Dennis J. "Denny" O'Neil (born May 3, 1939 in St. Louis, Missouri) is an American comic book writer and editor, principally for Marvel Comics and DC Comics from the 1960s through the 1990s, and Group Editor for the Batman family of books until his retirement.
His best-known works include Green Lantern/Green Arrow and Batman with Neal Adams, The Shadow with Michael Kaluta and The Question with Denys Cowan, all of which were hailed for their sophisticated stories that expanded the artistic potential of the mainstream portion of the medium. As an editor, he is principally known for editing the various Batman titles. As of 2013, he sits on the board of directors of the charity The Hero Initiative and serves on its Disbursement Committee.
Biography
Early life
O'Neil was born into a Catholic household in St. Louis, Missouri. On Sunday afternoons he would accompany his father or his grandfather to the store for some light groceries and an occasional comic book. O'Neil graduated from St. Louis University around the turn of the 1960s with a degree centered on English literature, creative writing, and philosophy. From there he joined the U.S. Navy just in time to participate in the blockade of Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
After leaving the Navy, O'Neil moved on to a job with a newspaper in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. O'Neil wrote bi-weekly columns for the youth page, and during the slow summer months he filled the space with a series on the revival of the comics industry. This attracted the attention of Roy Thomas, who would eventually himself become one of the great names in the history of the medium.
Writing
Marvel Comics
When Roy Thomas left DC Comics to work for Stan Lee at Marvel Comics he suggested that O'Neil take the Marvel writer's test, which involved adding dialogue to a wordless four-page excerpt of a Fantastic Four comic; and O'Neil's entry impressed Lee enough to offer him a job. O'Neil had never considered writing for comics before, and later said he'd done the test "kind of as a joke. I had a couple of hours on a Tuesday afternoon, so instead of doing crossword puzzles, I did the writer's test."
When Marvel's expansion made it impossible for Lee to continue writing the company's entire line of books, Lee passed as much on to Roy Thomas as he could, but still needed writers, so O'Neil took the reins for a short-term run of Doctor Strange stories in Strange Tales, penning six issues. He also wrote dialog for such titles as Rawhide Kid and Millie the Model, as well as scripting the final 13 pages of Daredevil #18 over a plot by Lee, when Lee went on vacation.
O'Neil and artist Neal Adams revived the Professor X character in X-Men #65 in one of the creative team's earliest collaborations.
Charlton and DC Comics
The available jobs writing for Marvel petered out fairly quickly, and O'Neil took a job with Charlton Comics under the pseudonym of Sergius O’Shaugnessy. There he received regular work for a year and a half from Charlton's editor Dick Giordano.
In 1968 Dick Giordano was offered an editorial position at DC Comics and took a number of Charlton freelancers with him, including O'Neil. Charlton talent arrived at DC from a different culture of comics. At DC, the office seemed like a snapshot from 1950, with a crowd of short-haired men in white shirts and ties. The jeans-wearing, hippy trended Charlton crowd visibly represented a different generation.
O'Neil's first assignments involved two strategies for bolstering DC's sales. One approach centered on the creation of new characters, and O'Neil scripted several issues of Beware the Creeper, a series starring a new hero, The Creeper, created by artist Steve Ditko. From there, DC moved O'Neil to Wonder Woman and Justice League of America. With artist Mike Sekowsky, he took away Wonder Woman's powers, exiled her from the Amazon community, and set her off, uncostumed, into international intrigues with her blind mentor, the dubiously-named I Ching. These changes did not sit well with Wonder Woman's older fans, particularly feminists, and O'Neil acknowledged that de-powering DC's most well-known superheroine had unintentionally alienated readers. In Justice League, he had more success, introducing into that title the first socially and politically themed stories, setting the stage for later work on Green Lantern/Green Arrow. He and artist Dick Dillin made several changes to the membership of the JLA by removing founding members the Martian Manhunter and Wonder Woman.
Following the lead set by Bob Haney and Neal Adams in a Brave and the Bold story that visually redefined Green Arrow into the version that appeared in comics between 1969 and 1986, O'Neil stripped him of his wealth and playboy status, making him an urban hero. This redefinition would culminate in the character that appeared in Green Lantern/Green Arrow, with many stories also drawn by Adams, a socially conscious, left-wing creation that effectively took over Green Lantern's book to use him as a foil and straw man in sounding out the political concepts that would define that work. It was during this period that the most famous Green Arrow story appeared, in Green Lantern #85-86, when it was revealed that Green Arrow's ward Speedy was addicted to heroin. As a result of his work on Green Lantern and Green Arrow, O'Neil recounted, "I went from total obscurity to seeing my name featured in The New York Times and being invited to do talk shows. It's by no means an unmixed blessing. That messed up my head pretty thoroughly for a couple of years. ... Deteriorating marriage, bad habits, deteriorating relationships with human beings - with anything that wasn't a typewriter, in fact. It was a bad few years there."
O'Neil's 1970s run on the Batman titles, under the direction of editor Julius Schwartz, is perhaps his best-known endeavor, getting back to the character's darker roots after a period dominated by the campiness of the 1960s TV series. Comics historian Les Daniels observed that "O'Neil's interpretation of Batman as a vengeful obsessive-compulsive, which he modestly describes as a return to the roots, was actually an act of creative imagination that has influenced every subsequent version of the Dark Knight." O'Neil and Adams' creation Ra's al Ghul was introduced in the story "Daughter of the Demon" in Batman #232 (June 1971) O'Neil and artist Bob Brown also created Talia al Ghul. During this period, O'Neil frequently teamed up with his regular collaborator Adams (with Giordano often assisting on inks) on a number of memorable issues of both Batman and Detective Comics. The Joker was revitalized in "The Joker's Five-Way Revenge!" in Batman #251 (Sept. 1973), a landmark story bringing the character back to his roots as a homicidal maniac who murders people on a whim and delights in his mayhem. O'Neil and Giordano created the Batman supporting character Leslie Thompkins in the story "There Is No Hope in Crime Alley" appearing in Detective Comics #457 (March 1976).
When Julius Schwartz became the editor of Superman with issue #233 (Jan. 1971), he had O'Neil and artist Curt Swan streamline the Superman mythos, starting with the elimination of Kryptonite. In 1973, O'Neil wrote revivals of two characters for which DC had recently acquired the publishing rights. A new series featuring the original Captain Marvel was launched with a February cover date and featured art by the character's original artist C. C. Beck. Later that same year, O'Neil and artist Michael Kaluta produced an "atmospheric interpretation" of the 1930s pulp hero in The Shadow series. In 1975, O'Neil wrote a comic book adaptation of the 1930s hero The Avenger. A revival of the Green Lantern title in 1976 was launched by O'Neil and artist Mike Grell. Reuniting with Adams, O'Neil co-wrote the oversize Superman vs. Muhammad Ali (1978) which Adams has called a personal favorite of their collaborations.
After returning to DC Comics in 1986, he became the editor of the various Batman titles and served in that capacity until 2000. In February 1987, O'Neil began writing The Question ongoing series which was primarily drawn by Denys Cowan. The Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight series began in 1989 with the five-part "Shaman" storyline by O'Neil and artist Ed Hannigan. Armageddon 2001 was a 1991 crossover event storyline. It ran through a self-titled, two issue limited series and most of the annuals DC published that year from May through October. Each participating annual explored potential possible futures for its main characters. The series was written by O'Neil and Archie Goodwin and drawn by Dan Jurgens. The character Azrael was created by O'Neil and artist Joe Quesada in the Batman: Sword of Azrael miniseries in 1992.
Return to Marvel
Upon O'Neil's return to Marvel Comics in 1980, he took on the scripting chores for The Amazing Spider-Man, which he did for a year. O'Neil wrote two issues of The Amazing Spider-Man Annual which were both drawn by Frank Miller. The 1980 Annual featured a team-up with Doctor Strange while the 1981 Annual showcased a meeting with the Punisher. He and artist John Romita, Jr. introduced Madame Web in The Amazing Spider-Man #210 and Hydro-Man in #212. O'Neil was the regular scripter for Iron Man from 1982â€"1986, and Daredevil, from 1983â€"1985. During his run on Iron Man, O'Neil introduced Obadiah Stane, later the Iron Monger, plunged Tony Stark back into alcoholism, turned Jim Rhodes into Iron Man, and created the Silver Centurion armor. O'Neil's run on Daredevil bridged the gap between Frank Miller's two runs on the title, usually with David Mazzucchelli as artist. He introduced Yuriko Oyama during his stint, who would later become the popular X-Men villain Lady Deathstrike. While working for Marvel, he helped write the original character concept for the Transformers, and is credited as the person who named Optimus Prime.
Other writing
O'Neil has written several novels, comics, short stories, reviews and teleplays, including the novelizations of the films Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Under the pseudonym Jim Dennis, O'Neil scripted a series of novels about a kung fu character named Richard Dragon, and later adapted those novels to comic book form for DC.
O'Neil wrote a weekly column for ComicMix until October 2008.
Editing
Joining Marvel's editorial staff in 1980, O'Neil edited Daredevil during Frank Miller's run as writer/artist. He fired writer Roger McKenzie so that Miller could both write and pencil Daredevil, a decision which then-Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter says saved the series from cancellation. O'Neil encouraged Miller to develop a believable fighting style for Daredevil, and according to Miller, this directly led to his incorporating martial arts into Daredevil and later Ronin. In the early to mid-1980s, O'Neil edited such Marvel titles as Alpha Flight, Power Man and Iron Fist, G.I. Joe, and Moon Knight.
According to Bob Budiansky, O'Neil came up with the name for the Transformer Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots.
In 1986, O'Neil moved over to DC as an editor, becoming group editor for the company's Batman titles. Speaking about his role in the death of character Jason Todd, O'Neil remarked:
- It changed my mind about what I do for a living. Superman and Batman have been in continuous publication for over half a century, and it's never been true of any fictional construct before. These characters have a lot more weight than the hero of a popular sitcom that lasts maybe four years. They have become postindustrial folklore, and part of this job is to be the custodian of folk figures. Everybody on Earth knows Batman and Robin.
O'Neil has said that he sees editing as a support role which should be invisible to the reader, and that if it were his choice his name would not appear in the credits when working as an editor, only when working as a writer.
Teaching
O'Neil spent several years in the late nineties teaching a Writing for the Comics course at Manhattan's School of Visual Arts, sometimes sharing duties with fellow comic book writer John Ostrander.
Personal life
O'Neil is married to Marifran O'Neil. He is the father of writer/director/producer Lawrence O'Neil, best known for the 1997 film Breast Men starring David Schwimmer.
Awards
O'Neil's work has won him a great deal of recognition in the comics industry, including the Shazam Awards for Best Continuing Feature Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Best Individual Story for "No Evil Shall Escape My Sight" in Green Lantern #76 (with Neal Adams), for Best Writer (Dramatic Division) in 1970 for Green Lantern, Batman, Superman, and other titles, and Best Individual Story for "Snowbirds Don't Fly" in Green Lantern #85 (with Neal Adams) in 1971. In 1985, DC Comics named O'Neil as one of the honorees in the company's 50th anniversary publication Fifty Who Made DC Great.
Appearances in media
In The Batman Adventures â€" the first DC Comics spinoff of Batman: The Animated Series â€" O'Neil appears as The Perfesser, one of a screwball trio of incompetent super-villains that also includes The Mastermind (a caricature of Mike Carlin) and Mr. Nice (a caricature of Archie Goodwin). The Perfesser is depicted as a tall, pipe-smoking genius who often gets lost in his own thoughts, and who regularly forgets to give his criminal friends crucial information in planning their heists. (For example, after carefully planning a hotel robbery, the trio arrives at the hotel's location to find a vacant lot. The Perfesser then remembers that the hotel was torn down several years ago.) He is also shown to perhaps be smarter than Batman, as he manages to figure out the Riddler's riddle in the third part of The Last Riddler Story, when Batman himself did not.
Bibliography
Charlton Comics
- Charlton Premiere #2
- Thunderbolt #58-60
DC Comics
- Adventure Comics #418, 419, 449-451
- Armageddon 2001 special #2
- Atom and Hawkman #42-45
- Azrael #1-100, 1,000,000, Annual #1-3, Azrael Plus Question #1, Azrael/Ash #1 (February 1995-May 2003)
- Bat Lash #2-7
- Batman #224-225, 227, 232, 234, 235, 237, 239-245, 247-248, 251, 253, 256-264, 266, 268, 286, 303, 320, 684
- Batman: Gordon of Gotham #1-4
- Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #1-5, 16-20, 50, 59-61, 63, 127-131
- Batman: Sword of Azrael #1-4
- Beware the Creeper #1-4, 6, 8
- The Brave and the Bold #93
- Challengers of the Unknown #68-74
- DC Comics Presents #19, 20, 23
- DC Retroactive: Green Lantern - The '70s #1 (2011)
- DC Retroactive: Wonder Woman - The '70s #1 (2011)
- DC Special Series #1, 5, 18-19
- Detective Comics #395, 399-401, 404-406, 410-411, 414, 418-422, 425, 431, 451, 457, 460-462, 480-481, 483-491, 851, 866; Annual #1 (1989) (1970â€"2010)
- Doc Savage 1987 #1-4 mini-series, 1988 #1-6 ongoing series
- Dragonslayer #1-2
- The Flash #217-221, 223-224, 226-228, 230-231, 233-234, 237-238, 240-243, 245
- From Beyond the Unknown #7-8
- Green Lantern #63-64, 68, 72, 76-86,89, 90-100, 102-129
- Hercules Unbound #3-5
- Isis #1
- The Joker #1-3, 6
- Justice, Inc. #1-4
- Justice League Of America #66, 68-75, 77-83, 86, 115
- JLA #91-93
- Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth! #45-48
- Legends of the DC Universe #7-9
- Nightwing (miniseries) #1-4
- Phantom Stranger #8
- The Question #1-36
- Richard Dragon, Kung Fu Fighter #1-10, 13-18
- Shazam! #1-7, 9, 14-15, 17, 25
- The Shadow #1-8, 10, 12
- Showcase #82-84
- Spectre #9
- Strange Sports Stories #4
- Super Friends #20, 22, 24
- Superman #233-238, 240-242, 244, 247, 253, 254, 343, 351
- Super-Team Family #2
- Sword of Sorcery #1-5
- Tarzan #255, 256
- Time Warp #1
- Weird Worlds #4-10
- Wonder Woman #178, 179, 180-182, 199-201
- World's Finest Comics #198-199, 201-202, 204, 211-212, 214, 244, 256-264
Marvel Comics
- The Amazing Spider-Man, #207-219, 221, 223, Annual #14-15
- Chamber of Darkness #3-5
- Daredevil #18, 194-202, 204-207, 210-223, 226
- Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, #6, 14
- Epic Illustrated #16-20
- Ghost Rider #7
- Heroes for Hope: Starring The X-Men #1
- The Hulk #21-24 (Dominic Fortune back-up stories)
- Iron Man #158, 160-208
- Kid Colt Outlaw #134-136, 138-139
- Millie the Model #138-151, 153
- Moon Knight #26
- Power Man and Iron Fist #85-89
- Rawhide Kid #56, 58-59, 60, 62, 66
- Savage Tales #5
- Strange Tales #145-149, 167, 168
- Team America #2
- Two-Gun Kid #90, 92
- X-Men #65
Graphic novels
- The Shadow "1941" - with Michael W. Kaluta, Russ Heath 1988
- The Private Files of the Shadow - with Mark Waid 1989
- Batman: Birth of the Demon - 1992
- Green Lantern/Green Arrow: Hard-Traveling Heroes Vol. 1 - 1992
- Batman: Shaman - 1993
- Batman: Venom - 1993, 2012
- Green Lantern/Green Arrow: More Hard-Traveling Heroes Vol. 2 - 1993
- Batman: Sword of Azrael - 1993
- Batman: Bloodstorm - 1995
- Batman: Death of Innocents: the Horror of Landmines - 1996
- Batman in the Seventies - 2000
- The Green Lantern/Green Arrow Collection - 2000
- The Deadman Collection - 2001
- Batman: The Ring, the Arrow, and the Bat - 2003
- Green Lantern/Green Arrow Collection - Volume 1 - 2004
- Green Lantern/Green Arrow Collection - Volume 2 - 2005
- Green Lantern: Hero's Quest - 2005
- Green Lantern/Green Arrow - 2012
Novellas
- The Iconoclasts - Fantastic Stories, ed. Ted White, Ultimate Publishing, 1971
- "Report on a Broken Bridge" - Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, December 1971
- After They've Seen Paree - Generation, ed. David Gerrold, Dell, 1972
- "The Elseones" â€" Fantasy & Science Fiction, February 1972
- "Mister Cherubim" â€" Fantastic Stories June, 1972
- "Noonday Devil" - Saving Worlds, eds. Roger Elwood & Virginia Kidd, Doubleday, 1973
- "Devil Night" â€" Haunt of Horror August, 1973
- "Annie Mae: A Love Story" - The Far Side of Time, ed. Roger Elwood, Dodd Mead, 1974
- "There Are No Yesterdays!" - Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction March 1975
- "Sister Mary Talks to the Girls Sodality" â€" Harpoon Magazine, January 1975
- "The Killing of Mother Corn" â€" Fantasy & Science Fiction, February 1975
- "Father Flotsky" â€" Apple Pie Magazine May 1975
- "Alias the Last Resort" â€" Best Detective Stories of the Year, Ed. Hubin, 1975
- "Adam and No Eve" (with Alfred Bester) - Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction March 1975
- "Wave By" â€" Fantasy & Science Fiction, September 1980
- "Bicycle Superhero"- Superheroes, ed. John Varley Ace Fantasy, 1995
Novels
- The Bite of Monsters â€" Belmont, 1971
- Dragon’s Fists â€" Richard Dragon, Kung Fu Master with Jim Berry, 1974
- Secret Origins of the Super DC Heroes - Crown Publishing Group, April 1976
- The Super Comics - Scholastic Book Services 1981
- Batman Knightfall â€" 1994
- Green Lantern Hero’s Quest â€" 2005
- Batman Begins â€" 2005
- DC Universe: Helltown - 2006
- The Dark Knight - 2008
Non-fiction
- The DC Comics Guide To Writing Comics, Watson-Guptill, May 2001 ISBN 0-8230-1027-9
- Batman Unauthorized: Vigilantes, Jokers, and Heroes in Gotham City, SmartPop series, Benbella Books, March 2008 (editor) ISBN 1-933771-30-5
Essays, reviews and interviews
- The Lurker in the Family Room - The Haunt of Horror, June 1973
- Review of Will Eisner’s “A Contract With God†â€" Comics Journal #46, May 1979
- Interview w/ Samuel R. Delany â€" Comics Journal #48, Summer 1979
- The Super Comics â€" 1980
- Article on Gary Trudeau/Doonesbury â€" Comics Journal #63, Summer 1981
- Forum & Interview w/ Gil Kane â€" Comics Journal #64 July 1981
- The Man of Steel and Me â€" Superman at 50, 1987
- Martial Arts â€" Superman & Batman Magazine #1, with Marifran O'Neil, Summer 1993
- Comics 101/Classes 1 & 2 â€" Write Now! #3, March 2003
- Comics 101/Classes 3 & 4 â€" Write Now! #4, May 2003
- Comics 101/Classes 5 & 6 â€" Write Now! #5, August 2003
- "Introduction" to Superhero: The Secret Origin of a Genre by Peter Coogan (MonkeyBrain Books) (July 25, 2006)
Animated film
- Batman: Gotham Knight - Audio commentary 2008
Notes
References
- Dennis O'Neil at the Comic Book DB
- Scifan.com Dennis O'Neil
- Dennis O'Neil at the Internet Movie Database
External links
- Dennis O'Neil's column on ComicMix
- Dennis O'Neil's Official Message Board
- Comic Geek Speak Podcast Interview (October 2005)
- "DC Profiles #15: Denny O'Neil" at the Grand Comics Database
- Dennis O'Neil at Mike's Amazing World of Comics
- Dennis O'Neil at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
- Dennis O'Neil year by year
