Jingle.

JINGLE BELLE

Original Medium: Comic books
Published by: Oni Press
First Appeared: 1999
Creator: Paul Dini
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Jingle Belle is the cute, bouncy, teenage daughter of Santa Claus. Unfortunately, when you're dealing with teenagers and their parents, along with the bouncy cuteness, there's bound to be …

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… a certain amount of teen angst. Jing's doesn't reach Katie Ka-Boom levels, but she has at least as many problems with Mom and Dad, especially Dad, as Binky or The Jackson Twins.

Chronologically, at least, and by human standards, Jing (no relation, by the way) isn't exactly a teenager. In fact, she's in her 220s (she attributes her prolonged adolescence to having immortal parents). But she occasionally "borrows" the sleigh for a joy-ride, enjoys a gabfest with gal-pals like Polly Green (rhymes with "Halloween"), and has spent more time on the Naughty List than all the bad little boys and girls put together. Jing could start a filthy, anti-ecological power plant with all the lumps of coal she's accumulated over the years. (She claims Dad, aka "His Lardship", judges her more harshly than the other kids, and anyway, he's a stinker.) Mom is an elf queen, and when anybody mentions her elf ancestry, she points out that she didn't get her ears at a Star Trek convention.

Jing made her first appearance in Jingle Belle #1, published by Oni Press (Queen & Country) in 1999. There were issues in November and December. All the stories were written by Paul Dini (Batman: The Animated Series), who created the character. The main story in each issue was drawn by Stephen DeStefano ('Mazing Man), with additional material by Jill Thompson (Scary Godmother), Evan Dorkin (Milk & Cheese), Sergio Aragones (Groo the Wanderer) and more.

The following year, Oni published Paul Dini's Jingle Belle's All-Star Holiday Hullabaloo as a oneshot, then in 2001, Oni did Paul Dini's Jingle Belle Jubilee. Also in 2001, Oni published Paul Dini's Jingle Belle: The Mighty Elves in July, as an off-season special. Other creators who worked on Jing at Oni include Dan DeCarlo (Sabrina the Teenage Witch), Bill Morrison (The Simpsons) and Jeff Smith (Bone).

Oni Press didn't publish Jing after that. She was next seen at Dark Horse Comics (Concrete), which put out several issues from 2004 to '07, some of them off-season. She was also published in 2008 by Image Comics' Top Cow Studio (Witchblade).

Jing is also available in the form of animation on the Internet, as a statuette, a Christmas tree ornament, and other merchandised items.

— DDM

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Text ©2009-10 Donald D. Markstein. Art © Paul Dini.