RIP Mr. ONeil. It was a great run.
RIP Mr. ONeil. It was a great run.
RIP, absolute legend. My favourite writer of all time. The Question, Batman and of course Green Lantern/Green Arrow.
Man, this hurts.
RIP
Guy was pretty much the last of the Lee/Kiby-era legends after Stan's passing, wasn't he?
Certainly among the greatest of all time; I don't think anyone can honestly say otherwise. For me, it wasn't just his Batman stuff, or his GA/GL stuff, but also his book on writing comics the DC way. That book is very good, giving a lot of good information that will help any kind of writer, or anyone just interested in how he put his stories together.
Last edited by achilles; 06-12-2020 at 03:40 PM.
Posted by Chuck Dixon on Facebook earlier this afternoon:
Chuck Dixon
If you're a comics fan you need to know this.
When Batman's 500th issue was coming up. Denny O'Neil was under some pressure to make it the premiere issue for the new art team making #499 Jim Aparo's final issue. Denny felt that Jim, who was due to go into semi-retirement, deserved to be on that issue given his decades of hard work and loyalty to DC Comics. Because of Denny, a comics master got to share in the big royalty payday that issue brought in for all who worked on it. Jim went into retirement with the biggest check of his career.
That's the kind of guy Denny was.
Post CBR reboot join date: May 2014, Pre CBR reboot join date: April 2005
Official DC message boards join date (as Batman Fan 31593): April 2000
Posted by Paul Levitz on Facebook earlier this afternoon:
Paul Levitz
Denny's gone, brought social conscience to comics. He was a journalist at heart, and knew his obit would have Batman in the lede, but I think he'd have been prouder of this way of looking at his life. Not that he was the first, much less the only one, but damn it he was the loudest. Not personally, he wasn't a shouter. But the stories he told and edited screamed for justice for the causes that mattered to him. From GREEN LANTERN/GREEN ARROW to SEDUCTION OF THE GUN, and in subtle moments as well as the loud ones, he set the standard for giving a damn.
He was a teacher, maybe the best of his generation teaching writing and editing in comics. He taught me copy editing, and how to parse my dialogue for comics to be effective. His disciples filled the field.
He was the most economical of writers, communicating with his collaborators in the briefest of art directions but getting great work from them, offering tight dialogue that was precisely on point.
He was a philosopher, searching for ways to make the world better...even exploring how a new religion might be necessary for a time when it was no longer about man mastering the Earth, but learning to live in harmony with it.
And having buried the lede, he made Batman what he is, writing the stories and editing others that set the tone for the post-camp Dark Knight on through everything that Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan leaned on.
Denny got a second lease on life from his marriage to MariFran, and they shared amazing years until her passing. Once she was gone, it was only a matter of time until he followed.
This is the second of my poker buddies to cash in their chips in about a month. He lived a full life, was shocked at the recognition he achieved, and leaves behind his son Larry, with whom he shared many personal and professional joys.
But most of all, and ever so relevant at a moment like this, he taught us that we could...no, we should...damn it, we must use our podiums as writers, editors and teachers to push the world to become a better, more just place.
-30-
Post CBR reboot join date: May 2014, Pre CBR reboot join date: April 2005
Official DC message boards join date (as Batman Fan 31593): April 2000
Oof, a bummer to be sure. I don't have much to say, but I think Denny is the GOAT.
Retro315 no more. Anonymity is so 2005.
retrowarbird.blogspot.com
His perhaps the most Humanistic writerly voice to come out of Comics Bronze Age.
R I.P.
Not only a great writer, but a brilliant editor.
The Bat titles under his watch were some of the best in the last 40 years.
Another huge loss to the industry.
"My name is Wally West. I'm the fastest man alive!"
I'll try being nicer if you try being smarter.
Denny O'Neil was my first favorite writer. I came across copies of his Green Lantern / Green Arrow run from the late 1970s, with artist Mike Grell and later Alex Saviuk, before he left DC for Marvel for several years.
Later I read DC reprints of his work with Neal Adams - their partnership was just amazing. Their work together stands the test of time, from GL/GA to Batman. Denny was the Hawkeye Pierce of comic writers - ironic, funny, dramatic and righteous. His work revealed a soul imbued with a grave sense of morality, compassion, sensitivity.
Oh, the O'Neil Batman. He may be the most important Bat-writer of the last 50 years - which is saying something. Could we have ever gotten to Englehart, or Frank Miller or Tim Burton without Denny lighting the way? Perhaps...but probably not.
Thank you always, Mr. O'Neil, for all the beautiful childhood memories and stirring stories that struck the themes of fairness and compassion.