Dan O'Neill (born April 21, 1942) is an American underground cartoonist, creator of the syndicated comic strip Odd Bodkins and founder of the underground comics collective the Air Pirates. April 21 is the 111th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (112th in leap years). ... Year 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ... Cartoonist Jack Elrod at work. ... This article is about the comic strip, the sequential art form as published in newspapers and on the Internet. ... The term underground comics or comix describes the self-published or small press comic books that sprang up in the US in the late 1960s. ... The Air Pirates were a group of cartoonists who created two issues of an underground comic called Air Pirates Funnies in 1971. ...

Odd Bodkins

Odd Bodkins began its run in 1964 in the San Francisco Chronicle 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." 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ... Todays San Francisco Chronicle was founded in 1865 as The Daily Dramatic Chronicle by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

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. (O'neill's strip must have been re-instated again, since I have in my hands a copy of a cartoon, now called, "O'neill", from the Chronicle, dated April 19,1981.) Copyright symbol Copyright is a set of exclusive rights regulating the use of a particular expression of an idea or information. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... For the company founded by Disney, see The Walt Disney Company. ... Mickey Mouse is an Academy Award-winning comic animal cartoon character who has become an icon for The Walt Disney Company. ... Pluto Pluto is a fictional character made famous in a series of Disney short cartoons. ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday. ...

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. 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ...

Air Pirates and Disney lawsuit

Main article: Air Pirates

Air Pirates Funnies #1 (July, 1971).

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 London, 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. The Air Pirates were a group of cartoonists who created two issues of an underground comic called Air Pirates Funnies in 1971. ... Image File history File links Airpirates. ... Image File history File links Airpirates. ... 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday. ... Bobby London (1950 - ) is an underground comix and mainstream comics artist. ... Gary Hallgren (born October 28, 1945) is an American illustrator and underground cartoonist. ... Shary Flenniken is an American cartoonist who, after joining the burgeoning underground comics movement in the early 1970s, became a prominent contributor to National Lampoon and edited the magazine for two years. ... The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) is one of the largest media and entertainment corporations in the world. ...

Ironically, O'Neill would sue 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. Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 film produced by Amblin Entertainment and The Walt Disney Company (on its Touchstone Pictures banner), combining animation and live action. ...

Other work

In the midst of the lawsuit, O'Neill travelled to Ireland 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. Wounded Knee is a census-designated place located in Shannon County, South Dakota. ... Official language(s) English Capital Pierre Largest city Sioux Falls Area  Ranked 17th  - Total 77,163 sq mi (199,905 km²)  - Width 210 miles (340 km)  - Length 380 miles (610 km)  - % water 1. ... This article is about the historical army of the self-proclaimed Irish Republic (1919–1922) which fought in the Irish War of Independence 1919-21, and the Irish Civil War 1922-23. ... AIM logo AIM flag The American Indian Movement (AIM), is a Native American activist organization in the United States. ... The Yellow Kid Mickey Dugan, better known as The Yellow Kid, was the lead fictional character in Hogans Alley, one of the first comic strips and one of the very first to be printed in color. ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ...

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. January 1973 cover of National Lampoon National Lampoon was an American humor magazine that began in 1970 as an offshoot of the Harvard Lampoon. ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

He currently lives in Nevada City, California, where he continues to draw Odd Bodkins and is a director in the Original Sixteen to One gold mine. Nevada City is the county seat of Nevada County, California, USA, 166 miles (267 km) northeast of San Francisco. ...

Bibliography

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

Collections

• Buy This Odd Bodkins Book
• Hear the Sound of My Feet Walking, Drown the Sound of My Voice Talking
• The Collective Unconscience of Odd Bodkins
• The Log of the Irish Navy
• Farewell to the Gipper

External links

• Dan O'Neill Comics
• Disney vs the Air Pirates
• Original Sixteen to One Mine, Inc.