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Monday, November 07, 2022

Kevin O'Neill, R.I.P.


Sad to note the passing of Kevin O'Neill, comic book artist known in these parts for Nemesis the Warlock, Marshal Law and The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, 

First, here's a cross-section of his career in covers:


Now a random look at some interior pages:
Obviously THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN has been his major work for the last two decades, with six volumes in collaboration with Alan Moore.  An interesting series, with O'Neill called upon to do some almost impossible things a few times every issue, and managing to make it look easy.


He did a few stories featuring the character Lobo, the most notable being LOBO CONVENTION SPECIAL #1 [1993] with Keith Giffen (Lobo co-creator with Roger Slifer) and Alan Grant.  

Here's a nice oddity, O'Neill inking a Jack Kirby page, featuring an obscure SHIELD villain of Kirby's creation.


A pair of pages for DC featuring their classic characters.  The Batman splash is an interesting design, and the Bizarro page from WHO'S WHO has some funny stuff in the background.  Rather famously, Alan Moore once talked about a proposal for a Bizarro series he wanted to do with O'Neill, which never came to pass (O'Neill did eventually do a short story with another writer).


Here's a promo piece for another of his major works, Nemesis the Warlock with writer Pat Mills.  Always thought it was a shame O'Neill wasn't able to draw more of the series, though the other artists (especially Bryan Talbot) did a good job carrying on in the world he designed. Definitely my favourite series to come out of 2000 AD.
Here's a nice charity piece he did for AARGH [1988], an anthology inspired by some homophobic laws being passed in the UK in that era.



O'Neill came in a few times on the OMEGA MEN series created by Joe Staton and Marv Wolfman.  The short story "Brief Lives" is an early collaboration with Alan Moore, and a cute story, while the other page is from a Marv Wolfman story, nicely realizing a nightmare alien world.
MARSHAL LAW is another major work, again in collaboration with Pat Mills, starting with an Epic series in 1987 and continuing through various publishers and crossovers for years after. I think that was the first place I saw his work.  A great series, always outrageous, frequently funny and a must read.

Another Alan Moore collaboration was "Tygers", a Green Lantern story featuring Abin Sur (created by Gil Kane and John Broome) which had more ideas per page than a lot of creators come up with in their careers.




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