Robots and aliens and people slaughtering superheroes

February 22, 2010 9:37 PM

Kevin O'Neil, classic 2000ad artist, co-creator of Marshall Law, frequent colaborator with Alan Moore and the only artist ever to be outright banned by the Comics code Authority ("there’s nothing you can change — the style is unsuitable!”) talks at length in an epic interview at the comics journal: Part one, part two, part three, part four, part five.
posted by Artw (23 comments total)

Handy Bibliography
posted by Artw at 9:47 PM on February 22, 2010 [1 favorite]

2000AD cover gallery, including such classics as "I operated on my own brain!", the Ro-Buster tube-chase and "Vark!"

...oh, and it turns out he did Prog 1, which is a sort of crappy swoosh thing. Also some distinctly rubbish Go-Bots.
posted by Artw at 9:56 PM on February 22, 2010

this is pretty amazing. what was he banned by the CCA for?
posted by shmegegge at 10:20 PM on February 22, 2010

god i wish comics still looked like that.
posted by shmegegge at 10:21 PM on February 22, 2010

For EVERYTHING!
posted by Artw at 10:27 PM on February 22, 2010 [2 favorites]

I never read many comics, but Marshal Law was awesome.
posted by BrotherCaine at 10:28 PM on February 22, 2010

this is pretty amazing. what was he banned by the CCA for?

Dangerously excessive levels of sheer awesomeness.

This has been a great interview, nice post!
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:55 PM on February 22, 2010 [3 favorites]

In the Old Country we used to call that Thrillpower.
posted by Artw at 11:13 PM on February 22, 2010

Also some distinctly rubbish Go-Bots.

"Are they robots? Are they machines?"

The writer who did that cover copy must be the worst 20 Questions player ever.
posted by Strange Interlude at 12:13 AM on February 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

I love Marshall Law and Nemesis so hard.
posted by rodgerd at 12:28 AM on February 23, 2010

Oh god the Go-Bots were such shitty Transformers. I miss them.
posted by cavalier at 1:31 AM on February 23, 2010

You know, opening the 2000ad covers link, it's the first time I have read Mach Zero as spelling MACHO, despite being familiar with the strip for over 25 years of my life.

Interesting FPP.
posted by biffa at 1:43 AM on February 23, 2010

Superb interview, thanks for the link.

I loved what he said about the classic DC characters like Batman and Superman -- that when he was finally offered them he just wasn't interested any more -- and I wish the people who are interested in them would take a tip from his and Moore's work: ditch the extended runs and write discrete stories (that, y'know, start and then, a while later, end) instead of the current formless drivel from the mouth of continuity.

I mean, look at Blackest Night (mentioned in that article as the mutant descendant of Tygers). It's a huge event, spanning months and multiple titles, with death and cosmic implications and all that hoo-hah, but the only people in it who have actual personalities are the ones created specifically for the event, like Larfleeze. Because the story is so steeped in continuity, it's assumed we already know everything there is to know about Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner and so on, so they don't need fleshing out and get no lines or character moments that don't advance the plot. And a story with no bloody characters in it is a bad bloody story! I wouldn't mind if they threw out the character stuff for something interesting or fun, like Morrison does when he gets carried away, but more punching? Yay?
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 2:14 AM on February 23, 2010

Oh wow.

Some Hollywood asshole weighs in
posted by Artw at 2:30 AM on February 23, 2010

Holy shit. Whether I believe Don Murphy or "Alan Moore's bitch" Kevin O'Neil, I'm not sure I'm interested in the artistic judgment of the producer of LXG and Transformers.

Oh crap. He's involved with We3? Nooooo...
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 2:43 AM on February 23, 2010

I like how Don Murphy appears to be doing a satire on the cliched Hollywood asshole producers... I mean he can't be serious?
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:46 AM on February 23, 2010

I do like his pimp hat, though
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:13 AM on February 23, 2010

TBH I feel a little dirty having sullied my own FPP by posting that.
posted by Artw at 3:33 AM on February 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

Yes, yes yes YES! Yes.
posted by The Whelk at 6:12 AM on February 23, 2010

As a kid, I remember seeing old back-issues of 2000 AD in the comic store, and knowing the covers were so grotesque that my parents would never let me buy them. I was always really jealous of how depraved and scary the books for British kids were.
posted by Jon_Evil at 9:06 AM on February 23, 2010

Kevin O'Neill work is everywhere, once you develop an eye for it. He's simultaneously the most gratuitous T&A comic artist, and the least erotic. In fact, while he ticks off on every box on the the list, his style is anti-erotic. Nothing has made me agree with the 1954 CAA's philosophical position more than reading his stuff.

_{Other than you know, the whole fascist censorship thing.}
posted by clarknova at 9:10 AM on February 23, 2010

I like how Don Murphy appears to be doing a satire on the cliched Hollywood asshole producers... I mean he can't be serious?

It took me a while to remember why that name rang a bell.

*Prepares some zingers, polishes that script about serial killer robot that has both Hitler and Stalin's brains and travels forward in time so that it can invent itself and then send itself back, only to travel forward in time so that it can invent itself and then send itself back...*
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 9:21 AM on February 23, 2010

I love Kev O'neill's stuff. great post.
posted by Miles Long at 6:01 PM on February 23, 2010