Tag: Keith Giffen

This page an archive of posts that have been tagged with the Keith Giffen topic.

Wondercon: Justice League Retro-active

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By Jason Kirk / 02 April 2011 / Comic Books & Graphic Novels / 0 Comments

Wonder Con has come around again and there are a few Justice League titbits coming out at the panels. The biggest comics news so far is the announcement of a DC Comics project called Retro-Active.

Retro-Active’ reunites classic writers and artists with classic characters Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, and Justice League of America, returning to the interpretations they are best known for. Each of these series will have 3 one-shots that pay homage respectively to the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s.

They will combine half-reprint material and half-new material. The creators lined up for the Justice League series are Cary Bates for the 1970s, and Gerry Conway for the 1980s. Fans hoping for more JLI after Generation Lost will be pleased to hear that Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis will be handling the 1990s. Comic Book Resources spoke to Giffen about this book:

“We’re getting the Sunshine Boys back together!” Giffen laughed, revealing that his ’90s Justice League story is co-written by long-time collaborator J.M. DeMatteis and artist Kevin Maguire. Giffen also stated that his 26 new pages would feature his incarnation of the Injustice League as well as the full 1990s Justice League International roster: Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Big Barda, Mr. Miracle, Guy Gardner, Fire, Ice, Black Canary, Rocket Red, Power Girl, even Power Girl’s cat.

“The way [DC Comics] put it was, look at your run back when you were doing Justice League International, find a moment there and tell an untold story,” explained Giffen. “It’s one last blow-out. It’s one last hoorah for the characters.” [...] The writer then summed up both his one-shot and his era of Justice League with three simple words: “Not too shabby!”

Discuss this Tagged JLI, Keith Giffen

Keith Giffen on leaving Generation Lost

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By Jason Kirk / 21 August 2010 / Comic Books & Graphic Novels / 0 Comments

Keith Giffen, the original JLI writer and Generation Lost co-plotter, has spoken to Newsarama about his wish to reign back on his writing duties to make room for more penciling work. That shift has meant that he had to let something go and that unfortunately meant Generation Lost.

Nrama: Well that brings us to the next question, which is the “scheduling” explanation we got from Judd Winick for why you’re not doing Justice League: Generation Lost. Can you tell us what happened with that?

Giffen: It’s basically what Judd said. Look, it came down to what do I want to do more? And the stuff I’m doing now is what I want to do. I couldn’t pencil the projects I have coming up, and I couldn’t do what I’m doing on the Doom Patrol and Outsiders, while doing breakdowns for a book that were going to keep hitting me in this white heat. So it came down to, “OK, if you have to give up something, what do you want to give up?”

I’m not going to give up Doom Patrol. They’ll have to pry that out of my cold, stiff fingers. And I’m having too much fun with Booster Gold. And I’ve been wanting to get back to penciling. I had stuff I wanted to do more, and I really had to make a choice. And seeing as how the JLI was heading in a new direction, I don’t think I was really needed on the JLI book. So it really came down to, OK, it’s a re-envisioned JLI, and characters are going to move in this direction whether I’m here or not. So maybe it’s time to say goodbye.

Discuss this Tagged Justice League: Generation Lost, Keith Giffen

Short review: Booster Gold #33

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By Jason Kirk / 30 June 2010 / Short Reviews / 0 Comments

Credits: Written by Keith Giffen & J. M. DeMatteis, pencils by Chris Batista, inks by Rich Perrotta and Prentis Rollins, coloured by Hi-Fi, lettered by Sal Cipriano, while “assistant editor Rex Ogle and editor Mike Siglain are desperately looking for Andy Helfer’s phone number”

Synopsis: Booster takes a break from his hunt for Maxwell Lord to stop a rampaging giant called Brigadoom. The JLA’s Cyborg starts to lecture Booster about the properly damage his fight with Brigadoom caused, but Booster stops him and angrily refutes his dismissal to the JLI. Booster then an idea how he can prove Max’s existence to a skeptical world. He may be able to convince people about Max if he can find conclusive evidence from the past that Max existed – something not covered by Max’s hypnotic suggestions. Booster goes back in time to shortly after the formation of the Justice League International, but J’onn J’onzz instantly recognises that he’s a different Booster Gold. He can’t convince J’onn that he means no harm so he teleports away and then returns while J’onn isn’t looking. Booster sneaks into Max’s offices and steals a JLI induction video tape. Unfortunately the tape vanishes from Booster’s hands the moment he returns with it to the present day.

Continuity

Booster was saved months of healing after Rip Hunter sent him to a 28th century hospital to recover from the injuries he suffered in Justice League: Generation Lost #1.
This issue probably takes place concurrently to Justice League: Generation Lost #2 – it would be sometime after the scene where Booster talks to Batman (which is referenced by Booster in this issue), but before he returns to the New York Embassy.
Rip Hunter still doesn’t know who Maxwell Lord is.
A very drunk Booster was once interviewed for Maxem magazine and he unwisely claimed to have bedded Black Canary.
Maxwell Lord was fastidiously clean (his bathroom is spotless). The cleaning was handled by maids that Booster had assumed were there for other duties. Max also recorded and catalogued every TV appearance he ever made.

Opinion: What’s nice about this issue is that we get space to look at Booster’s feelings about Max and his return. He’s been the most ardent proponent in Generation Lost for tracking Max down, but there hasn’t been room to explore that subplot yet. It’s also interesting to see Booster become proactively involved with something and not just waiting for Rip Hunter to send him on an assignment. In this issue Booster Gold is very defensive of the JLI and even of the Max from the era. His blow up while talking with Cyborg (shown above) is a good demonstration of this and you can’t quite lose the feeling that he’s speaking for Giffen and DeMatteis. They were the original writers of the JLI and they’re paired together again for this short run on Booster Gold. The humour works well and the visit back to the JLI doesn’t feel forced. The art is great, I like it that Batisia and co. are able to get real expression into their characters (particularly during the JLI flashback).

4.0

Discuss this Tagged Booster Gold, JM DeMatteis, Keith Giffen

The Justice League International is back

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By Jason Kirk / 12 January 2010 / Comic Books & Graphic Novels, Features / 2 Comments

The Justice League International are returning. Marvel may have tried to bury the news with their Spider-Man woes, but they can’t hold back the most important comics announcement of the year: the return of the Justice League International.

Hot on the tails of yesterday’s announcement of a bi-weekly Brightest Day series by Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi, DC have just announced a second bi-weekly series called Justice League: Generation Lost to be written by Keith Giffen and Judd Winick. Justice League: Generation Lost will run on alternate weeks to Brightest Day. The preview cover to JL: Generation Lost (above) is by Tony Harris. Not only that, he tweeted that he and his colourist JD Mettler will be the cover artists of Generation Lost throughout 2010.

The JLI was a seminal Justice League run from the late 1980s, from the time we normally associate with grim-and-gritty comics. The JLI was a rejection of that ethos and focused more on character than angst. Yes, at times it did wander into sitcom or slap-stick territory, but mostly it delivered character-driven action with a sharp line in smart, witty dialogue. The JLI series was plotted by Keith Giffen and scripted by J.M. DeMatteis. For this revival DeMatteis is succeeded by Judd Winick. However, Giffen and DeMatteis and will be collaborating as the new writers on the Booster Gold book.

Giffen and Winick were interviewed by Vaneta Rogers for Newsarama. Giffen related that he was attached to the story first and that over time is morphed from Generation Lost into Justice League: Generation Lost.

Giffen: [DC Executive Editor] Dan [DiDio] and [editor] Mike Siglain shanghaied me onto this project about six months or so ago, well before it had the Justice League heading. Back then it was just plain Generation Lost and I was the only firmly committed writer on board. Six nerve racking months, and more than a few co-writer misfires, later I found out Judd had drawn the short straw and drawn it just days before the writers summit that was to kick off the project.

Keep in mind that Justice League was not on the table at this point so it’s not like Judd signed on for the project’s (alleged) cache’. Oh, and if there’s anything funnier than a jet-lagged Judd Winick, I’ve yet to find it.

And if anybody needed confirmation about what the title will actually be about:

Nrama: Wait a second, this comic will be about the Justice League International?

Giffen: Captain Atom, Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Fire, Ice, Rocket Red. It’s like the family reunion from hell and I, for one, couldn’t be happier.

Winick: Me either. I get to write JLI with Keith Giffen. It’s one of the greatest assignments I’ve ever had. Swear to God.

The question then becomes which Blue Beetle and which Rocket Red. The JLI Blue Beetle was killed by Maxwell Lord back before Infinite Crisis and a new Blue Beetle title was launched (with Giffen as co-creator). The JLI Rocket Red is also dead. Both have been seen in Blackest Night as Black Lanterns, but all bets are off post-Blackest Night. That blacked out figure at the centre of the preview cover above looks like the Martian Manhunter – another character who is running around as a Black Lantern.

I’m rather looking forward to this. The various JLI characters have individually made something of a come back over the last 5-years or so. Ice was returned to life in Birds of Prey. Guy Gardner returned to GL status in GL: Rebirth and is the co-lead in Green Lantern Corps. Booster Gold has his own book. Captain Atom – post Countdown – is back in the silver and is a co-feature in Action Comics. Fire resurfaced as an agent for Checkmate. The Martian Manhunter, Rocket Red, and Blue Beetle are dead, but we’ll see how that plays out post Blackest Night. Big Barda and Mister Miracle are presumably off with the rest of the New Gods on Earth-Kirby post-Final Crisis. Even Doctor Light (Kimiyo) has got a lot of screen time in the current Justice League.

And for the record: