DENNIS O’NEIL: The Original Reboot

Dennis O'Neil

Dennis O'Neil was born in 1939, the same year that Batman first appeared in Detective Comics. It was thus perhaps fated that he would be so closely associated with the character, writing and editing the Dark Knight for more than 30 years. He's been an editor at Marvel and DC Comics. In addition to Batman, he's worked on Spider-Man, Daredevil, Iron Man, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern/Green Arrow, the Question, The Shadow and more. O'Neil has won every major award in the industry. His prose novels have been New York Times bestsellers. Denny lives in Rockland County with his wife, Marifran.

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2 Responses

  1. Martha Thomases says:

    Read them, Denny. At least the ones that intrigue you. I’ve had mostly fun.

    (That said, NIGHTWING violates just about everything Larry Hama ever told me about letting the art tell the story)

  2. Rick says:

    I agree that most of the backlash today seems to be from longtime fans not wanting to see changes. Barbara Gordon back as Batgirl is the big one obviously. I loved Oracle as much as the next fan, and I preferred Stephanie Brown as Batgirl, but I still enjoyed Batgirl #1 for what it was.

    It looks from this observer’s perspective that DC wanted to do a clean reboot but was so concerned about fan reaction that they found a compromise instead. We have a mysterious “five year” (or longer) period of existing continuity but no timeline or guidebook to tell us what is in and what is out. Sure that gives them greater flexibility, but it’s not creating the effect I think they were trying to achieve. I can’t even fathom how all 4 Robins are still in continuity… in five years???

    Should you read the new stuff? Batman #1 was fantastic. Green Lantern, Nightwing, Red Hood, Red Lanterns, Animal Man, and Batwoman were all great reads too.