Sam Kieth
Encyclopedia
Sam Kieth is a New York Times best-selling American
comic book
writer and illustrator, best known as the creator of The Maxx
and Zero Girl
.
of Matt Wagner
's Mage
, his brushwork adding fluidity and texture to the broad strokes of Wagner's early work at Comico Comics
. In 1989, he penciled the first five issues of writer Neil Gaiman
's celebrated series The Sandman
, but felt his style was unsuited to the book (specifically saying that he "felt like Jimi Hendrix
in The Beatles
") and left, handing over to his former inker Mike Dringenberg
.
He acted as illustrator on two volumes of writer William Messner-Loebs
' Epicurus the Sage
, drew an Aliens miniseries for Dark Horse Comics
, and drew a single issue of The Incredible Hulk (#368), which led to a long-term gig drawing covers for Marvel Comics Presents
, cementing his reputation as one of the quirkiest artists in the superhero genre.
for fledgling publisher Image Comics
. The Maxx ran for 35 issues, all of which were plotted and illustrated by Kieth (though William Messner-Loebs
handled scripting duties on issues 1-15), except issue 21, which was guest-written by Alan Moore
. The series was a massive success. The first issue sold over one million copies, and was adapted into an animated
series for MTV
.
's The Head
. The series broke ground in the use of computer animation on a limited budget, and was praised for its unique "living comic book" style of animation, which retained much of Kieth's original art. MTV's The Maxx went on to win the Special Award for a TV series at the 1995 Annecy International Animation Film Festival
.
for DC
's Wildstorm imprint, along with its sequel, Zero Girl: Full Circle. He followed these up with the slice-of-life drama Four Women
, a departure from Kieth's usually surreal subject matter.
, and Batman/Lobo: Deadly Serious, a two-issue prestige format mini-series starting in August 2007. This was followed by 2009's Lobo: Highway to Hell, written by Anthrax
's Scott Ian, and the fully painted story 'Ghosts' which appeared in Batman Confidential 40-43. In 2010, Kieth wrote and illustrated the original hardcover graphic novel Arkham Asylum: Madness, which spent 2 weeks on the NYT best-seller list, reaching number 5. Another Batman
graphic novel, this one centered on the Mad Hatter
, is scheduled for release in 2011.
, which he has dubbed "The Trout-a-Verse". The books deal with a variety of themes, including faith, sexuality, couples with age differences, mother-daughter differentiation, and feminism.
Kieth says: "Each graphic novel can be read as a stand alone story, yet every book/character also representing a part of my personality." The cycle will concern the intertwined lives of Annie (Ojo), Lo (My Inner Bimbo ), Dana, Nola, Otto, and various others that have yet to be introduced... all connected by an encounter with an urban legend known as the Magic Trout". Kieth previously stated that characters from The Maxx series may appear in the Trout books, but has since decided against this idea.
released The Sam Kieth Sketchbooks: Vol. 1 48 pages of previously unseen art from sketchbooks dating back more than 25 years. Volume 2 was released in August 2010, and future volumes are planned. A re-release of the 300+ page Art of Sam Kieth is currently underway also.
s Judge Dredd
and provided several covers for the Nemesis the Warlock
reprint title.
Kieth provided the cover art for punk
band Groovie Ghoulies' 1997 single "Running with Bigfoot".
He also provided all new album art work for San Francisco metal band, Giant Squid
for their album, The Ichthyologist
released 2009.
In addition, Kieth has done cover-art/illustrations for numerous titles, including:
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
writer and illustrator, best known as the creator of The Maxx
The Maxx
The Maxx is an American comic book series created by Sam Kieth and published originally monthly by Image Comics and now collected in trade paperback collections from DC Comic's Wildstorm imprint. The comic book, which stars a character of the same name, spawned an animated series that aired on the...
and Zero Girl
Zero Girl
Zero Girl is a five-issue comic book written and illustrated by Sam Kieth, published by Homage Comics.The plot concerns high school student Amy Smootster, and her attempts to start a relationship with her guidance counselor Tim...
.
Comics career
Kieth first came to prominence in 1984 as the inkerInker
The inker is one of the two line artists in a traditional comic book or graphic novel. After a pencilled drawing is given to the inker, the inker uses black ink to produce refined outlines over the pencil lines...
of Matt Wagner
Matt Wagner
Matt Wagner is an American comic book writer and artist, best known as the creator of the series Mage and Grendel.-Career:...
's Mage
Mage (comics)
Mage is an American superhero comic book written and illustrated by Matt Wagner. Three volumes, each of 15 issues are planned; , two have been published.-Publication history:...
, his brushwork adding fluidity and texture to the broad strokes of Wagner's early work at Comico Comics
Comico Comics
Comico: The Comic Company was an American comic book publisher, headquartered in Norristown, Pennsylvania. Its best-known comics include the Robotech adaptations, the Jonny Quest continuation written by co-creator Doug Wildey, and Matt Wagner's Mage: The Hero Discovered and Grendel...
. In 1989, he penciled the first five issues of writer Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
's celebrated series The Sandman
Sandman (Vertigo)
The Sandman is a comic book series written by Neil Gaiman and published by DC Comics. Beginning with issue #47, it was placed under the imprint Vertigo. It chronicles the adventures of Dream , who rules over the world of dreams. It ran for 75 issues from January 1989 until March 1996...
, but felt his style was unsuited to the book (specifically saying that he "felt like Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
in The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
") and left, handing over to his former inker Mike Dringenberg
Mike Dringenberg
Mike Dringenberg is a German/American comic book artist best known for his work on DC/Vertigo's Sandman series with writer Neil Gaiman after original artist Sam Kieth's departure.-Biography:Dringenberg was born in Laon, France...
.
He acted as illustrator on two volumes of writer William Messner-Loebs
William Messner-Loebs
William Messner-Loebs is an American comic book writer and artist from Michigan, also known as Bill Loebs and Bill Messner-Loebs...
' Epicurus the Sage
Epicurus the Sage
Epicurus the Sage was the name of a 2-issue limited series written by William Messner-Loebs, with art by Sam Kieth. Each issue was bound in a graphic novel format, and was 48 pages long, without advertisements...
, drew an Aliens miniseries for Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
, and drew a single issue of The Incredible Hulk (#368), which led to a long-term gig drawing covers for Marvel Comics Presents
Marvel Comics Presents
Marvel Comics Presents was an American comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics originally from 1988 to 1995; it returned for a second volume in 2007-2008.-Volume 1:The first volume was released on a biweekly basis and lasted for 175 issues...
, cementing his reputation as one of the quirkiest artists in the superhero genre.
The Maxx
In 1993, Kieth left Marvel to create the original series The MaxxThe Maxx
The Maxx is an American comic book series created by Sam Kieth and published originally monthly by Image Comics and now collected in trade paperback collections from DC Comic's Wildstorm imprint. The comic book, which stars a character of the same name, spawned an animated series that aired on the...
for fledgling publisher Image Comics
Image Comics
Image Comics is a United States comic book publisher. It was founded in 1992 by high-profile illustrators as a venue where creators could publish their material without giving up the copyrights to the characters they created, as creator-owned properties. It was immediately successful, and remains...
. The Maxx ran for 35 issues, all of which were plotted and illustrated by Kieth (though William Messner-Loebs
William Messner-Loebs
William Messner-Loebs is an American comic book writer and artist from Michigan, also known as Bill Loebs and Bill Messner-Loebs...
handled scripting duties on issues 1-15), except issue 21, which was guest-written by Alan Moore
Alan Moore
Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...
. The series was a massive success. The first issue sold over one million copies, and was adapted into an animated
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
series for MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
.
MTV's The Maxx Animated Series
In 1995, with Kieth's blessing and creative assistance, The Maxx was adapted as part of MTV's short-lived animation series MTV's Oddities, which also included Eric FogelEric Fogel
Eric Fogel is an American director, writer, producer and voice actor who is best known as the creator of the TV series Celebrity Deathmatch. He also created the cult series The Head and Starveillance and also directed several episodes of Daria....
's The Head
The Head
The Head began as an ongoing series that originally ran under the title MTV's Oddities, on MTV. It has begun airing on MTV2 in August 2009. It was released on DVD on December 15, 2009.-Plot:...
. The series broke ground in the use of computer animation on a limited budget, and was praised for its unique "living comic book" style of animation, which retained much of Kieth's original art. MTV's The Maxx went on to win the Special Award for a TV series at the 1995 Annecy International Animation Film Festival
Annecy International Animated Film Festival
The Annecy International Animation Film Festival was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of June in the town of Annecy, France. Initially occurring every two years, the festival became annual in 1998...
.
Zero Girl and Four Women
After taking a break from comics to pursue other interests, Kieth created the surreal series Zero GirlZero Girl
Zero Girl is a five-issue comic book written and illustrated by Sam Kieth, published by Homage Comics.The plot concerns high school student Amy Smootster, and her attempts to start a relationship with her guidance counselor Tim...
for DC
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
's Wildstorm imprint, along with its sequel, Zero Girl: Full Circle. He followed these up with the slice-of-life drama Four Women
Four Women
Four Women is an American five-part limited series published by Homage Comics. Written and drawn by Sam Kieth, it deals with four female friends of varying ages—Donna, Bev, Marion and Cindy—and a road trip during which they are attacked and sexually assaulted by two men...
, a departure from Kieth's usually surreal subject matter.
Batman & DC
Kieth then wrote and drew the five-issue series Batman: Secrets, featuring his own grotesque take on the JokerJoker (comics)
The Joker is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain published by DC Comics. He is the archenemy of Batman, having been directly responsible for numerous tragedies in Batman's life, including the paralysis of Barbara Gordon and the death of Jason Todd, the second Robin...
, and Batman/Lobo: Deadly Serious, a two-issue prestige format mini-series starting in August 2007. This was followed by 2009's Lobo: Highway to Hell, written by Anthrax
Anthrax (band)
Anthrax is an American heavy metal band from New York City, formed in 1981. Founded by guitarists Scott Ian and Danny Lilker, the band has since released ten studio albums and 20 singles, and an EP featuring Public Enemy. The band was one of the most popular of the 1980s thrash metal scene...
's Scott Ian, and the fully painted story 'Ghosts' which appeared in Batman Confidential 40-43. In 2010, Kieth wrote and illustrated the original hardcover graphic novel Arkham Asylum: Madness, which spent 2 weeks on the NYT best-seller list, reaching number 5. Another Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
graphic novel, this one centered on the Mad Hatter
Mad Hatter (comics)
The Mad Hatter is a fictional supervillain and enemy of Batman in the DC Universe. He is modeled after the Hatter from Lewis Carroll's novel, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, a character often called the "Mad Hatter" in adaptations of Carroll. He made his first appearance in Batman #49 in October...
, is scheduled for release in 2011.
The Trout-a-Verse
Ojo comprises the first, and My Inner Bimbo the second, in a cycle of original limited series or graphic novels to be published by Oni PressOni Press
Oni Press is an American independent comic book publisher based in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1997 by Bob Schreck and Joe Nozemack with the goal of publishing the kinds of comics and graphic novels they themselves would want to read...
, which he has dubbed "The Trout-a-Verse". The books deal with a variety of themes, including faith, sexuality, couples with age differences, mother-daughter differentiation, and feminism.
Kieth says: "Each graphic novel can be read as a stand alone story, yet every book/character also representing a part of my personality." The cycle will concern the intertwined lives of Annie (Ojo), Lo (My Inner Bimbo ), Dana, Nola, Otto, and various others that have yet to be introduced... all connected by an encounter with an urban legend known as the Magic Trout". Kieth previously stated that characters from The Maxx series may appear in the Trout books, but has since decided against this idea.
Art Books
IDW PublishingIDW Publishing
IDW Publishing, also known as Idea + Design Works, LLC and IDW, is an American publisher of comic books and comic strip collections. The company was founded in 1999 and has been awarded the title "Publisher of the Year Under 5% Market Share" for the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 by Diamond Comic...
released The Sam Kieth Sketchbooks: Vol. 1 48 pages of previously unseen art from sketchbooks dating back more than 25 years. Volume 2 was released in August 2010, and future volumes are planned. A re-release of the 300+ page Art of Sam Kieth is currently underway also.
Other work
In Britain, he has contributed to 2000 AD2000 AD (comic)
2000 AD is a weekly British science fiction-oriented comic. As a comics anthology it serialises a number of separate stories each issue and was first published by IPC Magazines in 1977, the first issue dated 26 February. IPC then shifted the title to its Fleetway comics subsidiary which was sold...
s Judge Dredd
Judge Dredd
Judge Joseph Dredd is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running . Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner...
and provided several covers for the Nemesis the Warlock
Nemesis the Warlock
Nemesis the Warlock is a story created by writer Pat Mills and artist Kevin O'Neill which appeared in the pages of the weekly comics anthology 2000 AD. The title character, a fire-breathing demonic alien, fights against the fanatical Torquemada, Grand Master of the Terran Empire in Earth's distant...
reprint title.
Kieth provided the cover art for punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band Groovie Ghoulies' 1997 single "Running with Bigfoot".
He also provided all new album art work for San Francisco metal band, Giant Squid
Giant Squid (band)
Giant Squid is a post-metal band from San Francisco, California, currently signed to Translation Loss and Vega Vinyl. They were previously signed to The End Records.-Early years :...
for their album, The Ichthyologist
The Ichthyologist
The Ichthyologist is the second studio album by post-metal band Giant Squid.It was released on February 3, 2009, independently by the band, limited to 1,000 copies in special packaging....
released 2009.
Personal Life
Kieth met his wife when he was 15 years old and she was 35. He reports that although they lived together, he did not speak openly about their relationship until he was 18 years old and it was legal.Artist–writer
- I Before E (collection of Kieth's short stories)
- The MaxxThe MaxxThe Maxx is an American comic book series created by Sam Kieth and published originally monthly by Image Comics and now collected in trade paperback collections from DC Comic's Wildstorm imprint. The comic book, which stars a character of the same name, spawned an animated series that aired on the...
- Friends of Maxx
- Legs
- Zero GirlZero GirlZero Girl is a five-issue comic book written and illustrated by Sam Kieth, published by Homage Comics.The plot concerns high school student Amy Smootster, and her attempts to start a relationship with her guidance counselor Tim...
- Zero Girl: Full Circle
- Four WomenFour WomenFour Women is an American five-part limited series published by Homage Comics. Written and drawn by Sam Kieth, it deals with four female friends of varying ages—Donna, Bev, Marion and Cindy—and a road trip during which they are attacked and sexually assaulted by two men...
(graphic novel revised) - Wolverine/Hulk
- Scratch (featuring BatmanBatmanBatman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
) - Ojo
- Batman: Secrets
- My Inner Bimbo
- Batman/Lobo: Deadly Serious
- Sam Kieth Sketchbook, Vol. 1
- Batman Confidential (issues #40-43)
- Arkham Asylum: Madness Published 29 June 2010. ISBN 1401223370
- Sam Kieth Sketchbook, Vol. 2
Co-writer only
- PopbotPopbotPopbot is the name of an award-winning prestige format comic book written and illustrated by Australian, Ashley Wood.In 2004 IDW, in association with Sideshow Toys, produced the extremely popular limited edition Popbot polystone statue designed by Ashley Wood.-Movie:In September 2006 Ashley Wood...
(original series illustrated by and co-written with Ashley WoodAshley WoodAshley Wood is an Australian comic book artist and illustrator who is well known for his cover art, concept design and his work as an art director....
; features cameo by the Maxx)
Artist only
- Adolescent Radioactive Blackbelt Hamsters (#6-9)
- Mage (inker)
- Epicurus the Sage (written by William Messner-Loebs)
- The Sandman #1-5 (DC, 1989)
- AliensAliens (comic book)The Aliens comic books were first published by Dark Horse Comics in 1988 and set in the Alien fictional universe.Some stories often feature the company Weyland-Yutani and the United States Colonial Marines. Originally intended as a sequel to James Cameron's Aliens, the first mini-series features...
: Earth War (retitled Aliens, Book 3: Female War) - Marvel Comics Presents (issues #85-92, written by Peter David, reprinted as Wolverine: Blood Hungry)
- Judge Dredd: I Was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Priest Killer (in Judge Dredd Megazine vol.1 #20, 1992)
- Venom
- Peter Parker: Spider Man
- Lobo: Highway to Hell (written by Scott IanScott IanScott Ian Rosenfeld , better known by the stage name Scott Ian, is an American musician, best known as the rhythm & lead guitarist for the heavy metal band Anthrax. Ian is also the guitarist and a founding member of the crossover thrash band Stormtroopers of Death...
)
In addition, Kieth has done cover-art/illustrations for numerous titles, including:
- Nightmare on Elm Street
- Marvel Comics Presents
- Amazing Heroes
- Wizard
- Detective Comics
- Marvel Tales
- Zen: Intergalactic Ninja
- Cadillacs and Dinosaurs
- B-sides (also known as The Craptacular B-Sides)
- Gay Comics