Acclaimed Batman, Green Lantern Writer Denny O'Neil Dead at 81

The latest game news from IGN - one of my fave channels ever - check it out Writer/editor Dennis J. "Denny" O'Neil, famed for writing superhero icons like Batman, Green Lantern, the Justice League and the X-Men, died Thursday night in his home at the age of 81. Via Games Radar, the news was confirmed by O'Neil's family, who said he died of natural causes. O'Neil had a long and prolific career in the comic book industry, including early jobs writing The X-Men and Doctor Strange. O'Neil followed Charlton editor Dick Giordano to DC Comics in 1968, a career boost that led to a number of major, influential writing gigs (albeit under the pseudonym "Sergius O'Shaughnessy"). O'Neil may be best known for his collaborations with artist Neal Adams. The duo helped dramatically revamp the Batman line in the aftermath of the 1966 TV series, returning the Caped Crusader and his villains to their darker roots and introducing pivotal new characters like Ra's al Ghul, Talia al Ghul and Leslie Thompkins. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-25-most-iconic-comic-book-covers-of-all-time&captions=true"] Adams and O'Neil also made waves on Green Lantern/Green Arrow, a series that paired the two philosophically opposed heroes and dealt with a number of hot-button political topics. Most notably, the series stirred up controversy in 1971's Green Lantern/Green Arrow #85, with a now iconic cover image featuring Oliver Queen's sidekick Speedy abusing heroin (you can find that cover in the gallery above). After returning to Marvel in 1980, O'Neil enjoyed influential runs on books like The Amazing Spider-Man, co-creating characters like Madame Web and Hydro-Man, and The Invincible Iron Man, where he co-created Tony Stark's rival Obadiah Stane, penned the iconic "Demon in a Bottle" storyline and had James Rhodes temporarily take over the Iron Man mantle. O'Neil even had a hand in developing the mythology of the Transformers toy line (which, like G.I. Joe, was greatly fleshed out in the accompanying Marvel series) and is credited with naming Optimus Prime. O'Neil also had a major impact on the comics industry as an editor, presiding over Frank Miller's legendary Daredevil series and later serving as group editor on the Batman line from 1986 to 2000. During this period O'Neil oversaw a number of seminal storylines like the death of second Robin Jason Todd, Batman's defeat by Bane in Knightfall and the massive No Man's Land crossover. O'Neil continued to write during this period, penning a critically acclaimed revamp of The Question with artist Denys Cowan and co-creating the vigilante anti-hero Azrael. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/01/30/what-could-the-batman-be-about"] O'Neil leaves behind a powerful legacy. Fellow Batman writer Tom King is among numerous comic creators paying tribute to O'Neil on social media:

Denny O’Neil made timeless comics by making comics about his time. The revolutions of the 60s, the excesses of the 70s, the corruption of the 80s, the facades of the 90s—he used super hero tropes as brushstrokes to paint a picture of who we are and who we could be. RIP. pic.twitter.com/eWwI6tfnrp

— Tom King (@TomKingTK) June 12, 2020

O'Neil is survived by his wife Marifran and his son, writer/director Lawrence O'Neil. Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

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