By By Elvis Mitchell (Star-Telegram Film Critic)

Kevin Smith's life abounds with irony. Example No. 1: Although his teen-angst film `Mallrats' wasn't successful, he believes it helped the career of another famous writer-director. "I thought it [`Mallrats' ] would connect," he explains, "but I guess we were kinda late for the teen movies of the John Hughes School. And too early for the current slate of teen movies. The Kevin Williamson stuff. Whenever I watch a Williamson flick or something he scripted, I think, `That sounds familiar.' . . . I'm not saying the dude ripped me off or anything like that. But I think my stuff certainly made his stuff possible."

"I think," Smith adds, facetiously, "that `Mallrats' was the sacrificial lamb that led to [Smith's] `Dawson's Creek.' So, if you hate that, I guess I'm to blame."

Example No. 2: Smith -- the writer/director of the new Chris Rock/Ben Affleck/Matt Damon film `Dogma,' controversial because of its satirical take on Catholicism -- attributes `his' view of Christianity and its symbols to Catholic school and more specifically, to one of his teachers, Sister Theresa. He recalls her explanation of a passage from the Gospels:

"Christ refers to Peter as the rock, upon which he's gonna build the Church," Smith says. "I'd heard and read that story time and time again. Sister Theresa broke it down and said, `What was Christ trying to say?' And we said, `That he was making Peter the first Pope.' And she said, `Not necessarily.' Based on current translations of the Gospels, most scholars think that Christ was being facetious. He was calling Peter the rock because Peter was the weakest of the Apostles. Essentially, he was teasing him. That really turned religion on its ear and made it alive for me."

"If you read all the Catholic League literature against `Dogma,"' says Smith, "it's about how Catholics should be upset. It's not really about Christians. They kinda turn [Catholicism] into a political party more than anything else: Democrats, Republicans and Catholics. And it's a power struggle that has nothing to do with the progenitor of our faith, Christ. They could care less about Christ. It's all about how they're outraged as Catholics because they feel this film, which they haven't seen, attacks them personally."

He says the letter-writing campaign against the film has been largely benign. But the one that sticks with him, he says -- although he notes it was an exception to the rule -- was a violent, anti-Semitic letter aimed at executive producers Harvey and Bob Weinstein. Smith shrugs at the ugly irony that his comedy on Catholicism and faith has stimulated.

More irony? Smith is articulate, quick-witted and utterly confident of his opinions -- unlike the character he plays, Silent Bob, who joins with partner Jay (Jason Mewes) to make up the layered-shirt and overcoat-clad pair of interlopers who turn up in all four of Smith's features `(Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy' and `Dogma.)' In fact, Smith has a mellow, resonant voice that'd be at home on radio.

But it's television, not radio, where we'll see Smith's work next. An animated version of `Clerks' will be run on ABC in February. ("Yes, Silent Bob is a character," he says, "and I will not be doing his voice. Or rather, I will be doing his lack of voice.") With this, another cloud of irony drifts over Smith's life. ABC is part of the Disney corporate umbrella; the same company that wouldn't let Miramax release `Dogma' (Miramax honchos Bob and Harvey Weinstein took it private and had it released through another company.)

"It is amazing that we ended up at ABC. For one thing, they [ABC] always seem to have an issue with the content of the show," Smith says. "Now, we never told them that we wanted to do a down-and-dirty realistic version of `Clerks.' . . . [But] being on a Disney company, you'd imagine we could do Disney humor. We had a section of one episode that's in black and white, like the movie, and we worked `Steamboat Willie' into it. `No, you can't use any of the Disney characters.' . . . And it's like, `Why do you want the show in the first place?' . . . We're nowhere near `South Park.' . . . We're just trying to do simple, edgy jokes."

Smith does belong on TV, where presumably -- and obviously, this presumption is wrong -- he could bring together his love of pop mythology. The eight-issue run of Marvel Comics' `Daredevil' that he wrote is very similar to `Dogma,' in that both focus on faith. Spirituality is entrenched in Smith's canon and in his life.

As is Smith's love of comics. Part of the story behind `Clerks' is that he sold his comics collection to help raise the $25,000 budget. Another comics series -- `Mage,' an update of the King Arthur legend in which Excalibur is a baseball bat -- is clearly an inspiration for `Dogma.' Smith believes that, in addition to comics' other benefits, they provide a moral background. "They reinforce the idea of benevolence and tolerance over malevolence and intolerance. Not a bad thing. A comic-book feeling is what we were going for in the movie.

"If you look at some of the more outlandish Spielberg or Lucas moments, you see a comic-book influence. . . . They would have you believe that they're born with this gift. But those ideas come from somewhere."

Smith loves the medium so much that he and his wife named their baby daughter Harley Quinn, after the Joker's girlfriend from the `Batman' animated series. "I gotta give my wife credit for that more than me. She liked the name. We referred to the unborn baby as Harley Quinn. I was like, `Do you really think we should name her Harley Quinn?' You just know that . . . she'll get mocked for having this weird comic-book name. But my wife stuck by her guns."

He smiles at the memory. "She said, `That's a great name. Don't back down now.' "