It seemed innocuous enough. DC Entertainment declared July 23 Batman Day, with retailers and libraries giving away a special edition reprint of the first Batman story, as it appeared in Detective Comics #27 in 1939, illustrated by creator Bob Kane, and written by Bill Finger.

That is, until the comic press noted the latter’s name on the cover, interpreting it as DCE’s final concession that Finger was co-creator of the famed character and franchise.

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“What makes this issue really significant, is that, to my knowledge, it’s the first time Batman’s co-creator Bill Finger has received a cover credit for the original Batman story,” writes Comics Alliance’s Chris Sims. “Of course, Finger’s name is still underneath Kane’s, but, well, baby steps.”

As the celebration of Batman’s 75th anniversary builds toward San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC), which runs July 24-27, so too does a long-simmering controversy over whether Finger–who wrote many early Batman comics, and contributed to the superhero’s costume, origin story, and characters before passing away in 1974–should be granted co-creator status alongside Kane, who died in 1998. Kane is slated for an upcoming star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for creating a character that has spawned the most successful box office superhero franchise, pulling in more than $3.7 billion worldwide.

“I give Bill Finger major credit for the success of Batman; almost all the good ideas were his,” says SDCC special guest Jim Steranko, a comics illustrator and historian who infamously slapped Kane at one Comic-Con. “According to Bill, it was he who created the Joker, inspired by the imagery he spotted on a Coney Island ride. He was the real talent behind Batman.”

L-R Bill Finger, Athena Finger, and Michael Keaton as Batman on the set of the 1992 film Batman Returns alongside Bob Kane

Meanwhile, Sims’s article capped months of online angst: an unsuccessful campaign for a Google doodle celebrating Finger’s birthday, a Kickstarter effort for a Finger documentary, Google’s scrapping of a planned Batman 75th Anniversary doodle due to the controversy, fan questions about Finger’s credit at WonderCon, and subsequent legal rumblings by Finger’s granddaughter, Athena Finger, another SDCC special guest.

Finger would not comment for this story beyond her May 5 statement made through the Comic Arts Council: “My grandfather has never been properly credited as the co-creator of Batman although it was an open secret in the comic book industry and is widely known now. It is now my time to come out of the shadows and speak up and end 75 years of exploitation of my grandfather. I am currently exploring our rights and considering how best to establish the recognition that my grandfather deserves.”