Dennis O’Neil: Son of Naughty Words

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:

    As they sang on SCRUBS, everything comes down to poo.

  2. Ed says:

    The “punch” of the words are clearly in how they are used. For example, I have a good friend who was a missionary in Africa and where we might say, “I have to visit the boy’s room,” the African Christian’s are more blunt in “I have to take a…” well you know the rest. The point is, the word is utilitarian to them. On the other hand, they well recognize when a person is profane, disrespectful, or deliberately provocative. Also, along with the dumbing down of education, we also see a similar dumbing down of conversation. The modifier you refer to can so dominate the sentences of some that creativity has simply departed the scene. My Montana cowboy father (who schooled me very well) never uttered a profanity in his adult life. Neither, however, was his conversation dull or “colorless.” When I was helping him load cattle on a Spring day, the beast before him cut loose with green liquid. He struggled with his conversation for a minute, before simply stating, “you dirty dog!”