Comics legend Keith Giffen has passed away at the age of 70 years old. Renowned for his work at DC Comics, including co-creating Blue Beetle and Lobo, the news came late yesterday.
Ever a jokester, Keith’s death was announced via Facebook via a pre-written post:
“I told them I was sick…Anything not to go to New York Comic Con, Thanx,” adding “Bwah ha ha ha ha.”
Comics creators took to Facebook to share their respects including J.M. DeMatteis, Mark Waid, and Jim Lee.
I was lucky enough to chat with Keith back in 2016 about Sugar and Spike and his, at the time, 35-plus year long career. I’ll leave you with a bit of advice from Keith:
AIPT: 35 years in the business; what’s the best advice you ever received?
Giffen: Julius Schwartz gave me the best advice. I was working on a plot, he said, “What are you doing?” I said, “I’m working on a plot,” and he said, “It’s a comic book.” That doesn’t mean you can just sluff off or do whatever you want, but it puts it in perspective. You are entertaining people, and if you’re not entertaining you’re not going to stay in the business. So all this talk about continuity or researching the past of the character so you understand the character fully, that really doesn’t play with me. If they’re going to call me up and say “Hey you wanna pick up Cyborg?”, the first thing I think of is, “Do I have Cyborg stories?”
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