Dennis O'Neil's The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics provides the basic groundwork for anyone interested in learning how to write a comic or simply looking to understand a bit more about the technical aspects of comic book storytelling.This book is highly similar to Scott McCloud's Guide to Understanding Comics but perhaps less idiosyncratic and more easily understood in that it is contextualized by examples from DC Continuity.
O'Neil's writing style is personal and at times quite humorous. This makes the book extremely enjoyable and seems to detract form the books potentially boring didactic nature. Furthermore, Denny O'Neil is among the most seasoned comic veterans of comic book writing and his personal experience is often drawn upon to personalize and contextualize the topic at hand.
And perhaps it is in this sense that the book really goes beyond McCloud's Guide to Understanding Comics. O'Neil explains devices like "The Levitz Paradigm", a model for managing various subplots and side stories, developed by former DC writer / editor and current DC publisher / vice-president Paul Levitz. O'Neil's anecdotal account of working with Paul Levitz personalizes the "Levitz Diagram" on a level that simply does not exist in McCloud's book.
Additionally, by working within the framework of DC Comics, O'Neil discusses many aspects of "big publishing" that McCloud does not mention. Things like the miniseries, maxiseries and megaseries; continuity and story-arcs are important aspects of the world of comics that are not included in McCloud's book.
Finally, I greatly enjoyed O'Neil's chapters on Creating Drama, Characterization, Story Structure and Script Preparation. These truly allowed for a unique and helpful perspective on the essential elements of comic book storytelling.
