Comic artist Kevin O'Neill has died at the age of 65 of an unnamed illness, according to a blog post from London-based comic book retailer Gosh Comics.
O'Neill was best known for co-creating The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen alongside writer Alan Moore in 1999, which brings together characters from across different eras of literature. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen ran for six volumes, including a film adaptation that was rife with legal challenges from Moore and O'Neill themselves.
But O'Neill's career began long before that in the early '70s, working on fanzines and children's humor comics before breaking into the long-running British anthology comic magazine 2000 AD at its inception.
Though he began his career as a cover artist, O'Neill quickly moved to drawing interior stories featuring characters such as Tharg the Mighty, Ro-Busters, and his popular co-creation Marshall Law.
This led to one of O'Neill's first major works in the magazine, Nemesis the Warlock. Created alongside writer Pat Mills, Nemesis the Warlock was a brutally violent fantasy story that rivaled Judge Dredd in scope and popularity - though the nature of O'Neill's lurid, highly detailed art led British censors to occasionally balk at the content of Nemesis stories.
O'Neill's style led to his massive popularity among readers but continued to court controversy when he began working for US publishers. The Comics Code Authority even refused to publish one Green Lantern story he created with writer Alan Moore, stating his entire art style was objectionable.
O'Neill refused to compromise his art style, going on to co-create his biggest work, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which was ironically initially published by DC before moving to Top Shelf Comics, who posted the following message in response to the news of O'Neill's passing:
We are heartbroken at this news. Kevin O'Neill's talent was monumental and his imagination was truly extraordinary. He could draw anything, in any style, yet always be unmistakably himself. We join the global comics community in mourning his loss and treasuring his memory. https://t.co/WEJUh7mCqjNovember 7, 2022
Knockabout Comics, the UK publisher of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, also offered their condolensces:
Kevin O'Neill 1953 - 2022One of the best British comics artists, Kevin O’Neill died last week after a long illness.Condolences to Kevin's family.November 7, 2022
O'Neill's final work was also alongside Moore, with the artist having created several pages for Moore's Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic for Top Shelf.
