Keith Giffen Dies: ‘Blue Beetle’ Writer-Artist Was 70

Bruce Haring
·2 min read
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Keith Giffen, a veteran writer and artist whose work included DC’s Lobo and the Jamie Reyes version of the Blue Beetle and Marvel’s Rocket Raccoon, has died at the age of 70. His death was affirmed by longtime collaborator Paul Levitz on Facebook.

The family of the comics veteran announced his death on Facebook Wednesday via a sardonic post pre-written by Giffen: “I told them I was sick…Anything not to go to New York Comic Con, Thanx,” adding “Bwah ha ha ha ha.” A stroke was attributed as the cause of death.

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“The sad news is now official: Keith Giffen has gone off to create new worlds that are beyond our living reach,” Levitz wrote. “Keith was probably the most fertile creative mind of our generation in comics. He had an infinite number of ideas, pouring constantly out. Many, thankfully, never saw print as wholly insane or inappropriate. But the ones that did!

“We did over 60 stories together. Many of them he made far better than they might have been with any other collaborator, because of his ideas and contributions to character moments and drama. A few we had rough times on, but I think no more than could be expected in a long relationship.

“Keith was a curmudgeon by choice, an act he perfected and enjoyed. Like many artists, he didn’t lead a healthy lifestyle, and that led to tough times that he always laughed off. He was a family man when out of public view, and his soft moments came out there. And hugs to his kids, grandkids and great grandkids. Oh, and Anna, now that you have him back, take care of him as you always did—he was never the same after you went.”

Gitten’s resume includes writing and drawing the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 1980s and 1990s, and the early 1980s title Omega Men in which he and writer Roger Slifer introduced Lobo.

No information on memorial plans was immediately available.

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