You already know this, and everyone’s been posting images all over social media, and it just gives me a reason to once again post one of the funniest pages from one of the funniest comics ever:
Rest in peace, Mr. Giffen. Bwah-ha-ha to you.
(Yes, I know Robert Fleming is credited as scripter on this comic, but a lot of this has to be Giffen, right?)
(Oh, this is Ambush Bug Nothing Special from 1992. If you don’t have it yet, your life is more joyless than it has to be, and you should remedy that.)
Leave it to Keith Giffen to make me chuckle even with his last message.
The guy was a class act and produced one of the best Justice League runs, even without the A-Listers.
His Lobo comics were also great fun, a character that I don’t particularly like these days.
It really is amazing how MUCH stuff Giffen did while maintaining a certain level of quality, and how many random projects he popped onto to provide a brief highlight.
Like, I have read and enjoyed hundreds of Keith Giffen comics without ever cracking the covers of a Legion of Super-Heroes comic, a Lobo solo title, or any of his cosmic Marvel stuff (though that will change – got a 25 cent copy of LoSH #300 in a bargain bin 2 weeks ago and I’m going to read that in memoriam tonight). I fondly recall his random 2 or 3 fill-in issues on Daredevil and Spectacular Spider-Man. He has dozens if not hundreds or more such one-off jobs that I’m sure are really cool. Brian Cronin is always hyping up his Magnus, Robot Fighter run – I’m sure I’ll be a sucker and buy the whole shebang if I ever see it in an attic longbox now. RIP
As a Magnus fan, that would be interesting ..
This one was surprising and painful. Like Peter, I feel like I haven’t even scratched the surface of his prolific career. I haven’t read a single page of Legion, for example. But Justice League is near and dear to my heart, and I love stuff like Ambush Bug and Heckler. Those issues of ShadowHawk vs Trencher I read as a kid really scrambled my brain with that gloriously messy, abstract art. Giffen was influenced by the best and influenced others in turn. He knew when to be silly and when to be serious and when to be weird as hell. What a legacy.
One of my favorite comics creators ever. I first really became aware of him as an artist on Legion and then on Omega Men, but after Ambush Bug (or really after the first few stories that introduced him) I would buy anything he was involved in, and was usually very thankful that I did.
And sure, there were a few comics he did that turned out to be not quite my thing, but much, much more of it was brilliant in a way that hit me right in my sweet spot.
Farewell to one of the greats.
His Defenders and Justice League work are the two first things that pop into my mind when I think of him, but he was involved with a lot of comics I loved.
Defenders was my entry into his talent, with “Who Remembers Scorpio?” as he channeled Kirby. Then it was his return to things, after an absence, in Legion, in the issues just before the Great Darkness Saga and the entirety of that storyline. Justice League, though, was the really big deal, for me. Loved it, as a team book and then even more, as the humor built and expanded, until “Moving Day,” when it really started getting good. I came back every time they got the band back together, with Formerly Known as Justice League and I Can’t Believe It’s Not Justice League. Fell into Ambush Bug, later and tried to get into the Five Years After Legion, but it just never clicked for me.
I sang his praises elsewhere, for the Lightning feature he was doing in David Singer’s Deluxe Comics series, Wally Wood’s THUNDER Agents. He plotted and drew and Tom & Mary Bierbaum wrote it, before they did Legion. The character is near death, from using the speed device, but has to keep going. Interesting little segment. Of course, Deluxe went pear shaped, as Singer didn’t have the rights and stole artwork and stiffed people. Giffen actually stole back George Perez’s art from the series, when he saw it in Singer’s office, while having an argument. Per Perez, he told him he was taking it back to George and to try and stop him. Perez really appreciated it.
I met him briefly, at a Heroes Von, back in 1992. Small guy (I’m 5 ft 6 in and was taller and was broader…and I was in shape, back then), but a lot of energy and mayhem.
Rip to a real one. I don’t want to be the type of person who uplifts others by putting them down, but Giffen had a sense of humor in his works that you don’t see too much of these days. Funny and irreverent without being too crass or of it’s time. I started his justice.league run this year, think I know what I’m going to read next.
For me the best single page was his ad for “The All-New, All-Different Santa Claus (they should never have called him mutie!).
I could never get into his JLA, which I suspect is the thing he’ll be most remembered for. He was still a remarkable talent, from Legion to Ambush Bug to all the other stuff.
My first issue of Legion of Super-Heroes was during the Great Darkness Saga and I was hooked on both the Legion and Giffen ever since. Sad to see him go.
Seemed like the hardest working creator during the late 80s to early 90s; had a hand in so many credits of the time! Eg: I was reading a New Universe Marvel, probably Justice, and up pops Uncle Keith!
Possibly my first American comic bought with my pocket money was an old All Star with Keith Giffen, Paul Levitz and Wallace Wood which had been languishing on the newsagent or seaside resort shelf for ages.
Yeah, Justice League A/I/E with JM deM, Maguire & co were great. Have read his Kirbyesque Defenders with Mike Royer et al, some Legion, bit of Ambush Bug and Heckler, and one Trencher. Wasn’t aware of all the Munoz controversy until much later. RIP.