CBR: Denny O'Neil Travels Back, Looks Forward

[CBR News]

Legendary writer and editor Denny O'Neil spoke with CBR about his DC Retroactive books the changes in comics he's witnessed over five decades, the creation of Ra's al Ghul and more


Full article here.

[gwangung]

The truth is that everything has to evolve or it dies. That's the trick that Julie Schwartz taught us. You keep the essence of the character intact. Flash is the fastest guy in the world. Green Lantern has this magic/scientific ring. Batman is obsessed because of a childhood tragedy. But you have to let everything else change to reflect what's outside your window, or the stuff becomes dated and it has nothing to say to contemporary readers.

Heh. To a certain extent, runs counter to a strain of fandom that exists in both readers and creators.

[saidestroyer]

I don't know why Denny is so worried. He's a legend, and legends live forever.

[SJNeal]

I love this guy; one of the greats, and always an entertaining interview.

However the less said about his Wonder Woman run (including the awful "Retroactive" one-shot) the better.

[Sijo]

A creator I've always respected, and after reading the interview, even more so; I completely agreed with what he said (well, I think the whole "Hal Jordan going Evil" thing was completely senseless, but not because I had anything against change or Kyle, I just think it wasn't written well) especially the parts about respecting other writers work but changing it when needed.

Also, glad to see he's doing well "for an old fart" as he says.