It was sad news to hear that Denny O’Neil passed away. He is always remembered as the guy who wrote that Green Lantern comic where the old man asks the super hero why he saves all the people of the universe but doesn’t care about the black people right on Earth. It was a lynch-pin moment when comics had to grow up.
Denny was also one of the writers who helped usher in Sword & Sorcery comics in the late 1960s. Even before Roy Thomas and Conan the Barbarian. Denny wrote the original The Adventures of the Man-God, Hercules for Charlton in 1967. He wrote under the name Sergius O’Shaugnessy.
After that three year run he went to DC and tried really hard to get a Conan-sized hit there. He wrote Nightmaster (1969) for DC Showcase #82-84 then adapted Fritz Leiber for Sword of Sorcery (February-March to October-November 1973).
Perhaps more important than writing, as editor he worked on Weird Worlds (1972-1974), Beowulf Dragonslayer (1975-1976), Hercules Unbound (1976-1977), King Conan (1983), Krull (1983), Red Sonja (1983), Wally the Wizard (1985) and The Warlord (1986). Denny wrote and edited a lot (I mean a lot) of superheroes but he always had time for another heroic fantasy comic.
His swan-song to S&S was the The Last of the Dragons, serialized in Epic Illustrated #15-20 (December 1982-october 1983), then released as a graphic novel in 1988. Written with artist Carl Potts, the story gave Denny a chance to work in a Japanese setting. It is a fitting tribute to twenty years of writing and editing S&S.
Thanks for all the great memories, Denny.
I absolutely loved BEOWULF and HERCULES UNBOUND. Such a shame that DC’s Sword and Sorcery books never had the popularity of Marvel’s. DC’s S&S books were quirkier, more eccentric in characters and story. Marvel tended to favor Conan and Conan knock-offs.
I agree. Beowulf DS was my fav. Only six issues. Still makes me cry.