The Art Institute of Zwen: Happy Birthday, Keith Giffen!

Welcome to Keith Giffen Week here at the Legion of Super Bloggers
....because today is his birthday!
Happy Birthday, Keith Giffen! 

Keith Giffen was born on November 30, 1952. So today is his birthday! All this week we here at The Legion of Super-Bloggers want to celebrate another one of the artists who is directly responsible for the continued existence of the Legion of Super-Heroes!

Keith Giffen got the assignment to draw Legion of Super-Heroes as the back-up artist to Pat Broderick. However, Pat quickly moved over to FIRESTORM, and Keith moved up to be the main artist. He and Paul Levitz seemed to instantly click, creating some of the most well-known stories in Legion history: chief among them The Great Darkness Saga and The Alternate Universe Celebration (LSH #300). After drawing a fantastic Legion poster (reproduced below), Giffen left the ongoing series, citing space fatigue...but not before plotting the death of Karate Kid in the debut story arc of the Baxter Legion of Super-Heroes (v3) series. Karate Kid is his announced least-favorite Legionnaire. His favorite is Matter-Eater Lad. Go figure.

Keith came back several years later just in time to destroy the Legion Universe, first with God-awful costumes, then The Magic War and then with The Five Year Later Legion. This series in particular is well-remembered by fans, who tended to either love it or hate it.

To kick off this week-long celebration, here are some wonderful Keith Giffen pieces. Some are well-known, and some are more rare. All are beautiful.

Keith's first Legion story (LSH 285)

Keith's first Legion cover (LSH 287)

Legion Anniversary (LSH #300)

Keith's Massive Legion Poster

Keith's 5YL Poster

 As of today, Keith's LATEST Legion work (LSHv7 #18)

One page isn't enough to showcase all of Keith's great art....so check our facebook page for more every day this week. And be back here on Friday for some *hot* Keith Giffen Legion art, and of course, another review of Keith's 5YL Legion of Super-Heroes!