Even before writer Paul Dini compared this to Play It Again, Sam, the concept had me hooked. The Hollywood Reporter today broke the story that Dini is teaming with Eduardo Risso for a Vertigo graphic novel, Dark Night: A ‘True’ Batman Story, in which Dini portrays his own survival of a traumatic assault, using characters from the Batman gallery as voices that spurred him on.
The co-creator of Harley Quinn, among many others, and acclaimed writer of classic episodes of Batman: the Animated Series, Dini suffered an horrific beating in 1993, just as his star was rising in the industry. Using Batman and his Rogues’ Gallery as voices of wisdom (and some maybe not so much), Dini will recount the event and the months of recovery. As he told The Hollywood Reporter about that time in his life:
“Here I am writing these stories for an audience that loves this form, in comics, in animation, but now I was saying to myself, ‘I can’t go on with this. I don’t believe in it anymore. There is no hero for me. Where is my hero?’ The answer is: you have to be your own hero.”
The resulting 128-page graphic novel will be released in June 2016, one of a few Vertigo biographical publications. But though superficially it might echo Steven T. Seagle’s It’s a Bird, Dark Night promises humor, pathos, and high quality storytelling. Dini has focused spotlights on the souls of many some of DC’s greatest characters; will he be able to shine light on his own?
Of course. He’s Paul Dini.
