Dan O'Neill

Dan O'Neill is an underground comix artist and writer who began his career in 1967 with a strip called 'Odd Bodkins'. Parodies of Walt Disney, like Mickey Mouse, frequently appeared in O'Neill's 'Odd Bodkins' strip. In 1971, O'Neill and several other artists, such as Bobby London and Ted Richards, produced the comic books 'Mickey Mouse meets the Air Pirates' and 'Air Pirates' number two. In short, the books were Walt Disney characters grown up, and some depicted sexual scenes.

The Disney Corporation sued O'Neill and his associates for copyright infringement. In 1975, they were found guilty and fined to $190.000 each. In Supreme Court the judgement was the same in 1979. Dan O'Neill pressed on, announcing the foundation of the Mouse Liberation Front (MLF) with a four-page Mickey strip and a fine art show depicting various Disney parodies by several artists. The huge judgement garnered him a great deal of favorable press, and in late 1979 Disney gave in. O'Neill stopped his Mouse War, and Disney dropped the fines. O'Neill has largely remained inactive in the field of comix since that time.