The first obit I felt like a complete moron about! I missed all the tributes on Twitter for the passing of Keith Giffen last October! He was one of the funniest writers in the Eighties as he revamped Justice League into an A-list comic after the disastrous “Detroit Years.” With Kevin Maguire’s art focusing on expressive faces and writer J.M. DeMatteis filling in the details of Keith’s plots and arcs. Justice League had a multi-year run showing us what the world’s greatest superheroes were like behind closed doors as they bickered, mocked each other, ate junk food, attempted get-rich-quick schemes and obviously saved Earth from all its enemies. He was also a major contributor behind The Legion of Superheroes, LEGION, revamping Lobo into the parody of Wolverine he is today and created Ambush Bug, a hero who broke the fourth wall years before Deadpool or Harley Quinn did. With the former, he and Grant Morrison did a one-shot comic called Doom Force ridiculing Rob Liefield’s art and storytelling style. I felt there were a couple digs at Todd McFarlane’s anatomy too.
Outside of DC Comics, where he spent most of his career, he did make something of his for Image (I can’t remember what it was) and was with Marvel for a time in the Seventies. He and Bill Mantlo co-created Rocket Raccoon, the well-loved smart-mouth in MCU.
Gary Graham is a tougher name to remember. He is usually remembered faster when you saw him. For me, he was the human cop Sikes saddled with Newcomer Francisco solving crimes around LA. I always thought it was weird how the Fox TV network adapted Alien Nation, a non-hit movie from 1988 with James Caan and Mandy Patankin, into their first attempt at programming Monday nights circa 1989. Despite being a metaphor on racism, Alien Nation was better than it should’ve been. Obviously, it was cancelled after a season but survived twice as long as most Fox shows.
Gary then returned a decade later in Enterprise as Vulcan ambassador Soval, a recurring character during the show’s four-year run. I think it’s safe to say he landed the audition as he made a guest appearance on Voyager. His imdb.com page shows how Gary was a great working actor back when people could make a living being a guest on all the hits for one or two episodes. Same for movies. Speaking of movies, I remember being aghast when I saw him and Marc Alaimo (Gul Dukat in Deep Space Nine) in Hardcore when I rewatched it as an adult to see if the story was any good…it’s a hard movie to sit through if you have a good moral compass. The first time I saw this was in 1982, when I was 14 and I obviously didn’t “get it.” Certain lines just went on to be inside jokes with my friends who watched it too. At my age, I thought the story was partially implausible. Sadly, Hardcore remains pretty true and accurate when it comes to Van Nuys.
Farewell Keith and Gary. Thanks for everything! You made my favorite genres awesome!