Paul Dini Biography

Paul Dini (born August 7, 1957) is an American writer and producer who works in the television and comic book industries. He is best known as a producer and writer for several Warner Bros. Animation/DC Comics animated series, including Tiny Toon Adventures, Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, The New Batman/Superman Adventures, Batman Beyond, and Duck Dodgers. He developed and scripted Krypto the Superdog and contributed scripts to Transformers, Animaniacs, Freakazoid and Static Shock. After leaving Warner Bros. Animation in early 2004, Dini went on to write and story edit the popular ABC adventure series Lost. He has written a number of comic books for DC Comics, including Harley Quinn and Superman: Peace on Earth. October 2010 saw the debut of Tower Prep, a new live action/drama series Dini created for Cartoon Network. It was announced that after two decades of doing DC-related animated projects, Paul Dini has gone over to Marvel to serve as a writer and producer for Ultimate Spider-Man and Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H..

Early life

Paul Dini was born in New York City, the son of an advertising executive, Robert Dini, and his wife. He attended Stevenson School in Pebble Beach, California on an art scholarship. He attended Emerson College in Boston, where he earned a BFA degree in creative writing.

During college, he began doing freelance animation scripts for Filmation, and a number of other studios. In 1984, he was hired to work for George Lucas on several of his animation projects. Dini later returned to the Star Wars universe in 2007 to script several episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Career

Dini wrote a number of episodes of the 1983-85 animated TV series, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe that became favorites amongst the show's fans over the Internet, as well as contributing to interviews on the released box sets of the series, though Dini has made no secret of his distaste for Filmation and the He-Man concept. He wrote an episode of the Generation One Transformers cartoon series, "The Dweller in The Depths," and an episode of the 1985 G.I. Joe cartoon called "Jungle Trap" and contributed to various episodes of the Star Wars: Ewoks animated series, several of which included rare appearances from the Empire. He also wrote the Jem episode "Music Is Magic" for the show's second season.

In 1989, he was hired at Warner Bros. Animation to work on Tiny Toon Adventures. Later, he moved onto Batman: The Animated Series, where he worked as a writer, producer and editor, later working on Batman Beyond. He continued working with WB animation, working on a number of internal projects, including Krypto the Superdog and Duck Dodgers, until 2004. In 1989 and 1990, he contributed scripts to the live-action television horror anthology series Monsters: "One Wolf's Family" and "Talk Nice to Me".

He has earned five Emmy awards for his animation work. In a related effort, Dini was the co-author with Chip Kidd of Batman Animated, a 1998 non-fiction coffee table book about the animated Batman franchise.

Dini and Bruce Timm introduced Harley Quinn in Batman: The Animated Series as her first appearance was the episode "Joker's Favor" and in 1994, they adapted the character into comics in The Batman Adventures: Mad Love one-shot. Harley Quinn was integrated into the mainstream DC Comics continuity in the Batman: Harley Quinn one-shot published in 1999. Dini has written several comics stories for DC Comics, including an oversized graphic novel series illustrated by painter Alex Ross featuring Superman, Batman, Captain Marvel, Wonder Woman, and the Justice League. A hardcover collection of the Dini and Ross stories was published in 2005 under the title The World's Greatest Super-Heroes.

Best known among Dini's original creations is Jingle Belle, the rebellious teen-age daughter of Santa Claus. Dini created Sheriff Ida Red, the super-powered cowgirl star of a series of books set in Dini's mythical town of Mutant, Texas. He collaborated with Kevin Smith on Clerks: The Animated Series. In 2001 Dini made a cameo appearance in Smith's film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back during the scene in which Jay and Silent Bob wear ridiculous looking costumes for a film being directed by Chris Rock, in which Dini says to them "you guys look pretty bad ass".

He and Bruce Timm collaborated on the Harley and Ivy limited series for DC in 2004. Dini became the writer for DC Comics' Detective Comics as of issue #821 (Sept. 2006) and created a new version of the Ventriloquist in #827 (March 2007). While Grant Morrison was starting a seven-year Batman story on the Batman title composed of long, interlinking arcs, Dini wrote a number of done-in-one stories over the following year as well as two crossovers with Morrison's Batman, one focusing on the resurrection of Ra's al Ghul and another on the return of Hush. After Morrison's "Batman R.I.P." storyline in 2009, creators were moved around titles and Dini started writing two new Batman titles Batman: Streets of Gotham and Gotham City Sirens. Streets of Gotham started and ended with story arcs about Hush while Gotham City Sirens focused on the females of Gotham; he wrote the bulk of both titles during their existence including the first and last issue of both.

In 2006 he announced that he was writing a hardcover graphic novel starring Zatanna and Black Canary. The following year he was the head writer of DC's weekly series, Countdown. Dini co-wrote a draft script for the ill-fated Science Ninja Team Gatchaman movie, which never saw the light of day, resulting in him leaving the project. Dini wrote a series for Top Cow Productions, based in a character he created, Madame Mirage.

In July 2008, Dini started a partnership with GoAnimate to launch his Super Rica & Rashy series on the platform. Dini writes episodes released on the website on a regular basis. He lets anyone use his characters to create their own stories using the website's online animation creation application.

He returned to write animated version of Batman in Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Legends of the Dark Mite". In the very same episode, he appeared in an animated form in comic book convention parody scene, where he was wearing Harley Quinn's costume, along with Bruce Timm wearing Joker's costume next to him. He would go on to write several additional episodes for the series, including "Chill of the Night!", which contained a team-up between Batman and Zatanna, one of Dini's favorite characters. Dini penned the storyline for the Rocksteady Studios video game Batman: Arkham Asylum, released on August 25, 2009. He wrote three episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars: "Cloak of Darkness," "Holocron Heist," and "Voyage of Temptation."

On February 14, 2008 the first edition of Dini's column, "200 Words with Paul Dini" was released on the iFanboy site.

He is the creator of the Tower Prep series. On August 4, 2010, it was confirmed that Paul Dini will be involved in Marvel Comics' upcoming animated series Ultimate Spider-Man, which is set to air on Disney XD in 2012. He worked on Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., an animated series centered around the Hulk and his supporting cast.

Dini worked with Rocksteady studios once again to create Batman: Arkham City, which was a sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum. He wrote a five-issue comic series set in the game continuity. A building in Arkham City is named Dini Towers in tribute.

Dini wrote the script for Bloodspell, an original graphic novel starring Black Canary and Zatanna.

Paul Dini and his wife, magician Misty Lee, created an online interview feature called "Monkey Talk" on Kevin Smith's website, Quick Stop Entertainment.com.

His graphic novel Dark Night: A True Batman Story, based on a mugging he experienced in 1993, was published in June 2016.

Dini and his wife Misty Lee appeared on Ken Reid's TV Guidance Counselor podcast on April 6, 2016.

Personal life

Dini and his wife, magician and voiceover actress Misty Lee, live in Los Angeles. Their two Boston terriers, Mugsy and Deuce, were featured in "Anger Management", a 2012 episode of The Dog Whisperer, in which they sought Cesar Millan's help with their dogs' behavioral problems. Around this time, Dini began an extensive weight loss and exercise regimen, having reached a weight of 320 pounds.

Awards

• Five Emmy Awards for his writing on Tiny Toon Adventures, Batman: The Animated Series, The New Batman/Superman Adventures and Batman Beyond
• Emmy Awards as part of the creation team for various award-winning programs:
  • 1995, Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or Less)
  • 1991, Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or Less)
• Eisner and Harvey Award in 1994 for The Batman Adventures: Mad Love; an Eisner for Batman Adventures Holiday Special in 1995, a Harvey for Batman: War on Crime in 2000.
• He received the Writer's Guild Animation Writing award in 2000 and a second WGA award for dramatic television writing in 2006 as a member of the writing team for Lost.
• Dini is a three-time winner of the animation industry's Annie Awards and has won seven comics industry Eisner Awards and three Harvey Awards. Dini has received nominations for the Comics' Buyer's Guide Award for Favorite Writer in 1999 and 2000.
• In September 2006, Dini was awarded the Dragon*Con Julie Award, bestowed for "universal achievement spanning multiple genres."
• Dini received an Inkpot Award in 2013.