In addition to working as an editor for publishers like Milestone and Valiant Entertainment, veteran creator Joseph P. Illidge worked with the late, celebrated Denny O'Neil editing DC's line of Batman comics during the landmark No Man's Land crossover event. As the Dark Knight led Gotham out of the aftermath of an earthquake to rebuild, the event saw the introduction of new characters, some of whom -- as revealed by Illidge -- O'Neil had to fight hard to include.
In an interview with CBR, Illidge reflects on his time working directly with O'Neil and how he had helped to shape the continuing Batman mythos as an editor.
CBR: The community has just lost Denny. I was wondering if you could speak on his life and legacy and his impact on your own life.
Joseph P. Illidge: I think, if I was just going to speak from my own experience, Denny O'Neil was a gentleman, and he was a leader, and he led by being a good person and trusting the people that he hired to do the best job. He inspired loyalty and -- under his time as Batman group editor -- he created an environment that allowed people to be experimental, allowed us to take chances and there were no dividing lines. There were no issues of race or age or gender. He wanted people to bring their experiences to the table and to take chances for the interest of the best stories and he will be sorely missed. He was the last of that generation of editorial mentors and that generation of editors who were just as gifted in writing as they were in editing.
I was wondering if you could speak to any specific memories working with him at DC on the Batman line.
When I came in, it was right at the beginning of No Man's Land, and No Man's Land was a ground-breaking kind of event. It broke a lot of rules; it took a lot of risks, Denny fought for it to be approved by the higher powers and, eventually, we had to start planning what the Batman Universe was going to look like after No Man's Land. And one of the things that we did within No Man's Land was the creation of Cassandra Cain, an Asian Batgirl.
And I can tell you that upper management was not keen on the idea of a Batgirl who was not white, and Denny fought for that because we all believed in it. So, he fought for Cassandra Cain to be Batgirl, and they did it. That's the thing, he was the person who fought for ground-breaking stories and groundbreaking ideas. From what I was told, he had to fight for No Man's Land to happen and, once it got underway, it became such a big event for DC Comics -- not only from a content standpoint but from a financial standpoint -- that different writers would suddenly start writing us saying "Hey, can we reintroduce this old character to the DC Universe through No Man's Land?" and other editorial offices said, "Could we have a crossover with No Man's Land?"
So, he was the kind of person who had foresight, and people would get to his level of thinking later.
Was that how Harley Quinn was introduced during Cataclysm and No Man's Land?
Well, Harley Quinn was introduced through No Man's Land, specifically, in a one-shot called Batman: Harley Quinn. And that was actually, from what I remember, something that the higher-ups didn't have a problem with. We just really had to work with, I think, Paul Dini, Bruce Timm and WB Animation to just figure out how that transition would work. But I don't think that came with a lot of resistance.