Why Should We Remember a Writer Named Denny O'Neil? A podcast memoriam about inventing modern superheroes.

"Make me laugh. Make me cry. Tell me my place in the world. Lift me out of my skin and place me in another. Show me places I have never visited and carry me to the ends of time and space. Give my demons names and help me to confront them. Demonstrate for me possibilities I've never thought of and present me with heroes who will give me courage and hope. Ease my sorrows and increase my joy. Teach me compassion. Entertain and enchant and enlighten me. Tell me a story.” ― Dennis O'Neil I have now uploaded the most complete audio presentationL fifty-two minutes of completed notes and insights. Enjoy, and feel free to follow my podcast. Jo Duffy is our guest this fall, along with a few other interesting writer friends, you'll see. So, from my notes: Why would we remember a writer named Denny O’Neil? On June 11th, 2020, comics writer and editor Denny O' Neil died. He first re-invented Batman as the Dark Knight Detective. Through his early 70s work with artist Neal Adams, and later as editor of the Batman comics line of the 1990s, Denny revamped Batman into the cool version you love at the movies, Ninjas and intense combat style? Earthquake in Gotham? Bane breaking Batman? It’s all there during O’Neil’s tenure as editor of all Batman comics in the 90s.
His career began its distinction and popularity in 1970, with Neal Adams, whose 'social relevance ' take on Green Lantern / Green Arrow intrigued me nearly two decades later. His Daredevil is the precursor to the successful Netflix MU.
He helped revive The Shadow with Mike Kaluta, about the time I was born. Given the direct inspiration of the earliest Batman stories, and how those were also O’Neil’s inspiration for his groundbreaking take on the Dark Night Detective, it’s no shock to find him spinning stories of the masked vigilante and his network of associates. He hired Frank Miller and edited the groundbreaking Miller run that modernized Daredevil, then wrote the title when it finally came to my convenience store. Denny O’Neil also, while working for Marvel, named Optimus Prime during the development of the Transformers. He wrote two great ASM Annuals, #14 and 15 with Frank Miller on art. Return to Dr. Strange, and the Punisher.
But his personal struggle with alcoholism inspired Tony Stark's long crash and journey back to the light in the underrated 1980s Black Iron Man stories I collected when I was thirteen. The idea of someone Black under the helmet really caught my attention! Years later, I would understand better the grim slide into poverty and self-affliction that makes his take on the genius inventor the most haunting and relatable to date. Mr. O'Neil's take on The Question, with artist Denys Cowan (a co-founder of Milestone Comics, a line featuring black superheroes and creators), was a gritty, suspenseful, insightful one on modern day big city corruption. He inspired my abiding interest in Zen. He even wrote two of my first Amazing Spider-Man comics, when I was seven, much beloved. Peter clearing his name and Blues for Lonesome Pinky are not typical ASM but remain memorable.
How can I relate to this character, he would ask. How do I pretend to be these characters, so I can write their stories? How can we, the reader, be something like the heroes (and villains), ourselves? O’Neil later taught at the School of Visual Arts, influencing even more generations of comic creators. He served on the board of the Hero Initiative, a charity dedicated to taking care of comic creators in need. And in late 2018, he was honored by the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library as the keynote speaker at their “Comic Books and Social Justice” event. – Den of Geek Much respect to this great shaper of my young mind. R.I.P. Denny O'Neil, age 81. I tried my neighborhood Thai restaurant before I got the sad news. He loved Asian cuisine so, synchronicity! If only I had made it vegetarian too! Included in the podcast- when I have space to re-upload it- are anecdotes culled from interviews and letters by Neal Adams, as well. For example: • Green Lantern/ Green Arrow # 87 (1972) John Stewart • Arguing for diversity, Neal Adams pushed for the creation of a new Green Lantern. Julie Schwartz, the comics editor, realized Neal wanted a Black man. Neal underscored how he wanted an educated Black man- so he became an architect. They gave him pride, and fortunately, lost Julie’s idea to call him Lincoln Washington and Neal picked a new name out of the air: John Stewart. John talked directly in the language of his times, as a college-educated young professional, how he feels about inequalities. He makes no secret of his dislike for wearing a mask, and disposes of it immediately. “I’m not afraid for people to know who I am,” he says to Hal Jordan. Stewart made no bones about his dislike of the Presidential candidate he must protect from assassination. But the ring did not pick him out as the next of the bravest men on Earth it could find, in error. He and Hal uncover a plot, in an excellent first adventure. It’s our loss that the comic as canceled two issues later, before we could see the co-creators bring John to life again. But he became the Green Lantern to a whole generation of Justice League fans in our present century.
So, the introduction to the spotlight podcast:
Herein is the exploration of Denny's themes, the influence and content of his stories, the origins of the first Black Green Lantern, and the shaping of Batman into the hero we know today- whose shadow stretches across two-fisted fiction in the years since. The first comics author to take an ongoing angle of 'social relevance,' O'Neil was a very well-read man with a background in both the military and martial arts, as well as an abiding interest in Zen, while continuing to be a practicing Catholic and writer of social conscience.
Over on integr8dfix.blogspot.com, I 've added a few other specific points about Batman in particular: short stories, no Bat-equipment, no angst, and the intellectual use of violence. I should delve into those when I am ready to pick up and talk about the Question. https://integr8dfix.blogspot.com/2020/07/no-bat-belts-and-bat-boats-and-fighting.html

World view, artist's intentions (Neal Adams, Charlie Sheen, and more)

A Scottish professor acquaintance of mine engages in discussion with other enthusiastic creatives about world view: when we cannot separate the art from the artist, "it's Intentional Fallacy 101." I'm going to drop the literary terminology he employed for the moment; he was saying, a master artist can incorporate multiple world views, gleaned from her/his impressions. He gave Hamlet, Canterbury Tales, and Finnegan's Wake as examples, and asked: "what is the world view presented?"

I may crash and burn, but this is absolutely my standard for what I want to do in my novels, even shorter works. I'd rather crash and burn taking this chance! I even want songs that tell different biographies---but what I sing seems to require more fidelity with my world view, and generally, my feelings, as it is more of an emotional catharsis, while writing is more of an intellectual catharsis. These sorts of concerns may not play into work taken strictly for-hire, but they do play into expressive art. Hope that's clear. (And yet...not.)

This makes me curious about what a writer/ artist chooses and feels the need to draw, and if that is any different than what they need to write.

I am still getting the hang of drawing, so I'm focused on what I feel like drawing. I've already begun investing in characters not coming from the personal point of view, though they originate from my life experience.

I think even a villain should utilize some interesting part of your world view or knowledge. There's room not only for plenty of negatively-oriented characters who add to the oppression but aren't villains you can beat to enact a change---even for stories where there's no villain one can defeat, though there's much suspect behavior on display.

I imagine an artist never gets far away from drawing what they feel like drawing---and without enthusiasm, it shows!

I think the feelings invoked by the art, whichever piece we're talking about, are another matter, and create a third experience: not the art & creator, not the reader, but the overlap called interpretation, where the art mixes into your internal life, to interact with perceptions, independent of the source.

The artist cannot calculate this: in fact, that's one of the rewards, potentially, of feedback. The artist can, however, broaden the potential of her/his work to interact with a greater range of perceptions (and for that, we thank them!)

So sometimes, you may find a movie, or comic book, or song that's very well rendered in some technical aspect---let's say, a Micheal Bay film, with amazing special effects and visceral explosions and larger-than-life scale. (The example at hand was the recent work of Neal Adams.) There may be no lack of enthusiasm or attention to detail---but your emotional reaction? "Mileage may vary." (The professor in question liked it---the Professor he debated, didn't!)

Tom Cruise as a Scientologist---or perhaps, the media's coverage of his eccentricities, and over all ubiquitous presence---might influence your willingness or enjoyment of his movies. In fact, he's a great example of how a star / artist has a reputation beyond his work that becomes mixed, for the audience, with the body of work. You may find the strength of a work (and let's face it: he doesn't write or direct most of his roles) will override your outside opinions.


You might even be of a mind that an artist's world view and their work are separate. So, you might still be able to laugh at Two and a Half Men without regard for Charlie Sheen's meltdown. You might find it awfully unfunny without regard for Sheen. You may be able to listen to Chris Brown without thinking about his disastrous relationship with Rhianna; you may find it impossible to separate; and you still might identify with his struggle for redemption and change.


And just think: people without television are even further removed from the media's interpretations of artists---IF they don't look it up on the Web. Yes, there are people who read books and even live without power, too---and are they any less able to enjoy art, or a good book, without knowing much more about the artist?


You may learn about the artist's limitations in world view; you may only perceive what that artist considers and presents as a commercial approach. Your world view, of course, will play into this. What you really judge, in the end, is that other creation: the one YOU make, with your interpretation.

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