Episode #37: Happy Birthday, Jonathan Kent!

Jonathan Kent's traditional birthday is accepted as September 1, according to http://supermanhomepage.com/. In 2008 his birthday falls on Labor Day. That seems appropriate, as Pa Kent was a farmer and storekeeper. He was the adoptive father of Kal-El, after he and his wife found the infant in the kryptonian rocket. They named the baby Clark, after Martha's maiden name.

The story of Superman's earthly parents is a long and varied story over the decades. In Superman's first appearance in Action Comics #1, in a small panel in the brief one page origin that begins his story, the human who discovers the rocket is given as simply "a passing motorist". In Superman #1, the Kents are named as the story shows them finding the rocket, but only the wife is identified as Mary.

George Lowther, in his 1942 novel The Adventures of Superman, named Clark's adoptive parents as Eben and Sarah Kent. These names were used in the first episode of The Adventures of Superman TV show in the 1950's.

Pa Kent is first named Jonathan Kent in the Adventure Comics #149 story Fake Superboy.
During the 1960's, with the development of the multiverse, the Earth-2 golden age parents of Superman are named John and Mary Kent, while the Earth 1, modern, Superman parents are given as the familiar Jonathan and Marth Kent.
In Superboy #196 (July 1972, on sale on April 19, 1973) Jonathan Kent is portrayed as having been a race car driver as a young man.
In the silver age stories of the Kents, Jonathan Kent is a farmer, but when Clark becomes of school age, the Kents sell their farm and move into Smallville and open a general store. This development is portrayed in the second story of Superboy #78 (January 1960, on sale November 19, 1959) The Origin of Superboy's Super Costume.
Ma and Pa Kent pass away shortly after Clark graduates from high school. After their funeral he moves to Metropolis to attend college and eventually become a reporter at the Daily Planet newspaper.
Post crisis, Jonathan Kent is revised by John Byrne in his 1986 mini-series Man of Steel. The biggest change is that the Kents are a lot younger when they find Kal-El's birthing matrix. Jonathan is a science fiction story fan (a nod to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's love of the same?), which is ironic when they find the rocket. John Byrne avoids the part of the traditional origin where the Kents first turn the infant in to an orphanage. He has a snow storm of the century hit the general Smallville area, where the Kents are socked in for months until the spring thaw, so that their neighbors assume Martha concieved and gave birth at the Kent farm.
In the subsequent mini-series World of Smallville, which develops the post-crisis back story of Smallville. Jonathan Kent is a returning veteran from an unnamed war, but in a one panel flashback of Jonathan as a P.O.W., t6he enemy seems to be the Japanese, and the war WWII. Later in the story, his Aunt Sara recounts how everyone thought Jonathan was dead when he was M. I. A. His love Martha Clark had married Dan Fordman, the son of the wealthy family that owned Fordman Department Store. Martha's father ran Smallville's general store (another nod to the silver age Smallville?), while Jonathan's father was a widower who was a farmer. Dan eventually dies, and in his will gives his widow Martha ten acres of land simply because she once said she liked it.
Jonathan and Martha married a year later, and suffered at least three miscarriages before they found baby Kal-El and his rocket. In the post-crisis continuity Jonathan and Martha are still alive when Clark is an adult to lend him their support and advice from the Kent farm.
After the Death of Superman story, Jonathan Kent suffered a near fatal heart attack. He meets his son in the after-life and convince him to come back. Jonathan is then resuscitated in the hospital.
In 2003's Birthright, writer Mark Waid revised Clark's origin, having Jonathan and Clark having more conflict in their relationship. The Kents are shown as younger people, and slightly resemble Annette O'Toole and John Schnieder from the TV show Smallville. Jonathan feels left out as Clark explores his Kryptonian heritage.
Since Infinite Crisis Jonahtan Kent is portrayed as a younger man than he had aged since the post-Crisis revamp. Action Comics #850 (July 2007, on sale May 30, 2007) adds some more details of Clark growing up.
During the silver age, DC Comics did publish a story about how the Kents passed away, and this is the story I end this episode with. If you would like to read this story before you listen to this part of the podcast, go to the trade paperback, Superman In The Sixties (1999). The name of the story is The Last Days of Ma and Pa Kent, originally published in Superman #161 (May 1963, on sale March 21, 1963). Clark sends Ma and Pa Kent on a pleasure cruise to the Caribbean. While digging for sea shells for his collection, Pa Kent unearths a pirate's chest. Inside are only some personal effects, including a diary where he writes that he was marooned by an evil pirate. Superboy flies by to visit, and Ma Kent convinces him to take them to the past so they can learn about this pirate. After an adventure Superboy has with these pirates he returns his parents to the present, after they have eaten some fruit he gathered for them.
Back home Ma and Pa Kent become very ill, and doctors diagnose them as having a fever plague, which has not been seen for at least a century. It was believed to come from eating a certain unnamed Caribbean fruit. Despite the efforts of Superboy and the jailed Lex Luthor, Ma, then Pa Kent pass away, but not before Pa gives his famous admonition to his son about using his powers. Clark is so overcome with grief that he decides never to be Superboy again. When he files away the family memrabilia in preperation of selling his childhood home, Clark finds the page from the pirate's diary. He takes it to a museum and finds the rest of the diary, which includes the missing part of Clark's page. It states that the reason the pirate was marooned was because he had the fever plague. The museum curator mentioned that the sailor and the curator who sealed the diary in the display died of a mysterious illness. Using his microscopic vision Clark sees that the diary is contaminated with live germs from the disease. He sterilizes the diary with a careful use of his heat vision. Clark realizes that his parents contracted the disease when they opened the pirate chest, not when they ate the fruit he had gathered for them. He is so releived he pulls his Supeboy costume and resumes his super hero identity.

Superman Fan Podcast can be found at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com. Send e-mail to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.

My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog, which can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com. E-mail about this blog can be sent to mypulllist@gmail.com.

Thank you for listening to Superman Fan Podcast, and as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Episode #36: Alter Ego Issue #79

To commemorate Superman's 70th birthday, TwoMorrows Publishing, http://twomorrows.com/, featured Superman as the cover subject of their comic book history magazine Alter Ego. You can order it from your local comic book store, or order on line from TwoMorrow's web site store.
The Superman features in this issue include:
An editorial by Roy Thomas, complete with a picture of him with Noel Neill, the Lois Lane from movie serials and TV.
An article listing the top seven Superman artists. Of course Joe Shuster was listed first, with a picture of him in middle age, and a close up of a sketch he did for earlyBatman artist George Russos. Joe drew George with Superman and Batman. I was surprised at Wayne Boring's picture. He was a short and slender man, and I always thought of him as a big, burly man, much like the way he drew Superman in the 1950's. Most of the artists listed I discussed in episode #17, The Artists Of Siegel and Shuster's Cleveland Studio. Curt Swan, my favorite Superman artist of al, was also included. This article was written by Eddy Zeno, who also authored the book Curt Swan: A Life In Comics.
Next was an interview with Jean Shuster Peavy, the younger sister of Superman co-creator Joe Shuster. She had some interesting anecdotes to share about the development of Superman, and her brother's relationship with DC Comics. Her other brother Frank also assisted with the early Superman stories as a letterer. She mentioned that she was never interviewed by Gerard Jones for his book Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book. She dispelled his portrayal of her brother as being unluck with girls his entire life. She acknowledged that her brother was shy around girls in high school, but as an adult enjoyed dating showgirls from various nightclubs. Her name for him was a "stagedoor Johnny".
Roy Thomas himself writes the next article was about the "K-metal" Superman story, which I covered in eepisode #28, although the article was probably written before I began my research for the podcast. The article recounts the plot, with sample pictures of surviving artwork, and why DC rejected the story. Roy then writes about the rediscovery of the story. This is an excellent piece of little-known Superman history.
Dwight R. Decker wrote the next article, where he recounts his search for the truth of the legend that the Nazi regime in Germany officially denounced Superman and his creators. While he did not portray his findings as the final word on the issue, he gave some convincing evidence to dispel the legend. He traced the idea to an article in an SS newspaper, criticizing Jerry Siegel and Superman in very anti-Semetic slurs, and an ignorance of American slang and culture. Knowled og the aritcle reached over the Atlantic, and the story grew from there.
The back of the issue contained non-Superman related articles, but an interview with 1950's horror comics artist Lou Cameron contained a brief, unflattering anecdote of Jerry Siegel entering Ace Comics' offices when Cameron was there. The publisher threw Siegel out after Jerry gave the secretary a hard time because he refused to wait in the lobby.
Bob Rozakis writes an amusing alternate history of DC Comics, where All-American buys DC out, the reverse of the actual events. Superman and Batman become minor characters, and the big three in both comics and film are Green Lantern, Flash and Wonder Woman. In this version, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster win their battle over ownership of Superman, but lose the war when Fleisher Studios passes on the character because of the legal battle. Green Lantern becomes the star of cartoons and Superman becomes a minor character in comic books. It was fun to see pictures of George Reeves and Noel Neill in a Green Lantern TV show in the 1950's.
Alter Ego is an excellent magazine to learn little known stoies of comic book history. Budget limits keep me from making this a monthly read for me, otherwise I would never miss an issue. But this issue featuring Superman was too uch for me to pass up!

Superman Fan Podcast can be found at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/. E-mail can be sent to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.

My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog which can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/. Send e-mail about this blog to mypullllist@gmail.com.

Thank you for listening to Superman Fan Podcast, and as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Episode #35: Glenn Ford As Pa Kent!

The actor Glenn Ford passed away on August 30, 2006 at the age of 90. He was born on May 1, 1916 at the Jeffrey Hale Hospital in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. His parents, Mewton and Hannah Ford, named him Gwyllyn Samuel Newton Ford. His father was a railroad executive. The Fords moved to Santa Monica, California in 1924 and Gleen Ford became a naturalized American citizen in 1939, the same year he was hired by Columbia Pictures. Ford took his acting name from his father's hometown, Glenford, Canada.
Ford served in the Marine Reserves during WWII, and the Navy Reserves from 1958 unitl he retired in the 1970's.
Glenn Ford's screen personality was as a laid back easy going, soft spoken person. That does not mean he had a limited range as an actor. He had a versatile acting career, playing roles in everything from thrillers, dramas, action fims, comedies and westerns. Two of his better known roles were Blackboard Jungle (1955), where he played a new teacher who clashed with both students and faculty, and the Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963), about a son who tries to play a matchmaker for his father.
Glenn Ford portrayed Jonathan Kent in 1978's Superman:the Movie. In the scene when the teen Clark comes home from school, the car with his school friends that drives by has the song Rock Around the Clock, which was a song in Blackboard Jungle. As Pa Kent, Glenn is a flesh and blood version of Jonathan Kent from the Smallville stories. He was the perfect actor for the role, as the soft spoken Pa with a rock hard moral foundation. His first comment to his son, something like, "Showing off again, huh, son?" stops Clark in his tracks. Such a question, asked in such a mild tone is something that only a father knows how to make it work on his son, especially when there is respect between the two of them. It becomes clear in this brief scene, that Clark's own moral foundation was built in him by Jonathan Kent, as well as his mother. What Clark learns from his real father, Jor-El, is built on the foundation laid down by a simple, compared to Krytonian society, Kansas farmer.
Glenn Ford's only child and son Peter knew a father who was more strict than his screen persona might suggest. As shared on the official family web site http://glennford.com, Peter said that it wasn't always fun growing up, but as an adult he appreciates his father's discipline, especially when he saw the lives of some of the other celebrity children he grew up with. Not all of his memories were gloomy. Peter tells of learning how to swim from Johnny Weismuller, in the Olympic sized pool his parents had built in their back yard. Weismulller ws an acting friend of Peter's mother, and portrayed Tarzan in b/w movies. Peter learned to play tennis from Pancho Sagora, and golf from Ben Hogan, who was prepping his father for a film role.
Peter Ford is currently working on a biography of his father, Glenn Ford: A Life In Film The Authorized Biography.

Superman Fan Podcast can be found at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com. E-mail can be sent to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.

My Pull List is a spoiler free comic book review blog which can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com. Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com.

Thank you for listening to Superman Fan Podcast, and as always thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Episode #34: Jack Kirby's Project Cadmus!

Jack Kirby's birthday was on August 28, 1917. On episode #4, Honoring Jack Kirby, we explored his long and prolific career as a comic book creator and artist. For this episode, instead of repeating myself, I wanted to spotlight some characters that appeared in the only Superman related monthly title Kirby worked on, all too briefly. That was Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen. As noted in episode #4, DC editors wanted Kirby to work on a monthly title along with his original creations. He took Jimmy Olsen because there was no regular creative team on the title at the time. Growing up during the Great Depression Kirby was sensitive about not putting a fellow comic book creator out of work.
Kirby's Jimmy Olsen stories were reprinted in the trade paperbacks Jimmy Olsen: Adventures by Jack Kirby vol's. I (2003) and II (2004) which are still in print, and can be foud at your local bookstore, comci book store, or internet vendor.
The group of characters that Kirby introduced were involved with an organization he created, and made its first appearance in his first Jimmy Olsen issue, #133 (October 1970, first on sale August 25, 1970). The editor for this title was Murray Boltinoff. Jack Kirby pencilled the cover, which was inked by Vince Colleta. The artistic team was the same for the story, and Kirby also wrote the tale, The Newsboy Legion.
Kirby originally created the Newsboy Legion with his partner Joe Simon during the 1940's (also noted in episode #4). In Jimmy Olsen Kirby revived the characters and revised them. Tommy Tompkins, Big Words, Gabby and Scrapper were joined by an african american character, Walter Johnson, nicknamed Flip. All of them were now adults and all were directors of a secret government genetic research project called Project Cadmus. They also all had sons, identical to their fathers as young boys, and Jimmy interacts mostly with the younger Newsboy group. In the post-crisis Superman world, the sons of the original Newsboys were clones.
Re-introduced in Jimmy Olsen was another super hero from the '40's Newsboy Legion, the Global Guardian. This modern Guardian was a clone of the original, who had aged and died. He had been the legal guardians of the original Newsboys, who, before he died, took cell samples and cloned another Guardian.
Another director of Project Cadmus was Dabney Donovan. He felt there should not be any limits to exploring the genetic code. He is credited with creating non-human creatures called DNAliens, which resembled monsters, mostly, and had various super human abilities. The other directors felt Donovan's research went too far and eventually fired him. He faked his own death so he could go underground and resume his reseach freely. Periodically he would appear, and when caught, would self-destruct and be revealed to be a clone.
Two of his creations were also involved in genetic research for nefarious reasons. They were named Simyan and Mokkari. As his name implied, Simyan resembled an intelligent ape, out of the then current Planet of the Apes movies. Mokkari looked more humanoid, but had weird black shapes around his eyes like a mask, but was just his normal appearance. They often did research for Darkseid, another Kirby creation still a part of the DC universe today.
Other Cadmus creations were not villainous, but preferrred to live beyond the Project's control, and human society in general. The Hairies were super-human hippies who originally lived in a forest of living tree houses called the Habitat, but moved into a mobile "Mountain of Judgement". They were led by Jude, whose daughter Misa was a thrill seeking rebel who left the Hairies to be independent.
Another group were the Outsiders, who rode hi-tech motorcycles, and encountered Jimmy Olsen and the new Newsboy Legion in the Whiz Wagon, a super car that could also fly and was artifically intelligent.
Another villainous group which had its start in Kirby's Jimmy Olsen was Intergang, which, again, still makes its appearance in the DC universe. Ultimately led by Darkseid, its secret leader on earth was Morgan Edge, who publicly was the president of Galaxy Broadcasting.
What set Kirby's Jimmy Olsen stories above what had appeared in the title before was Kirby's exploration of the youth counterculture of the day. Even though Kirby was of the same generation as most of the editorial staff of DC at the time, he did a better job of incorporating youth issues of the day. Coming from Marvel didn't hurt in that respect. He gave those issues a unique Kirby twist, as only he could, and made it more than just an obvious take on "relevant" issues.
Also, he could take a creation twenty years old, like the Newsboy Legion, and update it in the Kirby style. Who could guess, from reading the original Newsboy stories, that they would grow up and be able to attend college and become some of the top genetic research scientists of the world?
And Kirby explored the generation gap which was one of the buzzwords of the day through conflicts between Superman and Jimmy.
Kirby was not perfect as the creative voice on Jimmy Olsen, as can be seen in the issues involving Don Rickles. If you absolutely have to know about the Don Rickes plt, refer again to episode #5.
To find some excellent first hand anecdotes about Jack Kirby, go to the web site created by his assistant during his DC years, Mark Evanier, at http://newsfromme.com/

Superman Fan Podcast can be found at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/. Send e-mail to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.

My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/. E-mail about this blog can be sent to mypulllist@gmail.com.

Thanks again for listening to Superman Fan Podcast, and as always thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Episode #33: Happy Birthday, Lois Lane!

Lois Lane's birthday is traditionally recognized as August 17, according to the web site http://supermanhomepage.com/. She is the only supporting character who appeared with Superman's in Action Comics #1. So she shares Superman's 70th anniversary, but we won't guess on a lady's age.



In episode #5, for Valentine's Day, we looked at Lois Lane's history. For this episode we will spotlight a specific issue of Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane, #106. The title of this story was I Am Curious (Black). It's cover date was November 1970 and first appeared on newsstands on Septemver 24, 1970. This story was one of the most unusual, if not infamous Lois Lane stories ever published. The cover showed Lois in some type of machine, and in the next cover panel her skin tone has been changed so she appears to be an African American. Murphy Anderson created the art for this cover. Robert Kanigher wrote this story, which was pencilled by Werner Roth and inked by Vince Colleta.

The main Lois Lane story was 14 pages long. After her story was a feature, Wonder Women of History: Martha G. Kimball, two pages long and possibly done by Irwin Hansen. The back-up story, Rose & Thorn, was eight pages long. At the back of the issue was the feature Women of Distinction (no credits). It featured Harriet Maxweel Converse, Blanche Schort, Susanna Salter and Hannah Adams.

The Lois Lane story was reprinted in the trade paperback Superman In The Seventies (November 2000).

During the late '60's and early '70's, the buzzword at DC Comics was relevancy. DC editors were trying to combat the progress Marvel had made eroding DC's perennial lead in the comic book industry. They were trying to combat Marvel's connection with its growing audiance, dealing with issues of the day. Having been in the industry for twenty years already by then, it may have been hard for DC to relate to the maturing generation about the age of their children. But that didn't keep DC editors from trying. The most famous example of "relevancy" in DC Comics were the stories published in Green Lantern / Green Arrow, beginning with issue #76 (April 1970 cover date). The story, No Evil Shall Escape My Sight, also dealt with race relations. It was written by Denny O'Neil and drawn by Neal Adams. Among the other topics this creative dou explored in their short but memorial run was drug abuse through Green Arrow's sidekick Speedy. These were groundbreaking stories at the time for DC. Done well, they are timeless stories. Others that were not as good made the stories dated. I Am Curious (Black) can be said to fall in the latter category.

In this era, Lois Lane's personality was updated to reflect a more liberated and of the times woman, or as close as forty and fifty year old men could come. In the DVD Look, Up In The Sky! The Amazing Story Of Superman, DC comic book writer Gail Simone said the late '60's and early '70's Lois Lane could seem harsh and unsympathetic. Maybe that was what 50 year old editors at DC thought a liberated woman was. In fact, at various times the relationship between Lois and Superman was cooled.

The story portrayed Lois planning to do a feature on Metropolis' "Little Africa", a typical DC name for the Harlem of Metropolis. She is received with suspicion by the residents, much to Lois' surprise. For a world wise reporter, Lois seems naive to race relations fo the time. Discouraged, she convinces Superman to take her to the Fortress of Solitude. There Superman uses a kryptonian device that he sets to change her skin color darker. Flown back to Little Africa by Superman, Lois fits in better, but is treated differently, when a taxi driver she is well acquainted with refuses to pick her up. She runs into an African American man who she saw speaking to a small crowd when she was white. He was a lot friendlier this second time. Before they can become better acquainted he spots some youths he recognizes and sees they are up to trouble. He follows them to some gangsters who shoot him. Superman takes him to the hospital, where it happens that Lois is the only person with his blood type. She donates her blood, and at the end, when he wants to see the person who donated to him, Lois' appearance has returned to normal. He still recognizes her as the same woman, much to his surprise. The captionless page ends with Lois and the man shaking hands.
The editor at this time was E. Nelson Bridwell, who was famous at DC's offices at the time for his encyclopedic knowledge of comic book trivia, especially Superman. Mark Waid could be said to be his successor. Robert Kanigher wrote the story, which was drawn by Werner Roth and inked by Vince Colleta.
Although a lot of the dialogue is clunky and heavy, the story did not seem as exploitative as I expected. People of color may feel differently, and I welcome your comments. I look forward to seeing this story through a different perspective.
Believe it or not, there was actually a man who did the same thing as Lois in this story, about a decade before this story was published. John Howard Griffin, in his book Black Like Me, published in 1961, documents his experiences as a black man in 1959. This book is still in print, so look for it at your local library or bookstore, or online vendor.
Under medical supervision, Griffin took higher than normal doses of Oxsoralen to darken his skin. It is a medication given to dark skinned people who have a condition that destroys the pigment producing cells in their skin. He had blood tests done to monitor the appearance of dangerous side effects, including but not limited to liver damage. Despite some stories to the contrary, he apparently did not suffer any permament damage, although he did have unreleated health issues throughout most of his adult life. The only temporary effects he suffered were nausea and exhaustion. He also exposed his body to UV light to tan his skin. To cpmplete his transformation Griffin shaved his head.
He spent six weeks during 1959 traveling through the southern states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, posing as an itenerant black man in order to experience first hand the racism prevalent at the time. Griffin's book Black Like Me also documents the different treatment he received when he returned to some of the same places when his skin returned to its cuacasian skin tone. He noted how even people who treated him humanely as a black man acted differently toward him as a white man.
He spent many years writing and working on race relations, and was recognized by the Catholic church for his efforts.
This was another case where "art" imitates life. In this case, while the Lois Lane story is an off the wall issue to read, Griffin's Black Like Me is a must read for all of us. I have not read it myself, but I plan to pick it up soon. I will keep you posted on my thoughts after I read it.

Superman Fan Podcast can be found at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com. Send e-mail to supermanfanpodcast@gmail .com.

My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog, which can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com. E-mail about this blog can be sent to mypulllist@gmail.com.

Thank you for listening to Superman Fan Podcast, and as always, thanks to Jery Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Episode #32: Happy Birthday, Paul Dini!

Paul Dini was born on August 7, 1957. He is best known as a TV producer and writer of animated series on DC Comic's super hero characters, and as a comic book writer. His animation work ran from humor series such as Tiny Toon Adventures to the super hero series Batman, Superman and the Justice League.
Born in New York City, Paul Dini attended the Stevenson School, which has campuses in Pebble Beach and Carmel, California. It is a private K-12 school for boarding and day students. He attended on an art scholarship. Paul Dini graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Emerson College in Boston. It is a private college specializing in communications and fine arts, and was founded by Charles Wesley Emerson, an author of books on oration and an ordained Unitarian minister. Paul Dini also took zoology classes at Harvard.
While he was a college student, Paul Dini wrote freelance scripts for several animation studios.
In 1984 he was hired by LucasFilm to work on animation projects. Among his earliest animation work was the series He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. On the Toon Zone forums (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=1585981) Dini shares his displeasure on his work on the series. Ironically some fans of the series find his work on the series some of their favorite episodes. Paul also wrote an episode of the original Transformers series and several epsidoes of the Ewoks cartoon.
Paul Dini began his tenure at Warner Brothers Animation in 1989. He worked on such humor series as Tniy Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Freakazoid! and Pinky and the Brain. Then he worked on Batman: The Animated Series as well as Superman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. He also worked on the animated movies, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, The Batman Superman Movie and Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. Paul Dini was a script consultant on the movie Batman: Subzero. He also worked on the series Duck Dodgers and Krypto the Super Dog.
Paul Dini and Chip Kidd co-wrote the book Batman Animated, about the Batman cartoon franchise, published in 1998.
He left Warner Brothers Animation in 2004 to become a writer on the ABC series Lost.
Dini and Alex Ross collaborated with Alex Ross on the oversized graphic novels that were collected as The World's Greatest Super-Heroes in 2005. The individual graphic novels were:
Superman: Peace On Earth, November 1998
Batman: War On Crime, November 1999
Shazam: Power Of Hope, November 2000
Wonder Woman: Spirit Of Truth, November 2001
JLA: Secret Origins, November 2002 and
JLA: Liberty and Justice, November 2005.
Paul Dini also wrote the comic book Batman: Harley Quinn (October 1999), (originally on sale August 11, 1999) with Alex Ross painting the cover, This issue introduced Paul Dini's and Bruce Timm's most famous original character, from the Batman series, to Batman comics. The artists for the story were: Yvel Guichet, penciller; Aaron Sowd, inker; Richard Horie and Tonya Horie, colorists; Willie Schubert, letter; and editors Jordan B. Gorfinkel and Darren Vincenzo.
He has also written comic book scripts for the DC characters Superman, Batman, Captain Marvel and Zatanna. In 2006 Paul Dini began writing a series of one issue stories for Detective Comics, beginning with issue #821 (December 2006, originally on sale on July 6, 2006). He also announced that he was writing a hardcover graphic novel about Black Canary and Zatana. This book has not become available from DC Comics as yet.
During 2007 Paul Dini was the head writer on the weekly series Countdown.
Also in 2007 he became the editor-in-chief of the social network group Zeroes 2 Heroes Media and their project, Canada: Comic Creation Nation, and is on the Zeroes 2 Heroes board of directors.
Paul Dini has also created his own characters. Jingle Belle is the rebellious and mischevious teen daughter of Santa Claus, and has her own web site. Sheriff Ida Red is a super powered cowgirl of Mutant, Texas. She appeared in Oni Double Feature #13 (September 1999) and Actor Comics Presents #1 (Fall 2006) (a fund raising comic book for comic book creators in need).
Currently, Pual Dini is co-writer, along with Robert Mark Kamen, of the script for the anime film Gatchaman, scenduled for release on April 3, 2009. In comic books, Dini has created and is writing Madame Mirage for Top Cow Comics. The main character is based on his wife, magician Misty Lee.
In July 2008 Paul Dini created Super Rica & Rashy animation series on the web site GoAnimate.com. He creates episodes on a regular basis, and allows others to use the characters to create their own stories with the web sites on line animation creation application.
Paul Dini has a wide range of interests. He has used the knowledge gained from his zoology classes at Harvard as a wildlife photographer and cryptozoologist (who searches for living examples of species believed to be extinct, and animals that exist in myth or legend but may exist). In Tasmania he had a possible sighting of a Tasmanian Wolf, aka Tasmanian Tiger (because of its striped back), the largest carnivorous marsupial. He has also encountered venomous snakes, a Komono Dragon and a charging Sumatran Rhinocerous. At one time he slso kept a pet wild coyote.
He is also an amateur stage magician and active member of the Academy of Magic Arts. He is married to fellow member Misty Lee, who bears a striking resemblence to the DC character Zatana, who is Dini's favorite character. Together they created Monkey Talk on quickstopentertainment.com, Kevin Smith's web site.
Paul Dini has won five Emmys, three for Tiny Toons Adventures (1991, 1992, 1995), one for The New Batman Adventures (1997) and one for Batman Beyond (2001). He won an Eisner and Harvey in 1994 for DC's Mad Love, which featured Harley Quinn. The story was turned into a Batman animated episode which originally aired on January 16, 1999. Dini won another Eisner in 1995 for Batman Adventures Holiday Special, and yet another Eisner in 2000 for Batman: War On Crime. Altogether he won seven Eisners and three Harveys. He won two Writer's Guild awards, one in 2000 for animation writing, and another in 2006 for dramatic television writing on Lost. In 2006 Paul Dini won DragonCon's Julie Award, named for the late DC Comics editor Julius Schwartz, for "universal achievement spanning multiple genres".
To read about Paul Dini:
Write Now issues #4 (June 2003) and #5 (July 2003) from http://www.twomorrows.com./
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/interviews/pauldini.php
http://sequentialtart.com/archive/apr00/dini.shtml
http://www.comicsbulletin.com/pb/116329458098712.htm
To listen to Paul Dini in his own words or on his own web sites:
DC Comics podcast: Spotlight on Paul Dini.
http://kingofbreakfast.livejournal.com/
Podcast: Almost Live with Paul and Misty.
http://www.jinglebelle.com/
http://www.dinicartoons.com/
http://www.littlerashy.com/
Monkey Talk at: http://www.quickstopentertainment.com/catagory/monkey-talk
Paul and Misty at: http://www.goanimate.com/go/user/0detGeckCplY

Superman Fan Podcast can be found at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/. Send e-mail to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.
My Pull List is a spoiler free blog where I review the comic books I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/. Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com.
Go to my Cafe Press store at http://www.cafepress.com/supermanfan.
Thanks for listening to Superman Fan Podcast, and as always thanks for Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Episide #31: Happy Birthday, Gail Simone!

Gail Simone's birthday was July 29th, and since it's not nice to ask a lady's age, we won't try to find out the year she was born. She is a lovely and talented lady who now writes comic books for DC Comics. Her original career was as a hairdresser.


Her first involvement with the comic book industry was the web site Women In Refrigerators (now at http://www.unheardtaunts.com/wir). It catalogued many instances in comic book stories where female characters suffered violent attacks, either because of their gender or as a plot device for male characters. It got its name from a scene in a Kyle Rainer Green Lantern story, where his girlfriend is murdered and stuffed in the refrigerator. The site includes some views of the subject from many comic book professionals, and is worth checking out.


Gail Simone also had a weekly humor column You'll All Be Sorry at the web site comicbookresources.com. Subjects included satirical comic book summaries and fan fiction parodies. The archive of these columns can be found at: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=column&id=6.

She began writing comic book scripts for Bongo Comics, publisher of the comic books based on the Simpson animated characters. Titles she wrote for were Simpson Comics, Bart Simpson Comics, a Treehouse of Horror special, as well as the Sunday comic strip.

Gail Simone began a creator owned mini-series with artist Lea Hernandez called Killer Princesses for Oni Press.

From there she moved to Marvel, where she wrote for the Deadpool title, later cancelled and relaunched as Agent X during her run. She left the title because of editorial conflicts, but did write a concluding story arc to Agent X.

Gail Simone began working for DC Comics on the title Birds of Prey with issue #56, continuing the saga of Oracle, Black Canary, Huntress and Lady Blackhawk. She stayed on the title through issue #108.

She had a short run on Action Comics on issues #827-831 and #833-835, teaming with artist John Byrne on his return to the character he revised in the mid-1980's. Their stories were collected in the trade paperback Strange Attractors. This collection is still in print.

One of her most famous series was the Infinite Crisis crossover mini-series Villains Unlimited in 2005. In that title Gail Simone rejuvenated the villain Catman. She also wrote Teen Titans issues #27 and 28, a Hawk and Dove story. Gail also wrote a script for the animated series Justice League Unlimited episode #71, Double Date, which first aired on June 4, 2005. The episode featured the heroes Huntress, Question, Green Arrow and Black Canary.

During 2006 she wrote the Secret Six mini-series, as well as All New Atom issues #1-15, 17, 18 and 20. On Atom she reunited with John Byrne for the first three issues. For Wildstorm Gail Simone wrote Gen 13 vol. 4, issues 1-13 through 2007.

Gail Simone wrote another creator owned mini-series for Wildstorm in 2007 called Welcome To Tranquility. The story ran for seven issues. In August of 2007 she wrote the script for an episode of the web site Game Tops' Re/Visioned Tomb Raider Animated Series, about Lara Croft as a pre-teen.

Currently she is the writer for Wonder Woman. Gail began with issue #14 (vol. 3), the January 2008 issue, (published on November 14, 2007). She is scheduled to return to the Secret Six in a continuing series. She will be joined by her Birds of Prey penciller Nicola Scott and artist Doug Hazelwood. The first issue is scheduled to be published on Wednesday. September 3, 2008.

Gail Simone's stories in Action Comics: editor: Eddie Berganza, cover artist: John Byrne.

Issue #827: Strange Attractors. Except where noted, the creative team for this storyline was as follows: penciller: John Byrne, inker: Nelson DeCastro, letter: Pat Brosseau, colorist: Guy Major.

Issue #828: Positive Reinforcements, letterer: Rob Leigh.

Issue #829: End of Identity, letter: Nick J. Napolitano.

Issue #830: The Great Society, letterer: Larry Stucker.

Issue #831: Black & Blue. (A Villains United tie-in).

Issue #832 was written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning and was an Omac tie-in.

Issue #833: Depths, inkers: Nelson DeCastro, NormRapmund and Larry Stucker.

Issue #834: Awake In The Dark, inkers: Nelson DeCastro, Marc Campos and Oclair Albert.

Issue #835: A Contagion of Madness, letter: Phil Balsman.

To learn more about Gail Simone explore the following resources:

Gail Simone's blog: http://www.happystains.blogspot.com.

Listen to her discuss her career on the DC Comics Podcast: Spotlight on Gail Simone, from a recent comic book convention panel.

To learn more about Gail Simone's comic book writing career, go to http://www.simoneindex.com.

Superman Fan Podcast can be found at http://www.supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com. Send e-mail about my podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.

Also check out my spoiler free comic book review blog, My Pull List, at http://www.mypulllist.blogspot.com. Send e-mail about My Pull List to mypulllist@gmail.com.

Thanks for listening to Superman Fan Podcast, and as always thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.