Keith Giffen dies at 70
The Hollywood Reporter says veteran artist/writer Giffen's died at 70s years of age:
Giffen was a talented artist/writer in his time, and all gems he developed are what he should be appreciated for. But there were misses as well, and it's sad he had to partake in any of them.
Keith Giffen, the longtime comics author and artist who co-created popular characters such as DC’s Lobo and the Jamie Reyes version of the Blue Beetle as well as Marvel’s Rocket Raccoon, has died at the age of 70.Personally, I think it's a real shame he validated the woke direction taken with Blue Beetle back in the day - specifically, how Ted Kord was murdered by Max Lord in Countdown to Infinite Crisis - because if it's really that big a deal to replace a white guy with a POC, you can't just kill off the white men and women preceding them in as repulsive fashion as DC under Dan DiDio at the time did, or subject them to fates worse than death like turning them into repugnant villains, something previously done with Hal Jordan in Emerald Twilight in 1994. Giffen was a talented storyteller when he first began, and obviously, his work on Rocket Raccoon, Legion and Justice League years before is something to admire. But that's why it's a shame he had to take part years later in stuff that sullied his earlier work, which is only superficially alluded to in the following:
[...] Giffen is best known for writing and drawing galaxy-spanning adventure book Legion of Super-Heroes in the 1980s and 1990s, at one point making the title one of DC’s top sellers. He was also the artist on early 1980s title Omega Men in which he and writer Roger Slifer introduced Lobo. Lobo was at first a brutal villain, but was later turned into a parody of overly-muscle-bound characters before becoming a popular anti-hero.
In 2006, DC redefined Blue Beetle, introducing him as Jaime Reyes, a Latino high school student who bonds with a super-powered suit of alien origin. Giffen co-created the character with TV writer John Rogers and artist Cully Hamner and wrote his early adventures. The character headlined his own Warner Bros. movie this past summer, becoming the first Latino-centric character to be featured in such a prominent way.No mention the film was no more a success than the comics volume that it built upon. Nor any mention here of how Kord was sent into death limbo at the hands of Lord, who was later adapted into Wonder Woman 1984, one of the worst forms of wokeness possible. Seriously, what is there to celebrate in that, compared to Giffen's earlier work? Though lest we forget, even the 90s retcons to Lobo were an embarrassment. What was wrong with how he was portrayed in Omega Men that they had to go and do that?
Giffen was a talented artist/writer in his time, and all gems he developed are what he should be appreciated for. But there were misses as well, and it's sad he had to partake in any of them.
Labels: dc comics, history, marvel comics, msm propaganda
