Tag: Keith Giffen

Rest in peace, Keith Giffen

The prolific writer and artist whose career spanned decades and countless titles at Marvel, DC and more has passed away.

Keith Giffen, co-creator of Lobo, Jaime Reyes, Jack of Hearts, Maxwell Lord, and Rocket Raccoon, and co-author of some of the best Justice League and Legion of Super-Heroes comics of all time, has passed away.

The news broke on Giffen’s Facebook page, with a post that captured Giffen’s spirit and sense of humor:

“Keith was probably the most fertile creative mind of our generation in comics,” said Paul Levitz, who worked with Giffen on Legion of Super-Heroes. “He had an infinite number of ideas, pouring constantly out. Many, thankfully, never saw print as wholly insane or inappropriate. But the ones that did!”

The duo worked together on roughly five years worth of Legion stories. “Many of them he made far better than they might have been with any other collaborator, because of his ideas and contributions to character moments and drama,” Levitz continued. “A few we had rough times on, but I think no more than could be expected in a long relationship.”

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The Justice League at 60, Part 6: Globetrotters

Take a look back at the “International” era of the Justice League that brought new faces, more titles and lots of laughs to the team.

Check out part one, part two, part three, part four and part five of this series.

Folks, we’ve got a lot to get through today, so I’m going to give it to you straight: Some of this stuff was just a mess. Much of it was good and some of that was great. Some of it we can look at as “the ’90s.” However, some of it was, again, just a mess. I’m going to start in the middle and end with the beginning, so we can go out on a not-so-bad note.

Now then: Among the random bits of weirdness in this extended Justice League International period of 1986-1996 are the not-insignificant contributions of Slave Labor Graphics publisher Dan Vado. Starting in Early August 1993 (after Dan Jurgens left), he wrote 14 issues of Justice League America and then wrote the first 8 issues of Extreme Justice. Vado and his artistic collaborators Mike Collins, Kevin West and Marc Campos presided over a two-year stretch of League history, which threatens to be overlooked between the Jurgens and Gerard Jones/Chuck Wojtkiewicz runs.

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What Are You Reading? ‘Friday,’ Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel and more

See what the Smash Pages crew has checked off their “to read” list lately.

If you’re looking for something to read while sheltering in place, you’ve come to the right blog, as the Smash Pages crew has a whole mess of comics to talk about this week. So without further ado …

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Lemire offers updates on ‘Inferior Five,’ ‘Family Tree’

Both series will debut this fall.

In his email newsletter, comics creator Jeff Lemire gave updates on two previously announced comic book projects this week.

“My long gestating project with the great PHIL HESTER, called FAMILY TREE, will finally launch in November from Image Comics,” Lemire said. “Phil is working on issue 3 as I write this and I’ve written seven scripts so far. Eric Gapstur will be joining us as the inker, and Ryan Cody will be coloring. Will Dennis is editing.”

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Giffen, Lemire working on ‘Inferior Five’ series with ‘Peacemaker’ back-ups

Two 1960s comic creations make a return in a 12-issue miniseries.

On the last day of the New York Comic Con, DC Comics publisher Dan DiDio invited a surprise guest to join him on stage during the publisher’s “Sunday Conversation” panel — legendary comics creator Keith Giffen, who announced he’s working with Jeff Lemire on a new Inferior Five miniseries.

This isn’t the first time the duo have worked together, as both were part of the four-man team that wrote the weekly Futures End series for DC. Lemire and Giffen will co-plot the series, which Lemire will write and will feature artwork by Giffen. In addition, Lemire will write and draw a back-up for the comic starring the Charlton Comics character Peacemaker. Lemire will work with his Sweet Tooth collaborator, colorist Jose Villarubia.

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Kevin Maguire covers the ‘JLI Omnibus’

Old friends reunite in the cover image for the upcoming collection.

Artist Kevin Maguire brought his signature style to the Justice League in the late 1980s/early 1990s, and along with Keith Giffen and J.M DeMatteis, redefined the team in the Post-Crisis DC Universe. Now their humorous take on the team is getting the Omnibus treatment, and Maguire has shared the cover to the massive book:

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Quoted: J.M. DeMatteis on Keith Giffen

The “Justice League International” and “Hero Squared” co-writer talks about his co-writer.

It’s the late 80’s. We’re standing in the halls of DC Comics on a Friday afternoon. Keith is telling me his idea for a new story: the secret origin of one of our most ridiculous characters, the brain-dead Green Lantern named G’nort. Keith spends five or ten minutes spinning the entire tale, in detail. You can see he’s excited. He likes this wonderfully goofy story and he wants to do it—just the way he’s envisioned it.

The problem is, I don’t like it. And I tell him that I don’t.

Does Keith get angry? Does he tell me I’m a talentless jackass who has no right passing judgment on his incandescent genius? No. He just looks at me for a second, takes a breath, shrugs—and then launches into an entirely new origin of G’nort, which he’s creating on the spot. And it’s perfect. I can’t think of many people who could switch creative gears like that, but Keith has more raw creativity than just about anyone I’ve ever known: a tsunami of stories and characters and odd, brilliant notions.

—Writer J.M. DeMatteis on his frequent collaborator Keith Giffen.