Adventures in Cryptozoology: The Paul Dini Interview
Once upon a time, there was a column about comic books and pop culture that Park and Barb wrote for a website that shall remain nameless, and that column was entitled THE PARK AND BARB SHOW.
We wrote it for 12 years.
It’s mostly gone now, except for Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine function, but there was some stuff in there I want to put here. So I will.
One thing I did there, long ago, was that I interviewed Paul Dini– in 2006. So that seemed relevant to the craft of writing, so here it is again below.
IF you don’t know, Paul Dini– to borrow information from his Wikipedia page– “is an American screenwriter and comic creator” who “has been a producer and writer for several Warner Bros. Animation/DC Comics animated series, most notably Batman: The Animated Series (1992–1995), and the subsequent DC Animated Universe. Dini and Bruce Timm co-created the characters Harley Quinn and Terry McGinnis” (Batman Beyond).”Dini began writing for Warner Bros. Animation on Tiny Toon Adventures. Dini was” also “a writer for Superman: The Animated Series (1996–2000), writer and co-creator for The New Batman Adventures (1997–1999), and writer and developer for Batman Beyond (1999–2001). He also co-created Freakazoid! (1995–1997) with Timm, produced Duck Dodgers (2003–2005), developed and scripted Krypto the Superdog (2005–2006). After leaving Warner Bros. Animation in early 2004, Dini went on to write and story edit the first season of the ABC adventure series Lost. Dini wrote the storylines for the Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City video games. . . . He has written a number of comic books for DC Comics. Dini and Timm collaborated on The Batman Adventures: Mad Love, which won the Eisner Award for Best Single Story in 1994. Dini and illustrator Alex Ross created the graphic novels Superman: Peace on Earth, Batman: War on Crime, Shazam! Power of Hope, and Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth. His original creations include Jingle Belle, Sheriff Ida Red, and Madame Mirage.”
Okay, so… here it is!
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Some are aware that Barb and I started out as a long-distance relationship, writing to each other in the early ’90s after we found each other through a SANDMAN-related newsletter. We liked Classic Vertigo, sure… but what we talked about at least as much was the timelessly art-deco, Fleischer-inspired, WELL-WRITTEN… Batman The Animated Series.
Batman, Superman, Harley Quinn, Jingle Belle…
This is the Paul Dini interview.
Park Cooper: Now, I know that Jingle Belle is very close to your heart… Tell me a bit about where JB stands right now. What’s just been done, and what’s coming up?
Paul Dini: I created Jingle Belle in 1998. She made her first appearance in a one-page comic ad that December, but owing to a scheduling problem, her first story did not appear until summer, 1999.
Dini: Since then I’ve done a number of one-shots and mini-series with her. The latest special will be released this December and it is a team-up between JB and Kyle Bakers’ THE BAKERS characters.
Cooper: Can you tell me about THE BAKERS for just a moment?
Dini: THE BAKERS is Kyle’s strip that features a caricatured version of himself and his family. He’s done several collections of the cartoons. It’s the ups and downs of married life with kids. It’s very funny.
Cooper: Now, from what company will this be published?
Dini: Dark Horse.
Cooper: And has Jingle Belle always, so far, been with Dark Horse?
Dini: No, she started at Oni Press. She was there from the beginning, 1998, through 2003. The next year I took her to Dark Horse.
Cooper: You created Jingle Belle, and she belongs to you. Are there any other characters (outside of JB’s world I mean) like that? Which you created in a creator-owned way?
Dini: Well, there are characters who have appeared with Jingle who now have identities and books of their own. Like the MUTANT, TEXAS characters. That was another book I published through Oni in 2002/2003. Also a supporting character from Jing named Polly Green, a young witch, has had some solo stories published. I hope to do more with both characters.
Cooper: At a certain time, if I went up to 100 people at San Diego, and said “Paul Dini,” I think the response I’d get the most might be, “Paul Dini, sure, Batman Adventures, right?” And when I stared at them for a moment, they might very well continue, “And, of course, Superman Adventures. And Batman Beyond, right?” Do you ever meet, or still meet, fans who know you from something but aren’t really aware of the sheer variety of projects you’ve worked on?
Dini: Oh sure. I never presume every comic book fan knows who I am.
Cooper: Or has it become this Shatneresque thing that most fans… yeah. Sure, but I have this idea that most of those who do know your name don’t really grasp everything you’ve been involved with.
Dini: I’ve had fans point me out to various comic book store dealers when I’ve been in their stores only to have the dealer shrug blankly and return to his Warhammer discussion.
Cooper: Heh.
Cooper: Let’s totally switch gears for a second, just because I’m dying to… have you tell me about cryptozoology!
Dini: Oh God…
Cooper: Heh.
Dini: Now we’re into flying saucerland. No, I’m a huge follower of Cryptozoology. It’s the study of animals that have not been formally recognized by science.
Cooper: Well that was my next question… if you go more for the biological species stuff or if it’s the whole Springheeled Jack Jersey Devil thing, or both. Some extend cryptozoology in a scientific way, and some are just… oh, monsterologists. You know what I mean.
Dini: That includes things like variations of already recognized species, like the new species of mouse discovered recently on Cyprus, right up to Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster.
Cooper: Which isn’t to disparage monsterologists. Somebody better know about… yeah. You know what I mean. I read about your interest, first on your website I think (though someone put it in your Wikipedia page too), and I was like, “Ahh… another guy who knows who Charles Fort is.” Does cryptozoology ever creep into your work?
Dini: Oh sure, I use it all the time. It’s fun to draw on, whether one believes in the monster aspect of it or not. The monster stuff I raise an eyebrow at simply because there are few smoking guns, e.g., corpses.
Cooper: Yeah, isn’t it great when another blob that was probably a giant squid-if-you-squint washes up…? [shakes fist at insufficiently-identifiable washed-up corpses]
Dini: If Sasquatch was a large primate, as it’s often described, it would be vulnerable to predation, the way gorillas are sometimes killed by leopards. You’d figure after all this time someone would have shot a cougar or a wolf that had the remains of a young one in its belly.
Cooper: Check. My wife likes the Scottish panthers… I have thrilled her with tales of cryptozoology… she comes to me when she needs a monster…
Dini: I’ve seen some big stuffed black cats in Scottish museums. Not panthers, but I guess a hybrid of a feral cat and a Scottish wildcat. They look like they could do in a US bobcat with little trouble.
Cooper: Oooh. Oh that’s right, you’re partially from up there yourself, aren’t you? Or am I thinking of someone else–?
Dini: Nah, I’m half Scot. Never lived there, but I have relatives from there.
Cooper: Yeah… What’s it like having your own Wikipedia page, anyway?
Dini: [Shrugs.]
Cooper: Yeah, I hear ya.
Dini: Riddled with inaccuracy and hokum, but fun to look at now and then.