Paul Dini Talks About His Dark Night
Dark Night: A True Batman Story is about Paul Dini’s Darkest Night
Most Batman fans should have a pretty good idea who Paul Dini is. A renowned comic book writer, but also one of the most important creative forces behind the “Timmverse” that glorious period of DC animation that featured shows like Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, Justice League/Justice League Unlimited and Batman Beyond. But that’s hardly all as Paul Dini also contributed to classic shows such as He-Man, Tiny Toons, Animaniacs and Freakazoid. He and Bruce Timm co-created Harley Quinn, arguably the most popular female comic book character of all time.
Now Paul Dini does mostly work at Marvel, helping run the shows Ultimate Spider-Man and Hulk and The Agents of S.M.A.S.H., but obviously Batman was a huge part of his life. And while that boom period of 90s DC animation was obviously something to be extremely proud of, it also contains a really dark chapter in Paul Dini’s life. One he has discussed publicly on things like Kevin Smith’s Fatman on Batman Podcast, but is now letting people into his psyche during that dark period in his new graphic novel Dark Night: A True Batman Story, which essentially is about the night Paul Dini got mugged.
Not just mugged though. Mugged and brutally attacked, suffering horrendous injuries. Here’s how Paul Dini himself described them:
"My left zygomatic arch shattered, my nose fractured … multiple bruises to my face, upper body and left thigh. It took my surgeon several hours to rebuild the bones around my eye, using some pins and a small metal plate. He told me the scar wouldn’t show much. Not to the eyes, anyway."
Dark Night: A True Batman story is representative of Dini’s mental process after the attack, with villains like the Joker telling him to embrace defeat and Penguin encouraging him to drink. But it also shows how he was able to pull through this ordeal, and come out stronger in the end.
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It’s obviously horrifying to hear of such a thing happening to anybody, but considering how Paul Dini has bounced back, an inspiring tale as well. Paul Dini’s Dark Night: A True Batman Story will be available June 21st.