Dan O'Neill
Encyclopedia
Dan O'Neill is an American
underground cartoonist
, creator of the syndicated comic strip
Odd Bodkins and founder of the underground comics collective the Air Pirates
.
when O'Neill was 21 years old. The strip consisted of the adventures of Hugh and Fred the Bird. During the course of the strip's run, it increasingly reflected O'Neill's life in and his critique of 1960s counterculture
. Though he considered himself a strong writer, O'Neill said of his artwork, "I had a very weak line. Either that or palsy
."
As Odd Bodkins became increasingly political, O'Neill feared that the Chronicle, which held the strip's copyright
, would fire him and hire another artist. The Chronicle had axed Odd Bodkins a few times already, but it had been reinstated following reader protests. O'Neill decided on an odd tactic to regain control of his strip: he would engage in copyright infringement
, which he reasoned would force the paper to surrender the strip's copyright back to him for fear of being sued. O'Neill worked 28 Walt Disney
characters, including Mickey Mouse
and Pluto, into the strip. In late November 1970, the Chronicle fired O'Neill for the final time but did not continue to run the strip.
In 1972, during O'Neill's legal battles with Disney over Air Pirates Funnies, the Chronicle finally transferred the copyright of Odd Bodkins back to O'Neill.
, Gary Hallgren, Shary Flenniken
and Ted Richards
. Their two-issue series Air Pirates Funnies included parodies of Mickey Mouse and other copyrighted characters, which led to a famous lawsuit by The Walt Disney Company
. O'Neill took the lead in fighting the suit, promoting it as a free-speech case in his "Mouse Liberation Front" campaign. He and Richards were the last Air Pirates to settle with Disney after a long, highly publicized and expensive legal battle.
O'Neill sued Disney years later when it released their motion picture Who Framed Roger Rabbit
, claiming that Disney had stolen his character, a drug-dealing rabbit named Roger, who appeared in a few pages in the underground magazine The Realist
and was reprinted in The Tortoise and the Hare. The suit was eventually dropped.
and Wounded Knee, South Dakota
, where he pioneered the genre of comic strip journalism with The Penny-Ante Republican, a four-page, single-sheet comic which sold for one cent, and which told stories of O'Neill's experiences with the Irish Republican Army
and the American Indian Movement
. For this work, the 11th international Congress of Cartoonists and Animators would present him with the Yellow Kid
Award in 1976.
O'Neill later drew a short-lived, full color strip for the National Lampoon about the adventures of the Bat-winged Hamburger Snatcher, and returned to the Chronicle with a weekly strip, titled simply O'Neill, which ran from 1980 to 1985. The final year of O'Neill was reprinted in Comics Revue
.
Dan O'Neill was one of twenty-two artists and writers featured in Comic Book Confidential a feature-length documentary. He was interviewed while playing pool next to two scantily clad female strippers and self describes his career as "if you're going down in flames you might as well hit something big."
In 2008, he appeared in the documentary film RiP!: A Remix Manifesto
, which discussed the negative effects of copyright laws. O'Neill stated that he made of Disney in large part because they were the worst at using lawsuits to stifle parodies, spoofs, and other fair use
commentaries.
, where he continues to draw Odd Bodkins and is a director in the Original Sixteen to One gold mine. He attended the University of San Francisco
, making contributions to the Foghorn
, the school newspaper.
People of the United States
The people of the United States, also known as simply Americans or American people, are the inhabitants or citizens of the United States. The United States is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...
underground cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
, creator of the syndicated comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
Odd Bodkins and founder of the underground comics collective the Air Pirates
Air Pirates
The Air Pirates were a group of cartoonists who created two issues of an underground comic called Air Pirates Funnies in 1971, leading to a famous lawsuit by The Walt Disney Company...
.
Odd Bodkins
Odd Bodkins began its run in 1964 in the San Francisco ChronicleSan Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
when O'Neill was 21 years old. The strip consisted of the adventures of Hugh and Fred the Bird. During the course of the strip's run, it increasingly reflected O'Neill's life in and his critique of 1960s counterculture
Counterculture
Counterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition. Counterculture can also be described as a group whose behavior...
. Though he considered himself a strong writer, O'Neill said of his artwork, "I had a very weak line. Either that or palsy
Palsy
In medicine, palsy is the paralysis of a body part, often accompanied by loss of sensation and by uncontrolled body movements, such as shaking. Medical conditions involving palsy include cerebral palsy , brachial palsy , and Bell's palsy ....
."
As Odd Bodkins became increasingly political, O'Neill feared that the Chronicle, which held the strip's copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
, would fire him and hire another artist. The Chronicle had axed Odd Bodkins a few times already, but it had been reinstated following reader protests. O'Neill decided on an odd tactic to regain control of his strip: he would engage in copyright infringement
Copyright infringement
Copyright infringement is the unauthorized or prohibited use of works under copyright, infringing the copyright holder's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works.- "Piracy" :...
, which he reasoned would force the paper to surrender the strip's copyright back to him for fear of being sued. O'Neill worked 28 Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
characters, including Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
and Pluto, into the strip. In late November 1970, the Chronicle fired O'Neill for the final time but did not continue to run the strip.
In 1972, during O'Neill's legal battles with Disney over Air Pirates Funnies, the Chronicle finally transferred the copyright of Odd Bodkins back to O'Neill.
Air Pirates and Disney lawsuit
O'Neill decided to become an underground comic book mogul and gathered other young artists into a collective called the Air Pirates, whose members included Bobby LondonBobby London
Bobby London is an American underground comix and mainstream comics artist.-Biography:London created his underground newspaper comic strip Merton, in his native New York in 1969 and the raunchy Dirty Duck strip in 1971...
, Gary Hallgren, Shary Flenniken
Shary Flenniken
Shary Flenniken is an American editor-writer-illustrator and underground cartoonist. After joining the burgeoning underground comics movement in the early 1970s, she became a prominent contributor to National Lampoon and was one of the editors of the magazine for two years...
and Ted Richards
Ted Richards
Ted Richards is an Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League .He was recruited as the number 27 draft pick in the 2000 AFL Draft from Xavier College...
. Their two-issue series Air Pirates Funnies included parodies of Mickey Mouse and other copyrighted characters, which led to a famous lawsuit by The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
. O'Neill took the lead in fighting the suit, promoting it as a free-speech case in his "Mouse Liberation Front" campaign. He and Richards were the last Air Pirates to settle with Disney after a long, highly publicized and expensive legal battle.
O'Neill sued Disney years later when it released their motion picture Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 American fantasy-comedy-noir film directed by Robert Zemeckis and released by Touchstone Pictures. The film combines live action and animation, and is based on Gary K. Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, which depicts a world in which cartoon characters...
, claiming that Disney had stolen his character, a drug-dealing rabbit named Roger, who appeared in a few pages in the underground magazine The Realist
The Realist
The Realist was a pioneering magazine of "social-political-religious criticism and satire," intended as a hybrid of a grown-ups version of Mad and Lyle Stuart's anti-censorship monthly The Independent. Edited and published by Paul Krassner, and often regarded as a milestone in the American...
and was reprinted in The Tortoise and the Hare. The suit was eventually dropped.
Other work
In the midst of the lawsuit, O'Neill traveled to IrelandIreland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and Wounded Knee, South Dakota
Wounded Knee, South Dakota
Wounded Knee is a census-designated place in Shannon County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 382 at the 2010 census....
, where he pioneered the genre of comic strip journalism with The Penny-Ante Republican, a four-page, single-sheet comic which sold for one cent, and which told stories of O'Neill's experiences with the Irish Republican Army
Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...
and the American Indian Movement
American Indian Movement
The American Indian Movement is a Native American activist organization in the United States, founded in 1968 in Minneapolis, Minnesota by urban Native Americans. The national AIM agenda focuses on spirituality, leadership, and sovereignty...
. For this work, the 11th international Congress of Cartoonists and Animators would present him with the Yellow Kid
The Yellow Kid
The Yellow Kid emerged as the lead character in Hogan's Alley, drawn by Richard F. Outcault, which became one of the first Sunday supplement comic strips in an American newspaper, although its graphical layout had already been thoroughly established in political and other, purely-for-entertainment...
Award in 1976.
O'Neill later drew a short-lived, full color strip for the National Lampoon about the adventures of the Bat-winged Hamburger Snatcher, and returned to the Chronicle with a weekly strip, titled simply O'Neill, which ran from 1980 to 1985. The final year of O'Neill was reprinted in Comics Revue
Comics Revue
Comics Revue is a bi-monthly small press comic book published by Manuscript Press and edited by Rick Norwood. Don Markstein edited the publication from 1984 to 1987 and 1992 to 1996....
.
Dan O'Neill was one of twenty-two artists and writers featured in Comic Book Confidential a feature-length documentary. He was interviewed while playing pool next to two scantily clad female strippers and self describes his career as "if you're going down in flames you might as well hit something big."
In 2008, he appeared in the documentary film RiP!: A Remix Manifesto
RiP!: A Remix Manifesto
RiP!: A Remix Manifesto is a 2008 open source documentary film about "the changing concept of copyright"directed by Brett Gaylor.Created over a period of six years, the documentary film features the collaborative remix work of hundreds of people who have contributed to the Open Source Cinema...
, which discussed the negative effects of copyright laws. O'Neill stated that he made of Disney in large part because they were the worst at using lawsuits to stifle parodies, spoofs, and other fair use
Fair use
Fair use is a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work. In United States copyright law, fair use is a doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders...
commentaries.
Personal life
O'Neill currently lives in Nevada City, CaliforniaNevada City, California
-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Nevada City had a population of 3,068. The population density was 1,399.7 people per square mile . The racial makeup of Nevada City was 2,837 White, 26 African American, 28 Native American, 46 Asian, 0 Pacific Islander, 40 from other races,...
, where he continues to draw Odd Bodkins and is a director in the Original Sixteen to One gold mine. He attended the University of San Francisco
University of San Francisco
The University of San Francisco , is a private, Jesuit/Catholic university located in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1855, USF was established as the first university in San Francisco. It is the second oldest institution for higher learning in California and the tenth-oldest university of...
, making contributions to the Foghorn
Foghorn
A foghorn or fog signal or fog bell is a device that uses sound to warn vehicles of hazards or boats of the presence of other vehicles in foggy conditions. The term is most often used in relation to marine transport...
, the school newspaper.
Comic books
- Dan O'Neill's Comics and Stories Vol. 1, No. 1, 1971
- Dan O'Neill's Comics and Stories Vol. 1, No. 2, 1971
- Dan O'Neill's Comics and Stories Vol. 1, No. 3, 1971
- Dan O'Neill's Comics and Stories Vol. 2, No. 1, 1975
- Dan O'Neill's Comics and Stories Vol. 2, No. 2, 1975
- Air Pirates Funnies Vol. 1, No. 1, July 1971
- Air Pirates Funnies Vol. 1, No. 2, August 1971
- The Tortoise and the Hare No. 1, October 1971
- Air Pirates Funnies tabloid, July 1972
- The Three Little Pigs(1971 one-shot, part of the Air Pirates campaign)
- COG (1998) Smaller than "digest sizeDigest sizeDigest size is a magazine size, smaller than a conventional or "journal size" magazine but larger than a standard paperback book, approximately 5½ x 8¼ inches, but can also be 5⅜ x 8⅜ inches and 5½ x 7½ inches. These sizes have evolved from the printing press operation end...
" comic with single story
Collections
- Buy This Odd Bodkins Book
- Hear the Sound of My Feet Walking.. Drown the Sound of My Voice Talking..
- The Collective of Odd Bodkins
- The Log of the Irish Navy
- Farewell to the Gipper
External links
- Disney vs the Air Pirates
- Original Sixteen to One Mine, Inc.
- RiP! A Remix Manifesto (Chapter 8) O'Neill talks about Air Pirates in the Brett Gaylor's documentary