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The Perils of Captain Mighty and the Redemption of Danny the Kid
“Denny helped to lift comics out of the category of ‘little kid stuff’ and endow them with substance and intelligence.” -- Stan Lee
“Denny O’Neil has crafted a heartbreaking epic about life, love, personal demons and the power of imagination - a two-faced whirlwind that has the power to torment us and also, paradoxically, the power to set us free.” -- David S. Goyer Co-writer of the Dark Knight Trilogy and Man of Steel
“A shadow autobiography as soaked in brightly costumed super-heroics as it’s shaded by the grays of a turbulent, mid-century America.” -- Patton Oswald, Writer, Actor, Stand-up Comic
“Denny shaped comics and the popular culture for a generation with his sharp-edged storytelling, and his ambition to make characters like Batman deeply human...and complexly flawed. The writers and filmmakers he’s influenced would fill a stadium, not just a writing class.” -- Paul Levitz, Former president of DC Comics, author of 75 Years of DC The Art of Modern Mythmaking
Danny O’Boyle is drinking himself to death by inches when he lucks into a job with a comic book publisher and begins an odyssey from a New York ghetto to a black hole in deep space.
It is the Sixties, when popular culture is responding to the upheavals of angry and restless young people and when comics, that most despised medium, begins its ascent into respectability. Danny is there for all of it.
The Perils of Captain Mighty and the Redemption of Danny the Kid has two other stories to tell, and here it bows to magical realism. Two of Danny’s fictional creations acquire lives of their own. One is Captain Mighty, whose evolution from imaginary friend to galaxy-hopping hero parallels the evolution of comic-book superheroes. The other is Captain Power’s opposite, Mr. Gnarly, an angry troll apparently doomed to wander, cold and lonely, in some vast underground.
The adventures of Captain Mighty and Mr. Gnarly are interwoven with Danny’s story in The Perils of Captain Mighty and the Redemption of Danny the Kid—a novel unlike anything you’ve ever read.
“Denny O’Neil has crafted a heartbreaking epic about life, love, personal demons and the power of imagination - a two-faced whirlwind that has the power to torment us and also, paradoxically, the power to set us free.” -- David S. Goyer Co-writer of the Dark Knight Trilogy and Man of Steel
“A shadow autobiography as soaked in brightly costumed super-heroics as it’s shaded by the grays of a turbulent, mid-century America.” -- Patton Oswald, Writer, Actor, Stand-up Comic
“Denny shaped comics and the popular culture for a generation with his sharp-edged storytelling, and his ambition to make characters like Batman deeply human...and complexly flawed. The writers and filmmakers he’s influenced would fill a stadium, not just a writing class.” -- Paul Levitz, Former president of DC Comics, author of 75 Years of DC The Art of Modern Mythmaking
Danny O’Boyle is drinking himself to death by inches when he lucks into a job with a comic book publisher and begins an odyssey from a New York ghetto to a black hole in deep space.
It is the Sixties, when popular culture is responding to the upheavals of angry and restless young people and when comics, that most despised medium, begins its ascent into respectability. Danny is there for all of it.
The Perils of Captain Mighty and the Redemption of Danny the Kid has two other stories to tell, and here it bows to magical realism. Two of Danny’s fictional creations acquire lives of their own. One is Captain Mighty, whose evolution from imaginary friend to galaxy-hopping hero parallels the evolution of comic-book superheroes. The other is Captain Power’s opposite, Mr. Gnarly, an angry troll apparently doomed to wander, cold and lonely, in some vast underground.
The adventures of Captain Mighty and Mr. Gnarly are interwoven with Danny’s story in The Perils of Captain Mighty and the Redemption of Danny the Kid—a novel unlike anything you’ve ever read.
340 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 23, 2017
7 people are currently reading
17 people want to read
About the author
Dennis O'Neil
1,756 books276 followers
Dennis "Denny" O'Neil
was a comic book writer and editor best known for his work for Marvel Comics and DC Comics from the 1960s through the 1990s, and Group Editor for the Batman family of titles until his retirement.
His best-known works include Green Lantern/Green Arrow and Batman with Neal Adams, The Shadow with Michael Kaluta and The Question with Denys Cowan. As an editor, he is principally known for editing the various Batman titles. From 2013 unti his death, he sat on the board of directors of the charity The Hero Initiative and served on its Disbursement Committee.
His best-known works include Green Lantern/Green Arrow and Batman with Neal Adams, The Shadow with Michael Kaluta and The Question with Denys Cowan. As an editor, he is principally known for editing the various Batman titles. From 2013 unti his death, he sat on the board of directors of the charity The Hero Initiative and served on its Disbursement Committee.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 6, 2017
Denny has been often encouraged to write a memoir but chose instead to pen a Roman à clef about Danny O'Boyle, a St. Louis kid who seemed to meander through life until adulthood when his interest in writing propelled him first to journalism then writing comic books. Along the way, he loved women but destroyed many relationships thanks to alcoholism, which haunted him for decades. The novel is told chronologically with additional layers: interstitials set in different periods with the narrator reflecting on that portion of his life and the adventures of Captain Mighty, who seems to reflect on the events of the writer with absurd super-hero and science fiction overtones.
The book adds the fictitious American Comics alongside DC and Marvel, with Denny's Charlton life totally ignored so Danny goes to work as an editor at AC and creates Captain Mighty for a man who dresses like Dick Giordano and acts like Jim Shooter.
For those looking to find Denny criticizing the editors and collaborators through the years, you won't find that here. You will find the story of a young boy who seems bewildered or bored by the world he inhabits, with parents who never seem to prepare him for the world, just unceremoniously take him to church or school with no real context provided. His father comes across as far more sympathetic than his mother, who is loving but distant.
The story seems to end around 1980, as American Comics has vanished and Danny is left to write for Julie Schwartz at DC and struggles to remain sober in order to rebuild his life.
The writing is straight-forward and interested although the Captain Mighty passages grew tedious over time. I wish whoever edited this for Denny demonstrated a greater understanding of comics history so events lined up better and didn't jar long-time members of the comics community.
A good, solid, entertaining read but I think I would have preferred the memoir.
The book adds the fictitious American Comics alongside DC and Marvel, with Denny's Charlton life totally ignored so Danny goes to work as an editor at AC and creates Captain Mighty for a man who dresses like Dick Giordano and acts like Jim Shooter.
For those looking to find Denny criticizing the editors and collaborators through the years, you won't find that here. You will find the story of a young boy who seems bewildered or bored by the world he inhabits, with parents who never seem to prepare him for the world, just unceremoniously take him to church or school with no real context provided. His father comes across as far more sympathetic than his mother, who is loving but distant.
The story seems to end around 1980, as American Comics has vanished and Danny is left to write for Julie Schwartz at DC and struggles to remain sober in order to rebuild his life.
The writing is straight-forward and interested although the Captain Mighty passages grew tedious over time. I wish whoever edited this for Denny demonstrated a greater understanding of comics history so events lined up better and didn't jar long-time members of the comics community.
A good, solid, entertaining read but I think I would have preferred the memoir.
Displaying 1 of 1 review