Remembering Keith Giffen (1952-2023) comic book icon behind Justice League, Rocket Raccoon, Blue Beetle, more

As an Amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (At no additional charge to you.)

Comic book legend Keith Giffen has died at age 70. He was responsible for creating or co-creating characters Rocket Raccoon, Lobo, Ambush Bug, and (the newest) Blue Beetle. He also worked as an artist and/or writer on legendary epic comic book runs, including Legion of Superheroes, Justice League International, and more.

During a break from the comics business, Giffen made storyboards for TV and movies, including the shows The Real Ghostbusters and Ed, Edd ‘n’ Eddy.

It was reported that Giffen suffered a stroke on Sunday, October 9. He passed away the next day, on Monday, October 10.

In this article:

• Keith Giffen’s cosmic sagas

• Keith Giffen’s hilarious take on Justice League

• Keith Giffen on writing comedy like Ambush Bug and Lobo

As a comic book artist and writer, Giffen (1952-2023) is also known for his work on projects including Green Arrow, Metal Men, Scooby Apocalypse, OMAC, Justice League 3000, Forever People, Fantastic Four, Drax the Destroyer, Nick Fury’s Howling Commandos, Suicide Squad, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, X-O Manowar, Magnus, Robot Fighter, and Inferior Five.

Over the years, Giffen was not just an artist but also wrote, plotted, or co-wrote on several comics projects. In addition to DC and Marvel, he also made comics at times for other publishers, including Image Comics, Tokyopop, and Boom! Studios.

His list of co-writers has included J.M. DeMatteis, Robert Loren Fleming, Tom and Mary Bierbaum, and Erik Larsen.

Find Giffen’s Amazon creator page here

Monster Complex uses Amazon affiliate links.

---

Keith Giffen’s cosmic sagas

Giffen worked a couple of different times on various Legion of Super Heroes comics series. One notable event was the The Great Darkness Saga, which pitted the LSH against Darkseid. Written by Paul Levitz, with art by Giffen and Larry Mahlstedt, the 1982 DC Comics event featured lots of characters in a huge battle with the dark forces of Darkseid.

Personal memory: That LSH saga was AMAZING. Shortly after I met my wife—who was then working at DC Comics—she mentioned to DC Comics president Paul Levitz (who had written the LSH issues) that I was a fan of the story. He had her send me an autographed trade paperback.

Giffen also worked on Marvel Comics’s comics “Annihilation” event. The 2006 crossover event included lots of Marvels outer space characters, including Guardians of the Galaxy, Silver Surfer, and Thanos. Parallel stories pitted the Silver Surfer, Nova, Ronan the Accuser and the Super-Skrull against Annihilus and his forces. The climatic six-issue war was written by Giffen with art by Andrea DiVito.

The DC Comics crossover event Invasion! was a comic book mini-series in 1988 plotted by Giffen, who was connecting together plotlines from various Giffen-created DC series, including Omega Men, Justice League International, and Legion of Super-Heroes. Others working with Giffen on this included writer Bill Mantlo (with whom Giffen had co-created Rocket Raccoon), pencilers Todd McFarlane and Bart Sears, and inkers Joe Rubinstein, P. Craig Russell, Tom Christopher, Dick Giordano and Al Gordon.

---

Keith Giffen’s hilarious take on Justice League

Some of my favorite examples of Giffen’s work was when he focused on character-driven comedies. One great case in point is his hilarious take on DC Comics’ Justice League with co-writer J.M. DeMatteis and artist Kevin Maguire. (This was the run where Batman and Guy Gardner got into a “fistfight” and Batman beat him with one punch.)

There was also Giffen’s spinoff Justice League Europe. (Hey, my name was mentioned as one of the letter writers in an issue of Justice League Europe. I had submitted an idea for naming the letter column.)

The Justice League International creative team also took a similar approach to Marvel Comics’ The Defenders.

DeMatteis & Giffen on the origins of the Justice League International

---

Keith Giffen on writing comedy like Ambush Bug and Lobo

Giffen also made some fourth-wall-breaking stories with Ambush Bug. That approach was copied when the TV show Batman: Brave and the Bold had Ambush Bug on the finale. (Ambush Bug tried—and failed—to save the show from cancellation. It was an amazing idea for how to end a show.)

Giffen’s character Lobo was an outer space vigilante who was a satiric approach to over-the-top violent characters. Magazine Jack Kirby Collector #29 talked to Giffen about how Lobo and Ambush Bug were driven by the artist’s opinion that comics “needed a good kick in the pants” with comedy:

“I was told by an editor up at DC that humor is all genre in comic books. I could have hit him. [laughter] … All the time I was doing Justice League, even when it was number one and outselling everything DC had, there was not a day that went by that I was not pressured to take the humor out. ‘It’s destroying the book.’ People would yank their characters out of the book. ‘I don’t want Keith getting them. He'll make fun of them.’”

Giffen told the interviewer that some people couldn’t handle the idea that Batman had a wry sense of humor—or that Beetle and Booster could be bumpkins. “They totally missed the point of the book.”

“With Ambush Bug it was basically…deconstruction of comics and inviting people to come look under the rug. Maybe pointing out things the companies didn’t want you to know. … There were a lot of people who got their feathers ruffled.

“Lobo was originally meant as an indictment of the grim and gritty hero with a gun. To me they were villains who were doing the right thing for the wrong reason. But boy, so many people missed the joke. [laughter]”

By the way, Lobo has been rumored to be making his big screen appearance in the 2025 movie Superman: Legacy currently in the works.

---

More from Monster Complex