Dark Night: A True Batman Story
Dark Night: A True Batman Story book cover

Dark Night: A True Batman Story

Hardcover – June 21, 2016

Price
$17.99
Format
Hardcover
Pages
128
Publisher
Vertigo
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-1401241438
Dimensions
6.89 x 0.55 x 10.47 inches
Weight
1.01 pounds

Description

"A powerful tale of healing and redemption."--Neil Gaiman, New York Times best-selling author of THE SANDMAN and American Gods "Riveting form start to finish: so revealing, so poignant, so insightful...a masterpiece."--Mark Hamill, Actor in Star Wars , Voice actor in Batman: The Animated Series and Batman: The Killing Joke “This graphic novel stands as one of the bravest, most vulnerable works of the medium in years...”—PASTE MAGAZINE “[DARK NIGHT: A TRUE BATMAN STORY] an extremely personal work that still hedges even as it reveals, partly out of self-preservation.”—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY xa0 “Paul Dini, recounts the depression, alcoholism, and self-harm he endured during the height of the cartoon’s popularity, and Eduardo Risso provides brutally evocative artwork to accompany it.”—VULTURE “Paul Dini has turned a tragic night of fear into an instantly-classic graphic novel. " —WASHINGTON POST “The vulnerability shown by Dini in laying bare his internal wounds, and the ability of Risso to so compassionately, beautifully, insightfully give image to Dini’s emotions and words—makes this a standout in the medium, among the finest works of comic art published in the 21stxa0century.”--FORBES xa0“A masterpiece of biographical storytelling in the comics medium.”--HUFFINGTON POST xa0“A very emotional and powerful read. Dini bares his soul on the page.”--IGNxa0 “[Dini] turns personal tragedy into artistic triumph.”--NERDISTxa0 “Dini bravely bares his soul to himself and us."--CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITORxa0 “Something special.”-- TORONTO STAR Paul Dini is a multiple Emmy and Eisner Award-winning writer and producer who has helped redefine the legends of the DC Universe in such series as The New Batman/Superman Adventures, Batman Beyond, Krypto and Justice League Unlimited . In doing so, he co-created one of the most popular characters in comics in Harley Quinn, who originated as a character in Batman: The Animated Series . In comics he has authored The World's Greatest Super-Heroes , illustrated by Alex Ross. Dini has also collaborated with Chip Kidd on Batman Animated for HarperCollins.

Features & Highlights

  • The #1
  • New York Times
  • bestseller! 
  • This is a Batman story like no other&;the harrowing and eloquent autobiographical tale of writer Paul Dini&;s courageous struggle to overcome a desperate situation.    The Caped Crusader has been the all-abiding icon of justice and authority for generations. But in this surprising original graphic novel, we see Batman in a new light&;as the savior who helps a discouraged man recover from a brutal attack that left him unable to face the world. In the 1990s, legendary writer Paul Dini had a flourishing career writing the hugely popular 
  • Batman: The Animated Series
  •  and 
  • Tiny Toon Adventures
  • . Walking home one evening, he was jumped and viciously beaten within an inch of his life. His recovery process was arduous, hampered by the imagined antics of the villains he was writing for television including the Joker, Harley Quinn and the Penguin. But despite how bleak his circumstances were, or perhaps because of it, Dini also always imagined the Batman at his side, chivvying him along during his darkest moments. A gripping graphic memoir of one writer&;s traumatic experience and his deep connection with his creative material, DARK NIGHT: A TRUE BATMAN STORY is an original graphic novel that will resonate profoundly with fans. Art by the incredible and talented Eduardo Risso (100 BULLETS, TRANSMETROPOLITAN).

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
(281)
★★★★
25%
(117)
★★★
15%
(70)
★★
7%
(33)
-7%
(-33)

Most Helpful Reviews

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Empowering

This is not a Batman tale, its a tale of how a Batman writer was mugged and humiliated then eventually learns from the Batman character, I thought it was an incredible short story that's both tragic and also motivating, I wont spoil it but for $ 15 you can't go wrong, I've read this 3x already and I encourage any Batman fan or anyone going through a difficult time in their life to read this story.
15 people found this helpful
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The Healing Power of Batman

Dark Night: A True Batman Story, by Paul Dini, isn't really a Batman story, or at least not in the sense of the typical comic book story. This book tells the story of how Dini was violently attacked and had his face smashed in during a mugging. It also follows on with his reaction and recovery from the attack, both emotionally and physically.

To understand how Batman plays a role in this book, Dini relates some of his background. He grew up a fan of comics and cartoons, particularly Batman. He went on to be a writer for many cartoons, but specifically for Batman: The Animated Series. Much of his inner monologue is a conversation with various cartoon/comic book characters, focusing on Joker and Batman.

Dini is very honest as he relates his story, almost tragically so. He lays bare his failed relationships and his social struggles. He is extremely transparent as he details his reactions immediately following his attack, and of the weeks and months that follow. Without giving away any details, Dini's story is very much a story about overcoming tragedy, and while his particular road to recovery (helped along by his cartoon friends) is unique, there is something universal and encouraging for those who face a similar road.

I highly recommend Dark Night: A True Batman Story by Paul Dini.

I received a preview copy of this book from DC Comics and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
13 people found this helpful
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Love yourself

I absolutely loved this book. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, other than I knew I loved Paul Dini and his work on Batman The Animated Series. The behind the scenes events written and drawn throughout are very interesting and some of the stories I had never heard. There were plenty of laughs and plenty of feels throughout. Paul does a good job of showing how feeling sorry for yourself wont get you anywhere. You need to get up when you're down, and love yourself, otherwise how can you expect anyone else to appreciate you. I've never read a "nonfiction" comic like this before, but I'd love to check out more. Seriously. Pick this up. If you're a fan of Paul Dini, Batman the animated series, Warner Bros. animation, and a story about overcoming demons, do yourself a favor and read this.
9 people found this helpful
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But it is a good story about Paul Dini and some obstacles he over ...

Not really a batman story... not sure why its being sold as a batman story. But it is a good story about Paul Dini and some obstacles he over came in life. Don't buy this if your expecting a batman novel. Its more of a comic autobiographic
9 people found this helpful
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One long humble brag

I went into this piece of work not knowing how uniquely different this was from trad comics. Maybe that's part of the reason I didn't care for it at all, but it definitely isn't the only reason. This whole comic felt masturbatory for the author all while tying up the reader and making him watch. Paul Dini is a totally uncharming character which is totally 'relatable' in the way he attempts to extract the reader's sympathies by making poor decision after poor decision. He relays the story of how he got his ass kicked in a mugging and how the characters in the Batman universe played antagonist or protagonist in his day to day supposed hallucinations. I can't begin to describe how boring this was, but can invite you to imagine the amount of boasting you're in for with this by asking you to understand how amazing I am for being able to get through this tome of the author's self gratification.
7 people found this helpful
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Got fooled. Thought it was a batman novel

I thought I got a new graphic novel of batman. The title is misleading. But I gave the book a chance and I have to say it was dreadfully boring. Not much else to say. It was kind of pointless.
7 people found this helpful
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never pre order if there is no discription

Boring book about an author nerd who got beat up. Read the 1st 10 pages. Skimmed the rest...boring no action at all. Ugly illustrations
5 people found this helpful
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Misleading garbage... Story of lame author who got beat up nothing about BATMAN

Completely misleading cover. This is not a true story about batman. This is a comic book biography of one of the batman writers. I so hated every min of reading this. I found it painful to finish and wished it would just hurry up and end from the first few pages. Was not in the least bit entertaining at all. Shame on you DC for calling this a dark night comic. So disappointed and a waist of money
5 people found this helpful
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A comic about the writer? No thanks

Really bad. Really boring. Good art, but not worth reading. It's literally a comic about a guy who write Batman comics. Nothing to do with Batman.
5 people found this helpful
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Visualizing Batman Helps The Healing

Batman as a character means a lot of things to a lot of people as the long history of the character shows. This idea comes across in this book more than most as one of the writers of the characters uses the images of Batman in his head as a sort of spirit guide to help him recover from a hideous trauma- he imagines the Batman rogues gallery is impeding his progress yet Batman steps in to encourage his recovery. The author shows us how he used this inner dialogue and the idea of Batman to bring himself back from the brink and into the world again.
5 people found this helpful