have said the MTV Cops story is untrue.

Yerkovich created Miami Vice after reading an article starting how the vice squad in Miami used confiscated goods to catch criminals. This is backed up by both on the Miami Vice DVDs. Sonny Crockett was the name of a character Yerkovich had created while he worked on Hill Street Blues.

Mann was the one who brought the movie quality production values to the series.

Stephen J. Cannell is very generous in giving the late Brandon Tartikoff credit for "creating" THE A-TEAM.  Too much so, in my opinion; at about 4 minutes into this clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXXOnEKRA_M 

Speaking of the famous "MTV Cops"* memo, it was also the basis of Stephen J. Cannell's STINGRAY (1985 - 1987) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FNEvOIeAjY

*though my father's take on STINGRAY was (and I remember this like it was yesterday), "Basically, this guy's a one-man A-Team" - Josh's Father, 1986 (he had to watch almost the entire first season before he felt he had enough of a "handle" on it to make that assessment).