The TOP 13 DENNY O’NEIL-NEAL ADAMS Stories — RANKED
It’s the late Denny O’Neil’s birthday! — UPDATED 5/3/24: The late, great Denny O’Neil was born 85 years ago, on May 3, 1939. Perfect time to reprint this piece from the late, great Neal Adams’ birthday in 2020. Dig it! — Dan — As you almost certainly know by now, Denny O’Neil — one of comics’ all-time greatest writers — died last week at 81. On a personal level, O’Neil and artist Neal Adams are my all-time favorite creative team but when the news hit, I took a step back and gave the floor to those who worked with the writer or were influenced him. You can click here for Adams’ appreciation column, a 13th Dimension EXCLUSIVE. And you can click here to read what some of the biggest names in the business had to say about O’Neil’s legacy. But in a quirk of timing, it’s Neal Adams’ 79th birthday — he was born June 15, 1941 — and so it seemed like the perfect time to look at the work of DC Comics’ Lennon and McCartney. These are among the stories that set me down a lifelong path of comics love and dedication, playing no small part in ultimately inspiring the creation of 13th Dimension. So with all that in mind, here are THE TOP 13 DENNY O’NEIL-NEAL ADAMS STORIES — RANKED. (NOTE: Dates are publication dates. Some story titles were left out for expedience’s sake. And don’t forget the wonderful contributions of inker Dick Giordano, who had a hand in a number of these selections.) — 13. Detective Comics #410. A Vow From the Grave! (April 1971). While the Green Lantern/Green Arrow series aimed for sociopolitical scope, the stories in Detective Comics tended toward intimate mysteries with an eerie bent. All things considered, the stakes are relatively low in this circus-based whodunit but the atmosphere is especially creepy and the characters, particularly boy/seal hybrid Flippy, are memorable. — 12. Green Lantern #89, …And Through Him Save a World… (April-May 1972). Perhaps the most heavy-handed of all the GL/GA stories – it features the actual crucifixion of a Christ-like figure, as well as our two heroes – it’s redeemed by the final sequence in which Green Lantern, the symbol for law and order, loses his temper and destroys a multimillion-dollar aircraft with the terse line, “Send me a bill!”...
Read more