IN MEMORIAM - DENNY O'NEIL: 1939-2020
It's taken a bit for me to get to this, because I wanted to marshall my thoughts together to write this, and give a proper memorial to, in MY eyes, was one of the most talented, amazing, and innovate writers in comics history. Dennis "Denny" O'Neil, who had been not only a writer for many comics during his tenure in the business for Charlton, Marvel, and DC, but an editor as well--wrote for television, novels, and contributed to film as well, parted ways with this earth on June 11, 2020 at the age of 81 due to natural causes. His influence on the industry, and the many, MANY writers and artists, are profound, and he also helped create a landscape for bringing in the state of the world, philosophy, political outlook, and more. Denny is most notably the man who helped bring Batman back to his dark roots.
O'Neil broke into the comics business by way of writer/editor Roy Thomas, who had established himself as one of the more reliable and new writers of Marvel Comics. O'Neil had been writing bi-weekly columns about the revival of the comics industry during what we now know as the Silver Age. Thomas had suggested Denny take the Marvel tryout--which he did---and caught the attention of Stan Lee. O'Neil began writing Dr. Strange in Strange Tales, Rawhide Kid,and Millie the Model before scripting the final pages of an issue of Daredevil while Stan went on vacation, and revived Professor X in the pages of X-Men #65 along with artist Neal Adams in one of their early works together.
Marvel had developed a deep writing staff, and O'Neil ended up working for Charlton Comics under the name Sergious O'Shaughnessy, and got steady work for a year under Charlton editor Dick Giordano.
O'Neil then latched onto DC Comics, where he worked on such characters as the Creeper, before being handed Justice League of America and Wonder Woman with artist Mike Sekowsky. In one of O'Neil's boldest moves in the industry, he stripped Diana of her powers, she was excommunicated from the Amazons, and took on a very Emma Peel Avengers-type look in battling the bad guys.This did NOT sit well with the female population who'd seen Wonder Woman become a feminist icon. He and artist Dick Dillin had more success on JLA, as they were able to implement a lot of political and social issues of the day in the series, as well as remove Wonder Woman AND the Martian Manhunter as members of the team for a period of time. He then got to work on Green Arrow on The Brave and Bold, before teaming up Green Arrow with Green Lantern in GL's book. Green Arrow/Green Lantern introduced us to the "Hard Travelling Heroes" storyline, where both heroes travelled the country to fight crime, and see the unrest that had settled upon America (at this time, O'Neil had taken away Oliver Queen's fortune, making him more the modern day "everyman" that's been most commonly portrayed as, aside from the CW show). One of the biggest stories to come out of this time, was the infamous drug storyline, where Green Arrow finds out that his ward, Roy Harper, the Teen Titan known as Speedy, was--in fact--a heroin user. It was a powerful story that sent shockwaves through the comics community.
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| Two issues that were some of the early defining moments of Denny O'Neil's work at DC; Diana Prince's change in issue #178 of Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern/Green Arrow #85 - the Speedy drug storyline |
But it was what O'Neil did next, and over the course of the 1970's that set him up as one of the best writers of his generation, as he got the writing job on Batman. Here, O'Neil, joined once again with artist Neal Adams, O'Neil made sweeping changes to the Caped Crusader, as he did away with the campiness that had plagued the title throughout the last 20 years, due to the Comics Code Authority, and the Adam West-led television show. O'Neil took Batman "back to basics", by making him once again the vengeful Dark Knight Detective, making villains like the Joker more in line with the psychopathic killer that he was in his early days, and introduced new characters such as Ra's al Ghul and his daughter, Talia. O'Neil's interpretation of Batman has been, by far, the most authentic and honest depiction of the character since his inception by Bob Kane and Bill Finger back in 1939---the year O'Neil was born. Many writers have taken the baton from O'Neil's work, and have helped keep Batman as one of the most iconic heroes today...even surpassing Superman in popularity. He and artist Adams created a more menacing Gotham City, the villains more ruthless, and Batman a much more complex character than ever before. He was, without a doubt, probably the one writer who knew Batman BEST. When Julius Schwartz - who'd given O'Neil the Batman job, became the editor on Superman, he had O'Neil streamline the character along with artist Curt Swan, and also revived two other characters DC had just gotten the rights to: Captain Marvel and long time pulp hero, The Shadow.
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| O'Neil's work on Batman is considered his most defining work, having brought the character back to his original dark roots. |
O'Neil also wrote novelizations for Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. He also contributed to several columns as well.
While an editor over at Marvel, he was responsible for giving Frank Miller the keys to Daredevil, which many have said saved the series from cancellation, including Marvel Editor in Chief, Jim Shooter. O'Neil was also editor on several titles such as Alpha Flight, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Power Man and Iron Fist, and Moon Knight.
According to former writer/editor Bob Budiansky, it was O'Neil who came up with the name Optimus Prime for the Autobot leader for the Transformers.
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| According to Bob Budiansky, it was O'Neil who came up with the name Optimus Prime for the Autobot leader in the Transformers. |
In the late 1990's, O'Neil taught a course in comics writing at Manhattan's School of Visual Arts. His work has garnered several nominations for awards in his lengthly career, as well as winning the Shazam Award in 1970 and 1971.
He was truly one of the greatest contributors to the world of comics, and his works will be available to read forever. He is, by far, THE Batman scribe, and will probably always be defined by his work on the character, but he gave so much more to this industry.
Rest in Peace, Denny---and thank you for your wonderous stories, and your efforts to give us commentary on a world when we needed it. You never shied away, and you were always compelling.
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