12-10-23 | Comic book artist and writer Keith Giffen passed away several days ago, aged 70. Besides being an accomplished illustrator, Giffen was respected for his writing. He co-created several memorable characters for both DC and Marvel, including Guardians of the Galaxy’s Rocket Raccoon. After some work at Marvel, Keith Giffen made a name for himself illustrating Legion of Super-Heroes at DC Comics, which he worked on from 1982 to 1998.
He would start work on another superhero team in 1987. Giffen was one of the men that relaunched the Justice League as Justine League International. The JLI would mix well known heroes like Batman with cult characters such as the Blue Beetle. Speaking of the Blue Beetle, his third incarnation was one of the many characters Giffen had a hand in creating. Jaime Reyes was a Hispanic reimagining of the Golden Age character, who recently starred in his own feature film.
Better know Giffen characters are both gritty classics: Lobo for DC and Rocket Raccoon for Marvel. Sinister bounty hunter Lobo debuted in 1983 and became a fan favourite when he resurfaced in the 1990s. Since appearing in the Guardians of the Galaxy films, Rocket Raccoon has become a household name. Though he debuted in 1979 and even had his own mini-series in 1985, Rocket would not appear in Guardians comics until 2008.