Creature Commandos was something I created when I first got into the business. I cooked it up as a pitch for Weird War Tales maybe six months after I started selling stories to the DC anthology books.
Keith was one of the most brilliantly creative humans I’ve ever known. A curmudgeon with a heart of gold. A generous collaborator. An old, dear friend. And, as my wife observed, “He was like a character out of a Keith Giffen story.”
Safe travels, Keith. You will be missed.
35 years ago today. Thanks to mad genius Keith Giffen, the brilliant
@maguirekevin
, and our extraordinary editor Andy Helfer for one of the greatest gigs ever.
I can mercilessly pick apart plot holes in books, movies, TV, but if the work as a whole clicks for me—touches, enlightens, inspires—I can forgive almost anything. In the end it's the WHOLE not the HOLE that matters.
And while we're raising a glass to Stan, let's raise a glass to the genius of Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. Together those three men reshaped our popular culture and fired our collective imagination. 'Nuff Said!
Jack Kirby was born August 28, 1917. Without Kirby, there might not even BE a comic book business today. We all stand in his shadow. We all build on his foundation. Not just a brilliant artist but one of the greatest storytellers of the 20th century.
I love this quote from the Kevin Conroy obit in the Times:“I began to speak, and a voice I didn’t recognize came out. It was a throaty, husky, rumbling sound. It seemed to roar from 30 years of frustration, confusion, denial, love, yearning.I felt Batman rising from deep within.”
Without Steve Ditko there'd be no Ted Kord, which means no Beetle and Booster anchoring JLI. Without Steve Ditko there'd be no Kraven the Hunter, which means no Kraven's Last Hunt.
We build our careers on the backs of giants.
I've always felt that making Peter Parker's parents super-spies was the one major stumble Stan Lee made in an otherwise flawless run of Spidey stories. It completely upends Peter's everyman status.
It's Steve Ditko's birthday!
Ditko was a true visionary who exploded our imaginations, conjuring wonders never seen before on the comic book page. (Considering my history with both Blue Beetle and Spider-Man, I can safely safe S.D. had a massive impact on my career.)
As wonderful as many of the comics-based movies and TV shows are, there's an intimacy that a comic book creates that can't be matched. As we read, a very personal holographic movie unfolds in our minds. And that's what makes the comics experience unique.
Wishing a very happy birthday to the brilliant Sal Buscema! Working with Sal on SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN remains one of the highlights of my career. A great artist and a great guy.
Let me add that I think the DC TV/movie universe is in great hands with James Gunn. He's a fan. He's understands and respects the source material and the creators.
Happy Anniversary Justice League International!
I salute the mad genius of Keith Giffen, the amazing
@maguirekevin
(whose one-of-a-kind art set the tone for the talented crew of artists that followed), our extraordinary editor Andy Helfer, who made the whole thing possible...
Wishing a VERY happy birthday to the great Sal Buscema. Sal has left his mark on every corner of the MU and it was both an honor and a pleasure working with him on Spec. Spider-Man.
Here's a peek behind the curtain of our collaboration:
Sixty years ago a radioactive spider took a bite out of a kid named Peter Parker and the pop culture universe was changed forever. In honor of Spider-Man Day, here's an essay I wrote about the character's history. Enjoy!
Twenty-six years ago today I married my sweet Diane and my entire universe transformed in magical, miraculous ways. Here's to many more years of magic and miracles! Happy anniversary, Diane!
Twenty-seven years ago today I married my sweet Diane and my entire universe shifted in magical and miraculous ways. Here's to the next twenty-seven! Happy anniversary, Diane!
As a kid, comics entertained me, nurtured me, provided an escape from family dysfunction, exploded my imagination, inspired my creative self, and helped transform me into a voracious reader. For that alone, the gods of comics deserve my eternal gratitude.
It's Batman co-creator Bill Finger's birthday! For many years Finger was the single most underappreciated creator in comics history—hidden in Bob Kane's shadow.
No Finger, no Batman. No Batman...and the comic book and pop culture landscape would be very different today.
Happy to see the first part of my AMAZING SPIDER-MAN run in this new Epic Collection.
Maybe next year
@Marvel
will finally get around to collecting my SPEC. SPIDER-MAN run with Sal Buscema...?
I'm constantly amazed that, after more than 30 years, people continue to read, discuss, and dissect KRAVEN'S LAST HUNT. Believe me: When we were creating that tale, none of us had the faintest idea that anyone would remember it—let alone consider it a classic—three decades later.
Just because something doesn’t resonate with you, doesn’t mean it isn’t good. You may not connect to a specific comic/movie/book, you may even actively dislike it, but you can still recognize that it has value, sometimes great value, to others.
Happy Anniversary (a couple of days late) to BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD. I wrote eight episodes of the show and it remains one of my all-time favorite animation gigs...thanks, in no small part, to Michael Jelenic and
@JTuckerAnimator
.
These days we're often way too invested in immediately dissecting movies, TV, comics, music. Not giving art room to breathe. Not giving stories time to complete. And not giving ourselves some distance to let it all breathe and settle in so we can discover what we really think.
A gentle reminder: Don’t disparage one creator’s work in order to praise another's. Saying “You’re the best artist to ever draw Potato Man” is one thing.” Adding “And you’re so much better than that hack, Joe Blow” is another. Focus on the positive and put the negative aside.
RIP to Tom Lyle, a signature Spider-Man artist of the 1990s, in addition to all the outstanding comics work he did beyond that. Lyle designed the original Scarlet Spider costume, and I was very glad we were able to include some of his early sketches in our Spider-Man book.
If this is correct, well...I'm gobsmacked. Been waiting for this for YEARS. (And I assume it includes the Giffen mini and the two years of Fate I did with
@shawncomicart
.)
James and I had a very nice conversation about Creature Commandos and other things...but that's all it was: a pleasant conversation. I'm not involved in any upcoming projects.
@JMDeMatteis
I hope that this is true? If James is chatting to you then there will hopefully be many good DC movies coming. Your stories have always been the best, so even if they are just taking inspiration from you, then they are on the right track.
Today is the anniversary of the debut the BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD animated series.
I wrote 8 episodes of B&B and the show remains one of my absolute favorite TV gigs, thanks, in no small part, to
@jtuckeranimator
, who guided the B&B ship so expertly.
Happy Anniversary!
It's Jim Aparo's birthday! I always thought of Aparo as the Sal Buscema of DC: a brilliant, and absolutely dependable, artist/storyteller who never got enough of the high praise he deserved. Everything he touched was gold.
Today's the birthday of one of the most creative humans I've ever had the pleasure to work with: Keith Giffen. Keith is the Jack Kirby of my generation of comics creators: a brilliant writer/artist with a limitless imagination. Happy Birthday, Keith!
Just heard the heartbreaking news that John Romita, Sr. has died. He was the artist who introduced me to the Spider-Man. One of the great joys of my career was working with him on a story called "The Kiss." A wonderful artist, a masterful storyteller...and an incredibly nice man.
Never throw away your ideas, never give up on them. There's your timing and there's the STORY'S timing and the story knows better than you do. I've had projects that have manifested almost instantly and others that have taken 25 years to make it into the world. Trust the process.
Today is also Jack Kirby's birthday. Without Kirby's storytelling genius, there probably wouldn't be a comic book business today—and all of us who toil in the fields of imagination owe him an incalculable debt. Happy Birthday, Jack...wherever in this crackling cosmos you are!
Early in my career, Jim Shooter hired me to help with a Marvel lawsuit. My job? Sitting in Stan Lee’s office, watching Web Woman cartoons, noting similarities between WW and Spider-Man. That's right: I was being PAID to hang out in Stan’s office and watch cartoons! Nerd heaven!
A star who often lingered behind the scenes, Keith Giffen was one of the major players of superhero comics in the American direct market for nearly half a century. Andrew Farago
@andrewfarago
unpacks the work of Giffen, who died earlier this month.
I was amused and delighted to see the nation of Bialya referenced in WW 84. 30+ years ago, as a joke, I named the country after a bialy (a traditional Jewish bread; like a bagel, but softer)—and there it is in a major motion picture. The gods of Yiddish are surely smiling.
Neal Kirby's powerful comments about Captain America got me thinking about Steve Rogers. The Cap I know, and wrote, doesn't represent the American reality—he represents the American dream: the highest, the best, in us. Truth, integrity, compassion.
Well, apparently Giffen,
@maguirekevin
and I are thanked in the BLACK ADAM end credits (along with many other DC creators) but, not having seen the movie, I have no idea why!
#OnThisDay
21 Years ago, November 17th, 2001 -
Justice League premiered on Television!
Thank you to all the cast & crew behind this Iconic and amazing series.
#JLReunion
Happy birthday, Jack Kirby—wherever in the multiverse you are. Your amazing work only gets better with time and my gratitude for your impact on our popular culture, and my life, can't be fully expressed in words. You were, and will always remain, the King.
Over the years, I've heard people try to define, and limit, what comic books are. But comics are infinite: Put words and pictures in a pile, shove a stick of dynamite in the pile, light it and…BOOM! Wherever it all lands, that’s a comic book. Don't let anyone define it for you.
When I started in the business, there were certain editors who had my respect the instant I walked in the room, simply because of who they were, what they'd accomplished. Denny O'Neil was one of those editors. How fortunate I was to learn from one of the very best.
¿Cómo es que esto nunca se había compilado? Gracias
@PaniniComicsEsp
. Después de leer los arcos narrativos que desarrollaron
@JMDeMatteis
y Sal Buscema en esta etapa, la conclusión es: Así es como se debe escribir y dibujar una historia de Spider-Man. Este libro es una joya.
This KRAVENS LAST HUNT promo poster went out to comics shops when the story first appeared in 1987. A few years ago, a kind, generous fan gave me his copy—and I've finally framed it. Thirty-five years in the making!
Sorry to hear that the brilliant MAD MAGAZINE caricaturist Mort Drucker has passed away. I was crazy about MAD as a kid and Drucker's work was a major reason why.
Was recently reminded that my first published work at Marvel was this. Yes, a comic book adaptation of a movie musical. But you take what's offered, give it your very best, and build on that. "No thanks," doesn't enter into the equation when you're starting your career.
I was around in the 90s when the axe dropped, big time, at Marvel. People I'd worked with for years, people who loved their jobs and adored comics, were suddenly bounced out. It was heartbreaking. To see it happening again at DC during a pandemic? Even more heartbreaking.
It's Steve Gerber's birthday. Gerber was a mold-breaker: He stepped into the MU, looked around at the towering structures that Lee, Kirby and Ditko had erected, bowed in deference to their collective genius, and then started kicking those towers down with ferocious glee.
Just heard that Michael Zulli passed away. Michael and I worked on a number of projects together in the late 90s/early 2000s. He wasn't just a brilliant artist, he was a brilliant man: deep, passionate, philosophical. Condolences to his family. Safe travels, Michael.
I don’t mind a crawl through the darkness—storytelling is often about facing our demons—but, in the end, I need a story to bring me to the light, to remind me that life has meaning, purpose, value; that the universe is, ultimately, a positive, loving place. That there’s hope.
The fine folks at Panini Comics Spain sent me an incredible box of (mostly) Spider-Man-related goodies...including the Spanish omnibus collecting my SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN run with Sal Buscema.
(See
@Marvel
? It's easy!)
Dan Green wasn't just one of our best inkers, he was a wonderful illustrator—as evidenced by his extraordinary work on INTO SHAMBALLA. He was also an old friend.
A great loss, a great sadness, for all who knew him.
Speaking of birthdays: Happy birthday, Jack Kirby—wherever in the multiverse you are. Your amazing work only gets better with time and my gratitude for your impact on our popular culture, and my life, can't be fully expressed in words. You were, and will always remain, the King.
Legendary comics writer
@JMDeMatteis
returns to Marvel to tell brand-new adventures of Ben Reilly’s time as Spider-Man! 🕸️ Web up 'Ben Reilly: Spider-Man' in January:
...and he went for it, brought to visual life by the great Pat Broderick.
Amazing that, after all these years…decades!...these obscure characters from so early in my career are having a comeback. (In what form? Time will tell. And, no, I have no insider info.)