But he actually switched to his more Alex-Toth influenced ‘mature’ style...

It always looked to me like his major influence was José Muñoz.

Anyway, I’m told it was very good and Giffen’s art was a bit Perez-y with some Kirby influences still peeking through. He’d return to the characters Post-Crisis with the “Five Years Later” era as plotter and artist, with a more mature and inky style that would veer further and further into the abstract.

Um, no.

Bit Perez-y with Kirby influences is somewhat subjective, but it's true he had a more slick style. But he actually switched to his more Alex-Toth influenced 'mature' style while doing that same run of Legion of Super Heroes with Paul Levitz, *not* when he came back to it. In fact, it was one of the most fascinating 90-degree turns an artist has made while on a book.

(And it was real unpopular at the time in 1984 let me tell you!)

Somewhere in here, he also created Lobo, a satire that people would unfortunately take seriously.

ACtually a bit earlier. He created Lobo in Omega Men with Roger Slifer. He started life as a much more generic assassin villain back then.

That alone makes him worthy of a Reason.

I love his art. I do wish he would go back to his early Legion style from time to time but there's no other artist I can think of that has reinvented his style so many times.

It might be worthwhile to note the controversy over the swipes of Jose Munoz's work http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Giffen#Controversy
It is funny how that incident had the potential to ruin his career and today there are so many artists out there that regularly swipe from other people without any real consequences.

Thanks though in all seriousness for your entry on Mr. Giffen. It's already been said a couple times, but he's not one of the creators I think of when I think of my favorites, but his work on books like Legion and JLI are some of the ones I enjoy the most.

Time to go buy me some Heckler!

He's always been one of my "secret" faves.
"Secret" only because, even though he's been everywhere in comics and touched just about everything, he still seems to hide out on the sidelines.

I'm not a DC fan, but a good chunk of the DC books I HAVE bought in my life were mostly Giffen works.

And I must admit, his run on the original DEFENDERS is probably my favorite stretch on the title.

I've got the trade paperback of the LEGION's "GREAT DARKNESS SAGA" (bought it back in the 80's, if it's not in print today in one shape or another, it's a crime) and it still wows me to this day.

Keith Giffen is a GREAT reason to love comics!

And to think... we almost lost him forever when he had a shotgun to his face while he was a repo man.

~P~
P-TOR

Then came WHERE MONSTERS DWELL, and now I love him again.

"You got those burns from your toaster?"
"It's a four-slotter."

"I've been a death merchant for over a tenth of a decade, and I think I know which way legs are supposed to bend."

"Dawn's coming up...either that, or the Rancho Kablammo nuclear power plant just had another meltdown."

And as a bonus tip, check out the sirens on the ambulance trips in the issue. (Yes, trips.)

Heckler #4 could frankly be a Reason To Love Comics all by itself.

I think BOOM! was going to publish this series but then Giffen got busy with 52 weekly and Annilihation cross-overs.

Whatever became of that series?

One of the greatest comic book plotters ever.

But wow, how lucky of a book is the Justice League to have three amazing runs like Giffen/Dematteis, Morrison and Dan Vado?