Legendary comic book creator Dennis "Denny" O'Neil has died at age 81. He ed the night of June 11 of natural causes in his New York home. The man is most known for his work writing for DC beginning in the 1970s, particularly on various Batman titles, and later editing from 1986 through 2000.
O'Neil is oftentimes credited with reintroducing the darker, grittier themed iteration of Batman that still exists to this day, revamping the character following the campy and oftentimes cartoonish version made popular in the '60s by Tim Burton's 1989 Batman, a film O'Neil actually wrote the novelization for. That book was recently re-released in a hardcover deluxe edition.
Born in 1939, O'Neil's fascination with the medium began as he was growing up in St. Louis, MO, where his father would buy him a new comic every week following Sunday mass. He said those books - along with the radio serials popular at the time - were foundational to his work later in life. After graduating St. Louis University, O'Neil applied for a job at Marvel, where his output impressed Stan Lee enough that he brought him on as an editorial assistant. He'd eventually find himself at DC in the '70s, writing and editing for characters like Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, and Green Lantern.
A self-described "fighter for racial equality," O'Neil's books would often tackle societal issues affecting marginalized groups throughout America alongside artist Neal Adams. A now iconic Green Lantern/Green Arrow crossover penned by O'Neil - 1992's No Evil Shall Escape My Sight! - saw the characters struggling with racial inequality. When a black man points out that Green Lantern has fought to protect people with blue skin, orange skin, and purple skin, he demands the hero explain why he's never fought for the black-skinned. "I... can't," Green Lantern shamefully replies. “My job was to raise consciousness in this country,” O’Neil said.
Former president and publisher of DC Paul Levitz once said of O'Neil, "His work on Green Lantern and Green Arrow, in particular, brought a level of social consciousness to mainstream superhero comics that had never existed before."
O'Neil's last published work was a contribution to The Joker 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular, released just days before his ing. Besides revitalizing characters like Batman, Green Lantern, and Green Arrow, O'Neil was also responsible for creating or co-creating now-classic Batman characters like Azrael, Ra's al Ghul, and Talia al Ghul. “I cannot imagine a better job,” O'Neil said in 2016. “I had the best toy a kid could play with: Batman.”
Rest in peace, Denny.
