RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books Keith Giffen Dead at 70.

https://www.cbr.com/keith-giffen-justice-league-and-legion-of-super-heroes-icon-obituary/

So sad. He was one of my favorites.

Very sad news, he was very talented and left the comic book industry so much! Karate Kid is probably resting easier.

Heh. I know Giffen liked d to kill off Karate Kid whenever he got the chance. He said Siuper Karate annoyed him

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Man... I could take up a lot of space here detailing my many favorites from Giffen. I think his very best work was in 1982-1983, on LEGION OF SUPERHEROES 285-306
https://viewcomiconline.com/legion-of-super-heroes-1980-issue-285/

And on the "Doctor Fate" backup stories in FLASH 306-313 :
https://viewcomiconline.com/the-flash-v1-306/

The first few appearances of Ambush Bug, in DC COMICS PRESENTS 52 and 59, and in ACTION COMICS 560, 563 and 565 in 1982-1984 :
https://viewcomiconline.com/dc-comics-presents-v1-052/
https://viewcomiconline.com/action-comics-1938-issue-560/
https://viewcomiconline.com/action-comics-1938-issue-563/
https://viewcomiconline.com/action-comics-1938-issue-565/

Also the first 6 issues of OMEGA MEN :
https://viewcomiconline.com/the-omega-men-1983-issue-1/


And for me another high-point, the Giffen/DeMateiss run, with artists Kevin Maguire and then Adam Hughes, in JUSTICE LEAGUE 1-60 from 1987-1992, also expanding from JUSTICE LEAGUE (1-6) into JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL (issues 7-25), and then JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA (26-60).
And expanding from that series, there was also JUSTICE LEAGUE ANNUAL, and JUSTICE LEAGUE QUARTERLY.
And the hilarious spin-off JUSTICE LEAGUE EUROPE 1-36.
https://viewcomiconline.com/justice-league-1987-issue-1/ (issues 1-6)
https://viewcomiconline.com/justice-league-international-1987-issue-7/ (issues 7-25)
https://viewcomiconline.com/justice-league-america-issue-26/ (issues 26-60)
https://viewcomiconline.com/justice-league-europe-issue-1/ (1-36)


Plus Giffen work on many other series. Some of my favorites are Giffen's 1970's and early 1980's work, at both Marvel and DC. Such as :
AMAZING ADVENTURES 35 and 38 (both Killraven),
CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN 83-87
CLAW 8-12
DC COMICS PRESENTS 52 and 59
DEFENDERS 42-54
GHOSTS 104, 106 and 111
IRON MAN 114
KAMANDI 44-47
LEGION OF SUBSTITUTE HEROES SPECIAL
MARVEL PREMIERE 31 (Woodgod), and 44 (Jack of Hearts)

But I started the list with my absolute favorites, Giffen's LEGION and DOCTOR FATE work, and Ambush Bug.
Art-wise, that was Giffen at the peak of his talent. These are issues I pull out and re-read frequently.

That's really funny. Giffen really hated Karate Kid, and delighted in killing him off.

As I recall, Giffen killed Karate Kid twice.
First in LEGION (vol 3, 1984 series) 1-5.
Then killed KK a second time during the 5-year-gap (vol 4) storyline.

Giffen really didn’t care for KK. Giffen gave me a lot of entertainment and laughs over the decades.

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Wow, here's the cover from 1976 for the unpublished Kirby story "The Seal Men's War On Santa Claus".
The unpublished cover for what would have been SANDMAN 7 is by Giffen/Royer, that I've never seen till today !
https://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=1870027

The Kirby story (witthout the Giffen cover) saw print in CANCELLED COMIC CAVALCADE in limited Xerox form in 1978, in the wake of he DC Implosion.

The story finally saw widespread print in color (but without the Giffen cover) in BEST OF DC digest issue 22, cover-dated March 1982.
https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=184981
https://offthebeatenpanel.blogspot.com/2013/12/hidden-gems-sandman-saves-christmas-in.html (full story)

And more recently saw print in two Kirby Omnibus hardcovers,
JACK KIRBY OMNIBUS hardcover, vol 2 in 2013,
https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=22105329

and DC UNIVERSE, THE BRONZE AGE OMNIBUS by Jack Kirby, in 2019.
https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=49306969

Maybe this cover is in one of the Omnibus hardcovers, I haven't seen a physical copy of them, but I can verify it's not in CANCELLED COMIC CAVALCADE or BEST OF DC 22.

So this is quite a find, some lost Giffen, on an important lost issue !

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When Giffen rocked the world with how good his art was, with LEGION OF SUPERHEROES 293, cover-dated Nov 1982, the 4th of 5 issues in the "Great Darkness Saga" storyline.







And the cover for the grand finale, in LSH 294, Dec 1982.



Amid so much other great stuff coming out a that time, this stood out as one of the best.
( Full issues to read online linked in my above post.)

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An obscure but very cool Giffen cover about the same time, WORLD'S FINEST 284, Oct 1982. Cover only by Giffen, but still, a really exceptional cover, that no doubt made a lot of people look at a title they hadn't looked at wiih great interest in a long time. It sure did me.



full issue at :
https://viewcomiconline.com/worlds-finest-284/
Interior story by Cary Burkett, with art by George Tuska

The interior story and art the next 2 issues after that (285-286), by Burkett and Buckler/DeLaRosa, were quite nice.
But alas, didn't continue beyond that by the same team.

Good.
Glad he's dead.
Always hated that guy.

There we go !

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A Halloween-festive choice from Giffen is this story from GHOSTS 106, "To Kill A Ghost", a 9 page story of a sword-fencing champion who visits Scotland, and has to contend with locals who still regard a mythologized 14-century feudal lord as the greatest swordsman of all time. And staying in the deceased lord's castle, the fencing champion comes into conflict with the former lord himself. It has an unusually upbeat conclusion for a ghost story.
https://viewcomiconline.com/ghosts-issue-106/

This was one of several shorter backup stories Giffen did in late 1981-1982, because he'd leftt DC abruptly in 1978, when he came back in 1981, they took him back, but on a sort of low-profile probation trial basis to prove his reliability on these shorter stories, for :
GHOSTS
104 ("What Makes A Ghost"), 106 (above) and
111("The Last Kung Fu Movie").

HOUSE OF MYSTERY
284 ("The King and the Dragon") and
301 ("The Choice").

THE UNEXPECTED
219 ("Dust Devil") and
222 ("No Penny, No Paradise").

WEIRD WAR TALES
124 ("The Window")

Paired with a nice spectrum of inkers, and I think they determined that Larry Mahlstedt and Bruce Patterson were the best inker choices for Giffen.
Even Giffen's breakout work on "Dr Fate" in FLASH 306-313, and in LEGION 285-286 began as backups, before Giffen started doing full-issue stories.

All of which is a nice sampling of Giffen mystery stories for Halloween.

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Here's Giffen's first published work, from MARVEL PREMIERE magazine.

First, Giffen's first published art, in issue 4 (January 1976), a single page illustration accompanying a text article (on page 42).
https://viewcomiconline.com/marvel-preview-issue-4/

And then Giffen's first published story, in issue 7 (Summer 1976), an 18-page "Sword In the Star" story, by Bill Mantlo with Giffen pencils and inks.
Giffen's first pro work, and also the first appearance of Rocket Raccoon, that would later evolve into the GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY comic series, popular enough to then become a few blockbuster movies.
https://onemillioncomics.com/marvel-preview-issue-7/

That's one heck of a start !

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A few early issues I read by Giffen in the 1975-1978 period, not knowing at the time Giffen was brand new to the field :

AMAZING ADVENTURES / Killraven :
35 McGregor story, Russell layouts, Giffen/Abel art, March 1976
38 Mantlo story, Giffen/Milgrom art, Sept 1976

DEFENDERS
42-54 Conway (42-43) and Kraft (44-54) story, Giffen/Janson art, Dec 1976 - Dec 1977

IRON MAN
114 Mantlo story, Giffen / Patterson art, Sept 1978

MARVEL PREMIERE
31 "Woodgod" Mantlo story, Giffen /Janson art, Aug 1976
44 "Jack of Hearts" Mantlo story, Giffen/Nebres art, Oct 1978

SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP
8 Englehart story, Giffen/McCarren art, Oct 1876
13 Mantlo story, Giffen/Perlin art, Aug 1977

DEADLY HANDS OF KUNG FU (black & white magazine, "White Tiger" series)
17 1 page frontispiece, inside cover, Oct 1975
22 Mantlo story, Giffen/Rival art , 18p, Mar 1976
24 Mantlo story, Giffen/ "the Tribe" art, 118p, May 1976


That in retrospect, done by a guy who was drawing comics professionally for less than a year in many cases, were really nice stuff, that I'm still enjoying roughly 50 years later.

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One of the last new series I purchased and actually enjoyed and wasn't disappointed with was a 2003 Giffen/DeMatteis'
FORMERLY KNOWN AS THE JUSTICE LEAGUE 1-6 run.
https://viewcomiconline.com/formerly-known-as-the-justice-league-issue-1/

That for some reason, some humorless editors at DC didn't appreciate and discontinued.

So Giffen and DeMatteis just went over to Marvel and did the same approach on a 2005 new
DEFENDERS 1-5 series.
https://viewcomiconline.com/defenders-2005-issue-1/

Both of which were a lot of fun to read.

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Here's an interesting Giffen version of Batman, in BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT ANNUAL 1, from 1991 :

https://viewcomiconline.com/batman-legends-of-the-dark-knight-annual-1/

Story by Dennis O'Neil, with art by:

Jim Aparo (pages 1-6)
Keith Giffen/ Malcolm Jones III (pages 7-15)
Joe Quesada/ Joe Rubinstein (pages 16- 24)
Tom Lyle / Ty Templeton (pages 25-33 )
Dan Spiegle (pages 34-42 )
James Blackburn / Michael Golden (pages 43-51 )
Jim Aparo (pages 52-54 )

Severl ineresting takes on Batman, bu I think the most interesting were the Giffen and Golden chapters.