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==Career== ===Early career=== O'Neill began working for the publishing company [[IPC Media|IPC]] at the age of 16 as an office boy for ''[[Buster (comic)|Buster]]'', which was a children's humour title. In 1972 he published two issues of the fanzine ''World of Comics''. In 1975 he started publishing, as a personal side project, the fanzine ''Just Imagine: The Journal of Film and Television Special Effects'' which lasted five regular issues and one special issue through 1978. By 1976 he was working as a colourist on [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]] comics reprints and British children's comics such as ''[[Monster Fun]]'' and ''[[Whizzer and Chips]]''. {{citation needed|date=November 2013}} Tired of working on children's humour titles, he heard that a new science fiction title was being put together at IPC and went to see [[Pat Mills]] and asked to be transferred to the new comic which was to be called ''[[2000 AD (comics)|2000 AD]]''.{{fact|date=November 2022}} ===''2000 AD''=== O'Neill initially provided art for pin-ups and covers, including the centre image of [[Tharg the Mighty|Tharg]] on the cover of the first issue of ''2000AD'', [[bodging]] and introducing creator credits.<ref>[https://www.millsverse.com/an-act-of-rebellion/ Millsverse: An Act of Rebellion]</ref> After a period of being nurtured by Mills, he eventually started branching out drawing short ''[[Tharg the Mighty]]'' strips, ''[[Future Shocks]]'' and various humorous short stories. However it was not until he started work on ''[[Ro-Busters]]'' (with Pat Mills as writer) in ''2000AD'' issue 88 that O'Neill started work on his first major ongoing strip for the title. O'Neill's quirky and unusual work on ''Ro-Busters'' proved popular and helped establish him as a major ''2000AD'' creator, as well as establishing what would become a long series of collaborations with writer Pat Mills. Mills and O'Neill's next major work was a one-off story called ''Terror Tube'' in issue 167 which was said to be inspired by the song ''[[Going Underground]]'' by [[The Jam]]. However the story was a reaction against IPC objecting to a long chase sequence in ''Ro-Busters'', so the pair created a six-page story which consisted entirely of an extended chase sequence between the hordes of the villainous Torquemada and a mysterious character called ''[[Nemesis the Warlock|Nemesis]]''.{{citation needed|date=May 2013}} The story proved popular and the pair followed ''Terror Tube'' up with a two part story featuring Nemesis called ''Killer Watt''. This proved to be even more popular and by now O'Neill's grotesque style was winning over more and more fans who also wanted to see more of Nemesis. In issue 222 they would get their wish with the first book of an ongoing ''[[Nemesis the Warlock]]'' series. The strip would eventually rival [[Judge Dredd]] in terms of popularity but O'Neill's art would get him into trouble with IPC's censors who considered his work too violent and disturbing. However O'Neill was one of ''2000AD'''s most popular artists and would not only continue working on ''Nemesis the Warlock'', but would provide art for ''[[ABC Warriors|The ABC Warriors]]'' and even ''Judge Dredd''. It was with ''Nemesis the Warlock'' that O'Neill would spend most of his time working on for much of the early 1980s, but O'Neill was suffering from financial difficulties and decided to take offers of work from [[DC Comics]]. This meant stopping work upon ''Nemesis'' and becoming freelance, although he would return for the occasional one-off episode of Nemesis and provide other work for ''2000AD''. The story "Shok!" (created with [[Steve MacManus]] for ''Judge Dredd Annual 1981'') was involved in controversy when it was realised that it was the basis of [[Richard Stanley (film director)|Richard Stanley]]'s 1990 film ''[[Hardware (film)|Hardware]]''. Only after a court case, which Stanley lost, were the two given writing credits on the film. ''Hardware'' is now considered the first ''2000 AD'' story to be adapted into film.<ref>[http://www.2000adonline.com/?zone=spinoff&page=films 2000AD Online β spinoff zone<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080304120307/http://www.2000adonline.com/?zone=spinoff&page=films |date= 4 March 2008 }}</ref> ===DC Comics and the Comics Code Authority=== O'Neill had drawn several fill-in issues and short stories for titles such as ''[[Omega Men|The Omega Men]]'', but his first major work for DC was a story written by [[Alan Moore]] for the ''[[Green Lantern|Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Annual]]'' No. 2 in 1986. The [[Comics Code Authority]] objected to O'Neill's art. When DC asked what was wrong and if anything could be changed (the story featured scenes of a crucifixion) to get approval, the Authority replied that it was O'Neill's entire style they found objectionable.<ref>{{cite web |title = Barbelith: Comic Books: Kevin O'Neill (Part Two) |url = http://www.barbelith.com/cgi-bin/articles/00000019.shtml |access-date = 13 November 2008 |archive-date = 10 September 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150910121129/http://www.barbelith.com/cgi-bin/articles/00000019.shtml |url-status = dead }}</ref> DC pointed out that his art had been passed previously but the Authority stuck by their decision. DC decided to print the comic without the Comics Code Authority stamp. The short story has established continuity points in the [[DC Universe]] on which the 2009 storyline "[[Blackest Night]]" was based.{{fact|date=November 2022}} 1986 also saw the release of the [[graphic novel]] ''[[Metalzoic]]'' by the team of Mills and O'Neill. This was highly acclaimed and one of the first creator owned stories published by DC. The story was reprinted in ''2000AD'' later the same year. ===''Marshal Law''=== Mills and O'Neill created a six issue mini-series for [[Epic Comics]] called ''[[Marshal Law (comics)|Marshal Law]]'' which would be their take on [[superhero]]es. Although the series sold well, Epic received several complaints about the art, as well as forcing Mills and O'Neill to change the characters in the ''Marshal Law Takes Manhattan'' one-shot from the familiar [[Marvel Comics]] characters as they intended to use to thinly disguised duplicates of heroes such as [[Captain America]], [[Spider-Man]] and The [[Punisher]].{{fact|date=November 2022}} The pair decided to take ''Marshal Law'' from Epic to the newly formed [[Apocalypse Ltd|Apocalypse Comics]] for a one-off special (featuring a satire on the [[Batman]] character) before launching a new weekly comic titled ''[[Toxic!]]'' with Marshal Law as its flagship character. ''Toxic!'' was an attempt to take on and even rival ''2000AD'' but although the title initially sold well, it suffered from stories missing issues, including ''Marshal Law'' which was left incomplete during a story. After 31 issues the title was cancelled and Apocalypse Comics went bankrupt shortly afterward.{{fact|date=November 2022}} After this Mills and O'Neill took ''Marshal Law'' to [[Dark Horse Comics]] where the story started in ''Toxic!'' was completed. Dark Horse also published several mini-series featuring Marshal Law, and Epic Comics published a two issue series pitting the character against [[Clive Barker]]'s [[Pinhead (Hellraiser)|Pinhead]] character. The character then appeared on the [[Cool Beans World]] website in a series of illustrated novellas, but since the site closed in 2002, Marshal Law has been in limbo since, with the exception of one appearance in ''2000AD''. In 2008, [[Top Shelf Productions]] announced plans to publish a complete ''Marshal Law Omnibus'' in 2009.{{fact|date=November 2022}} ===''The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen''=== In 1999 O'Neill teamed up with Alan Moore for a six issue series for [[America's Best Comics (DC)|America's Best Comics]] called ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]''. This teamed up various characters in [[Victorian era|Victorian]] literature such as [[Captain Nemo]], [[Allan Quatermain]] and [[Dr. Jekyll]]. The title was a huge success and was followed by a second six issue series which again proved successful but issue five was recalled by [[Paul Levitz]] due to a real advert for a Victorian "Marvel Douche"<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080117224142/http://www.tcj.com/264/n_cbldf.html Where Do New CBLDF Board Members Paul Levitz and Steve Geppi Stand on the First Amendment?], ''[[The Comics Journal]]'' No. 264, 24 November 2004</ref> due to him not wishing to offend Marvel Comics.{{fact|date=November 2022}} The [[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (film)|film version]] of ''League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'' was released in 2003. The film was critically mauled and both Moore and O'Neill disowned it. After a legal dispute where it was alleged the film was plagiarised by 20th Century Fox and that Fox solicited the idea for Moore and O'Neill's comic as a smokescreen, the pair have taken the third volume of ''League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'' and its ''Nemo'' spinoffs to [[Knockabout Comics]] and [[Top Shelf Productions]]<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/interview-kevin-oneill-reveals-the-secrets-of-the-league-of-extraordinary-gentlemen-and-marshal-law-tshlw9fnj58|title=Interview: Kevin O'Neill reveals the secrets of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Marshal Law|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110616193731/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/fiction/article5767132.ece|archive-date=16 June 2011|last=Vaughan|first=Owen|date=25 February 2009|url-status=live|work=[[The Times]]}}</ref><ref>[http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=20197 Extraordinary Gentleman: Kevin O'Neill on "Century: 1910"], [[Comic Book Resources]], 26 February 2009</ref> due both to Moore feeling insulted by the lack of support from [[20th Century Fox]] and DC comics in the lawsuit, and also Warner Bros.' failure to retract false claims of Moore's endorsement of the [[V for Vendetta (film)|''V for Vendetta'' film adaptation]].{{fact|date=November 2022}} ===Later work=== O'Neill drew the final ''Nemesis the Warlock'' story in the special ''Prog 2000'' millennium edition of ''2000AD'' in 1999. Apart from this and his work on ''League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'', he worked on short strips for ''[[Negative Burn]]'' published by [[Caliber Comics]]. The DVD of the 2003 documentary feature film ''[[The Mindscape of Alan Moore]]'' contains an exclusive bonus interview with Kevin O'Neill, elaborately detailing the collaboration with Alan Moore''.'' O'Neill talks about ''League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century'', his run-ins with the censors and the status of the ''Marshal Law'' movie in an interview with ''The Times''. His 2009 work includes ''The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century'', the third ''League'' limited series, the first issue of which was released in May 2009. O'Neill was a contributor to Alan Moore's bi-monthly magazine, ''[[Dodgem Logic]]'', which ran from January 2010 to April 2011.<ref name=cvine>{{cite web | url=http://www.comicvine.com/dodgem-logic/4050-37489/ |title = Dodgem Logic (Volume) | work=Comic Vine |access-date = 10 November 2020}}</ref> In 2017 he co-wrote the novel ''Serial Killer'' with Pat Mills. In a March 2021 podcast O'Neill revealed that he had completed eight pages of comics for Alan Moore's ''[[The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic|Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic]]'' for Top Shelf, as well as a cover illustration and design work for the ''Cinema Purgatorio'' collected edition.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://soundcloud.com/2000-ad/kevin-oneill-part-two|publisher= The 2000 AD Thrill-Cast Lockdown Tapes|title=Kevin O'Neill, part two|date=March 2021|accessdate=12 January 2022}}</ref>
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