My favorite Sam Kieth work, aside of course from his magnum opus, The Maxx, was this odd two-issue series released by Fantagraphics in 1991. It collected together short strips, art pieces, and other stuff by Kieth, all in glorious black and white, and affixed with a title that, to this day, helps me remember how to spell his name properly.
Speaking of The Maxx…just the other day, I was writing here about Spawn, and how people who haven’t been around comics in a while always bring it up. The Maxx is brought up nearly as often, and it’s not just people remembering the short-run cartoon that aired on MTV in the ’90s. They’re specifically asking about the comic book, which casts quite the long shadow.
The Maxx nominally had the trappings of a superhero comic, but in Kieth’s hands (with scripting from William Messner-Loebs on most issues, and a guest-script by Alan Moore) it was a tale about trauma, abuse, mental health, and the very nature of imagination and reality. It was weird, it was funny, it was emotional, and it was unique. And to this very day, when I get issues of this series in the shop, they sell out almost immediately. Maybe someday we can get a collection of this work that’ll stay in print longer than a few minutes…the demand is there.
He had a pretty good run of covers for Marvel Comics Presents, sometimes illustrating work inside as well. He drew an issue of Peter David’s Incredible Hulk, he did the occasional stand-alone mini (Four Women and Zero Girl come immediately to mind), a series of projects for Oni Press, multiple Lobo comics, and he eventually returned to the Maxx with, of all things, a strange Batman team-up. Oh, and let’s not forget the wonderful Epicurus the Sage (written by Messner-Loebs).
Pretty much every time Kieth touched pen to paper, no matter how mainstream-seeming the project appears, you were guaranteed a solidly-drawn weird time. “One of a kind” is kinda of an empty description in most cases, since we’re all unique in our own ways, but I think if it could be said about anyone, it can be said about the artistic talent of Sam Kieth.
So long, Sam.
Never the first thing people bring up about Kieth, but he also did some really fun Batman stories.
William Messner-Loebs scripted almost every story of the first 24 issues for the Maxx. The lone Alan Moore scripted issue being one of only two issues Messner-Loebs didn’t script out of the first twenty-four.
Sam Kieth is my second favourite comic artist, after Bill Sienkiewicz. You knew that a comic with Kieth artwork was going to be different and unique. I’d rank The Maxx, My Inner Bimbo,,Four Women, and Zero Girl as his best work.
The Maxx — the most ridiculous comic that ever made me cry
RIP
My intro to Kieth was his inks on Mage: The Hero Discovered.
Chris V – edited the post to reflect Messner-Loebs’ contribution. Sorry, thought he wrote fewer issues than that.
TIP – Meant to mention that. Mage was my first exposure to him, too.
Very lovely elegy, Mike. Thank you.
Is any of Kieth’s stuff still in print?
The Maxx was one of the most important comics of the ‘90s. Kieth’s art was amazingly weird, but among the most expressive and unique styles in the medium. He had so much empathy for weirdos, losers, and even a monster like Mr. Gone. Sara was one of the most believable teenagers in any medium. I showed the Maxx to a few friends that weren’t comic book readers, and they ended up fans of the series.
I bought nearly every Sam Kieth comic released since, and he’s one of my favorite cartoonists. I’m glad I got to meet him at a con about 10 years ago. His passing is a huge loss to the art form.
Matthew – the Batman/Maxx is reprint is still available, it looks like, and of course there’s his work on Sandman, which has fallen a bit out of favor through no fault of Kieth’s. That’s all I can find.
DC really needs to reprint Epicurus the Sage again.
The Aliens: Earth War mini-series with artwork by Kieth should be available in a Marvel Omnibus edition. I would assume that the Wolverine: Blood Hungry (1st appearance of Cyber) serial from Marvel Comics Presents must be available in some Wolverine collection, although I’m having trouble finding where right now.
I’m not sure if that’s what Matthew is looking for, but both of them are surprisingly good. I mean, of course the artwork would be excellent, as it’s Kieth. “Earth War” is one of the higher-end Alien comics, with some decent social commentary, and the Wolverine story is surreal and fun…like you’d expect from a comic by Peter David and Kieth.
I feel like I have Aliens: Earth War pop in and out of my stock on a pretty regular basis, it should be relatively easy to track down. (I even have the old Dark Horse hardcover in stock at the moment.)
I was more asking about the creator owned stuff, but good to know about the availability of Batman/Maxx and Aliens: Earth.
I love Kieth’s work and wish we had gotten more of it.
But I will admit he was kind of limited–his art worked best for “darker” characters. His Venom? Great! Spider-Man? Not so much. Batman? Fantastic! Superman? No, thank you. Hulk? Give me more! FF? Never want to see it again.
It sounds facetious, but he drew Wolverine’s body hair like nobody else. I’ve always been pretty indifferent to Wolvie, but if Kieth had drawn his book, I’d have bought it religiously.
Perhaps the one positive thing to come from his passing will be someone trying to get quality collections of his material published.
Yeah, the creator-owned stuff is all out of print, far as I know. Hopefully someone will get that stuff back in print.
It would be a nice thing for DC to collect all the work he did for them in a nice omnibus and donate a good percentage of the profits to his family.
“Is any of Kieth’s stuff still in print”
Sandman certainly still is. He might have some Hulk material in the Peter David-era reptints. And MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS should be available as back issues VERY cheaply.
“but he drew Wolverine’s body hair like nobody else”
He made Wolvie look barbaric, which is very appropriate!
He wasn’t one of my favorite artists, but he was very distinct, and certainly talented.
“It would be a nice thing for DC to collect all the work he did for them in a nice omnibus and donate a good percentage of the profits to his family”
THIS! and Marvel doing one, also! Even a fairly cheap TPB from each company, with his better known/most popular stuff in each.
I’m surprised the MAXX isn’t still in print, it seems to have a solid cult following, all these years later.
@Snark Shark – it’s bananas, IDW made the effort to do a full reprinting of the entire series in single issues, recolored, then put them in fancy hardcovers. They stayed in print for about 45 minutes and are now OOP and super pricey in the aftermarket.
Curious they didn’t do TPBS as well, those being more affordable.