Keith Giffen

My Hero.

When I was a kid, Keith Giffen was my favourite comic book creator. It was his work on Legion and Superheroes and Justice League that first caught my attention and then it was his ever evolving art style that showed a kid like me that you could have a “weird” drawing style and still make good comics. I used to copy Keith's drawings, trying to learn how he did what he did.  The way Keith drew faces is still the basis for how I do it.  Keith's work on Lobo, Heckler, Ambush Bug, and so many more, cemented him as my favourite creator into my teenaged years as well. 

When I started working for DC Comics in 2010 we had a meeting in the New York offices. I nervously walked into the conference room I saw the only seat left open was beside Keith Giffen! THAT Keith Giffen!  13-year-old Jeff was dying of excitement inside. Keith probably just grunted at me that week, but, over the years, we would begin to work closely on a number of projects.  The most notable of them was the weekly book Future’s End with Dan Jurgens and Brian Azzarello, and then Inferior Five which Keith and I wrote and drew together.  While the projects may not have been the most memorable of our respective bibliographies, they were without a doubt two of the most fun and enjoyable experiences of my life. I never took getting to work, and laugh, with Keith for granted. I never forgot that, even though he had become my friend and colleague, he was still my hero. 

When Keith’s daughter called me yesterday to tell me had passed, she told me he knew I thought of him as my “work Dad”. He was that, and he was so much more.  Keith's curmudgeonly style hid a heart of gold and an endlessly restless creative spirit. He will be missed. By me and so many fans and readers. 

Rest in peace, Keith, and thank you. 

-Jeff Lemire.