HOME | DD

Description

This was a week of pieces commemorating the work of Denny O'Neil.

I'm old enough to remember when his work first hit the newsstands, and it's hard for people now to grasp how groundbreaking it was.

His Green Lantern/Green Arrow is what I refer to as the 'false dawn' of American comics. Touted at the time as 'relevance' it was a shining example of how comics could be 'mature'. That term 'mature' was hijacked later on to mean any story with excessive violence and female nudity, but the GL/GA run had neither of these characteristics. It was an extraordinarily 'real world' take on superheroes. I'm not saying everything about it has stood the test of time but when it came out - Pow. I bought every issue I could find (and in the UK that wasn't easy). Wonderful stuff, to be read and re-read.

And then Batman. With the benefit of distance we can look fondly on the Adam West/Burt Ward incarnation of the dynamic duo, and when it came out I was only 8 years old and I loved it. I was too young to see how ridiculous it was. But as I grew older, I and many other comic fans at that time despised the TV show. Loathed it. It made Batman and by extension other superheroes laughing stocks which could not be taken seriously outside of comics until Tim Burton's Batman. (Note that my brother-in-law came out of that film terribly disappointed having expected it to be a comedy)

But while Batman was a figure of fun in the public consciousness, in the comics Denny O'Neil was returning The Batman to the dark avenger of the night which would inspire other writers and a host of copy-cat characters. Once again assisted by the ground-breaking art of Neal Adams, Denny O'Neil did more than anyone to save Batman from the influence of the TV show.
Less appreciated but also stand-out work at the time was his 'Super-Sandman' saga. He made Superman and Clark Kent human. He stopped kryptonite being one of the most commonly occuring elements on the earth, and (while he was on the title at least) applied some limits to Superman's powers. I must have re-read those issues a dozen times.

I decided to reference the Super-Sandman story arc where Superman's powers - and perjaps his identity - are being stolen by a mysterious sand creature.

More and better here: www.cbr.com/line-it-is-drawn-d…

Description

This was a week of pieces commemorating the work of Denny O'Neil.

I'm old enough to remember when his work first hit the newsstands, and it's hard for people now to grasp how groundbreaking it was.

His Green Lantern/Green Arrow is what I refer to as the 'false dawn' of American comics. Touted at the time as 'relevance' it was a shining example of how comics could be 'mature'. That term 'mature' was hijacked later on to mean any story with excessive violence and female nudity, but the GL/GA run had neither of these characteristics. It was an extraordinarily 'real world' take on superheroes. I'm not saying everything about it has stood the test of time but when it came out - Pow. I bought every issue I could find (and in the UK that wasn't easy). Wonderful stuff, to be read and re-read.

And then Batman. With the benefit of distance we can look fondly on the Adam West/Burt Ward incarnation of the dynamic duo, and when it came out I was only 8 years old and I loved it. I was too young to see how ridiculous it was. But as I grew older, I and many other comic fans at that time despised the TV show. Loathed it. It made Batman and by extension other superheroes laughing stocks which could not be taken seriously outside of comics until Tim Burton's Batman. (Note that my brother-in-law came out of that film terribly disappointed having expected it to be a comedy)

But while Batman was a figure of fun in the public consciousness, in the comics Denny O'Neil was returning The Batman to the dark avenger of the night which would inspire other writers and a host of copy-cat characters. Once again assisted by the ground-breaking art of Neal Adams, Denny O'Neil did more than anyone to save Batman from the influence of the TV show.
Less appreciated but also stand-out work at the time was his 'Super-Sandman' saga. He made Superman and Clark Kent human. He stopped kryptonite being one of the most commonly occuring elements on the earth, and (while he was on the title at least) applied some limits to Superman's powers. I must have re-read those issues a dozen times.

I decided to reference the Super-Sandman story arc where Superman's powers - and perjaps his identity - are being stolen by a mysterious sand creature.

More and better here: www.cbr.com/line-it-is-drawn-d…