R.I.P. Keith Giffen.

In recent times, I’ve shied away from “R.I.P. posts”, for no more a reason than to reduce the sadness at this humble Blog… but this week was just too much to ignore for such a flimsy reason!

Keith Giffen, one of the most unique writer/artists ever to work in comics passed away on October 09, 2023, at the age of 70.

To say that Keith Giffen was a huge part of my comics-reading life would be an understatement... and, if anything, that would be the ONLY "understatement" applicable to the work of Mr. Giffen.  

One could easily say that he helped define DC Comics of the '80s! 

He had a long and very popular run on THE LEGION OF SUPERHEROES... but that was a title I mostly didn't read, so I'll take general fandom's word on that. 

But, oh the characters and concepts he created - or co-created - was a wondrous mix of (Overused Word Alert) "legendary", beloved, and some just a little ahead of their time! 

Perhaps his most revolutionary concept was his completely unique take on the JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, which (hard to believe) was then sputtering and petering-out with the infamous and ill-advised "Justice League Detroit".

Out with the old, in with the new... Detroit? 

Keith Giffen then swooped-in to save us (the readers) by "giving Detroit de boot" and unleashing a then-unheard-of spin on the superhero team!

Out with Detroit, in with ... ? 

Writer David Barnett, online for theguardian.com describes the series thusly:

"[Justice League (1987)] with co-creators JM DeMatteis and Kevin Maguire, perhaps best showcased Giffen’s gift for comedic writing and injecting an almost soap opera mentality into superhero books.

"Justice League, later Justice League International, had an almost prescient, real-world tone, with a maverick millionaire capitalist, Maxwell Lord, essentially staging an Elon Musk-style takeover of the superhero team, getting them United Nations funding and government approval.

"The personal interactions of the characters were just as important, and the series came across more like Friends than the usual superhero fare."

Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Black Canary... and Guy Gardner became the new focus as laughs and dangers mixed in ways rarely seen before! 

Even further out-there than JUSTICE LEAGUE (which became JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL with issue #7, 1987 - and JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA  [no "of"] with issue #26, 1989), was the "still (Overused Word Alert - again) legendary after all these years" AMBUSH BUG!

First appearing in DC COMICS PRESENTS #52 (1982) Ambush Bug "became legend" as a result of some truly zany appearances in various issues of ACTION COMICS (1984-1985) and one issue of SUPERGIRL.

Ambush Bug heckles Superman! 

With this character, TRULY anything goes! As did The Bug himself, with scattered mini-series from 1985-2009!

Then, there were a few short-lived series that were (as mentioned above) "just a little ahead of their time" such as THE HECKLER (1992-1993), an outrageous series that had me laughing out loud! 

And VEXT (1999), both lasting only SIX ISSUES EACH! 

But, for me, Keith Giffen's Crown Jewel is none other than The Main Man himself... that fragger of bastiches on a planetary scale... everyone's favorite comic book character (...and if he's not yours and you value your life, PLEASE  don't tell him!)... LOBO!  

 

Below: An early Lobo with Guy Gardner in Keith Giffen's Justice League International.

Is it any wonder that Lobo and Guy Gardner were two of my most favorite DC characters of the '90s? 

...With THIS GUY to guide them, how could they miss?! 

Lobo transcended comic books with his appearance in SUPERMAN THE ANIMATED SERIES (1996), and another in the subsequent JUSTICE LEAGUE animated series. 

I met Keith Giffen at one of the many New York cons in the '90s, and he autographed this LOBO issue for me!

 

My last encounter with a Keith Giffen comic was an unlikely one... yet somehow fitting for Mr. Giffen.  He reunited with his JUSTICE LEAGUE / JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL / JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA co-conspirator J.M. DeMatteis for SCOOBY APOCALYPSE which, unlike some of his tragically cut-short titles, ran for 36 issues (2016-2019)! 

Aw, c'mon folks, Scooby had a lot worse done to him (cough!) "VELMA" (cough!) 

Rest In Peace, Mr. Keith Giffen, and THANK YOU for all the great comics you've delighted me with!

 

...Especially the ones with LOBO! 

Today is "New Gold Key Day"!

 Today, October 11, 2023, is NEW GOLD KEY DAY!

And with it comes the new and simultaneously classic logo of Gold Key Entertainment (2023).  Only two color side-stripes (not three), but a perfect recreation of both design and color scheme!

As you can see, the magenta is very reminiscent of the classic logo... and so is the shade of blue.  

You heard it here first, folks... back in THIS POST! 

For this iconic brand's first foray into the 21st century, Gold Key Entertainment draws from it's (pardon) "storied" past reviving one of the original incarnation's better known titles with... BORIS KARLOFF GOLD KEY MYSTERIES!

A successor to "Gold Key Classic's" BORIS KARLOFF TALES OF MYSTERY! 

I just picked up my copy today, as did at least two others, at my small local comic shop. The mere mention of the Gold Key name, and sight of its iconic logo, just seemed to "do-it" for us!  

Especially so, coming out of the gate with a classic title that was EXCLUSIVELY associated with Gold Key over the years! 

I'll be back shortly with a review of this first issue, but right now I'm gonna set it up at GCD, then sit back and enjoy reading the first new Gold Key Comic in many decades!   

I wish our "New Gold Key Kids" much success in the months and years to come - and hope they continue to follow in the indelible footprints of their predecessors, and revive a few "funny" titles as well!

"Key" ya real soon! 

Coming to (Nay, NOW AT) a Target Store Near You!

A short while ago, I received my contributor's copy of THIS MAGNIFICENT BOOK from Fantagraphics... and is it ever amazing!  

At a whopping 256 pages and a size of approximately 13.5" by 10", its prodigious production values, combined with its super-size, make a fitting tribute for Disney's 100 Years Celebration!   

It is a Target Stores exclusive, so you'll have to get it there rather than your usual sources of such books, but, having now held it in my hot little hands... YES! 

 

Just some of the highlights would include Carl Barks' "Mystery of the Swamp", Don Rosa's "His Majesty McDuck" (my personal favorite Rosa story!), Super Goof's "The Thief of Zanzipar" by Bob Ogle and Paul Murry from SUPER GOOF # 1 (1965), a beautiful Seven Dwarfs story by Romano Scarpa... a famous-in-many-lands-but-this-one Tony Strobl story with Donald, Fethry, and Scrooge written by Dick Kinney.... 

...And a Casty Mickey Mouse story that features another of Casty's recurring characters that has yet to be seen in the United States - enthusiastic oceanographer Estrella Marina!  

I did the Translation and Dialogue (for whatever that's worth) in support of a great story - and what may very well be Casty's BEST ART!  Certainly the best I've ever seen!  Some of it is actually breathtaking!  

Aw, heck... THE WHOLE BOOK is breathtaking so, as unthinkable as it might be, I'm going to close by saying... stop reading my Blog - and start reading this book!  

...You can always come back to the Blog later.  Promise I'll be here!  

Oh, and when you DO come back, take a peek at the Chip 'n' Dale post I put up this morning... which has become overshadowed by this BIG BREAKING NEWS! 

...That's breaking NEWS, not breaking HEADS! 

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: To Be Continued... Inside!

Here's the cover of CHIP 'N' DALE # 18 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: October, 1972)! 

Anyone care to guess what happens next?  

Just look inside the issue... Page 19, to be exact!  

The COVER, by Phil DeLara, was reprinted from CHIP 'N' DALE # 29 (Dell Comics, Cover Date: March, 1962).  

The INTERIOR ILLUSTRATION, by Harvey Eisenberg, was reprinted from CHIP 'N' DALE # 15 (Dell Comics, Cover Date: September-November, 1958).
 

...But, don't they come together JUST RIGHT?  

Family Matters - 2023!

Playing catch-up with the Blog, it's time to... um, "catch up" on a few Family Matters! 

August 19, 2023 saw the birth of Grandchild Number Three - Logan, a boy who will bear both the burdens and delights of having two older sisters!

Averi and Cici "bear the delight" of their new baby brother! 

Averi was quick to say... "Now we are THREE KIDS... and that's ENOUGH!" ...But, do they ever love their li'l bro! 

...And each other! 

Soon it was "back to business" as Averi began FIRST GRADE on September 05, 2023!  

Averi is prepping for the big day!  Cici's just mimicking Big Sis. 

And today, September 23, 2023, is Cici's THIRD BIRTHDAY !  How, time flies! 

 

Averi will turn SIX on this coming Thanksgiving, making them all evenly spaced at THREE YEARS APART!  ...Now, THAT'S planning!  

WE LOVE THEM ALL SO MUCH! 

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: "Pill-Popper Chopper"!

From the "Department of Something You'd Never See These Days", comes this cover from HANNA-BARBERA PARADE # 5 (Charlton Comics, Cover Date: February, 1972)!  

It looks like a typical Ray Dirgo Charlton cover of the time... The characters look "a little off", maybe a little too rubbery, but still recognizable...  

...Until we focus-in on Yakky Doodle's big buddy and protector - CHOPPER!  

What's up with the crossed-eyes, and uncharacteristically silly grin?  

Has he been "nipping at the cooking sherry", as they used to say back then?  

Actually, the answer can be found inside the comic itself - in this sequence of the Yakky Doodle story!

It seems that poor Chopper has had some difficulties with sleeping!  

So, his itty bitty buddy Yakky liberally applies a serious dose of SLEEPING PILLS!  

And all is well, until a BURGLAR shows up, and Chopper sleeps through the robbery of his master's house like a... um, drugged dog!  

Mild hilarity -- and the occasional "awkwardly-worded dialogue balloon" as the one seen directly above (After all it IS Charlton!) -- ensues, as Yakky and Sleeper... (that is, "CHOPPER") set out to right this wrong.  

If only Yakky had read THIS CHARLTON COMIC before sending Chopper off to "The Land of Nod" (...medicated so deeply that he couldn't "nod", if he tried)...

...The whole mess could have been avoided!  

Yessir... ALWAYS listen to POPEYE!  

Or else you too might look embarrassingly goofy on a comic book cover!  

And, when you can look "embarrassingly goofy" on a cover like this one, that's saying something!  

I’m Not an Artist, But… Lost in (ALL THAT EMPTY) Space Volume II!

I'm not an artist, but... a longtime pet peeve of mine is the matter of large sections of EMPTY SPACE on a comic book's cover!

I've posted on this before - on THIS particularly egregious example (below)...

...All the more so because it was created in the far more "graphically conscious" 1990s!

DC's REAL SCREEN COMICS # 105, with a Cover Date of December, 1956, is easier to excuse because of it's time...

...And because the empty space at its lower right, while definitely noticeable, is not nearly as poorly executed as the WDCS cover! 

But why are Crawford Crow and the picnic basket BOTH on the left side, leaving such a wide-open space on the right?  

The BASKET could remain at left, but be slightly "moved-up" a bit, making it more centered between the hammock and the bottom of the cover!

Then, Crawford could remain at the same "latitude" (for lack of a better term), but with his image REVERSED - and moved to the right, looking left at the fire and basket!

I'm not an artist, but... I feel it would be much better balanced that way!  ...Don't you?

Serendipitous Side-Effect Time:  Below is the cover image of MY OWN COPY, of REAL SCREEN COMICS # 105, with an unintended cover enhancement!

Check out what's in the "empty space" at the cover's lower right...

Someone, perhaps as far back as the later 1950s (in those Pre-Price-Guide Days when we were MUCH more careless with our comics), must have spilled some liquid on that portion of the cover...

...But, in keeping with the "campfire motif", it looks like campfire smoke is rising, not only from Crawford's actual cooking fire, but from the "FOX AND CROW" LOGO as well! 

In fact, there's actually MORE SMOKE rising from the LOGO, than from the cooking fire!  Very nicely breaking-up the gaping amount of blank space! 

I'm not an artist, but... I'd say MY copy of this comic, appears better-composed than the actual published version! 

Check 'em "side by side", and you de... "side"! 

Hot stuff... eh, Foxie?