Sam Kieth, a comic book cartoonist who created The Maxx, "a surreal series about characters leading dual lives--in the real world and in a subconscious realm--and who co-created the popular series Sandman," died March 15, the New York Times reported. He was 63. Kieth's "bold art aesthetic and exploration of mature themes" gave The Maxx--which debuted in 1993 in Image Comics and ran for five years--an adult edge.
MTV adapted The Maxx for a 13-episode animated series in 1995. At the time, Kieth explained the general concept behind the series in an interview with Wizard: "The closest thing I could think of was that it's Don Quixote, a person stuck in an unpleasant real world who dreams of a world where he has control and power, but keeps returning to unpleasant reality."
Kieth earned early recognition for his work in an issue of The Incredible Hulk and his depiction of Wolverine in Marvel Comics Presents, a comic book anthology series. He was subsequently recruited to Image Comics by co-founder Jim Lee in 1992.
"Sam had hit big with his rendition of Wolverine in Marvel Comics Presents," Lee said. "I thought it would polarize the audience. Most people loved it because it was so different and original."
Noting that the goal of Image Comics was for its artists and writers to have creator control of their characters and to enjoy the financial rewards, Lee said, "Sam was the one who lived the dream... I had such admiration and respect for what he did--and a tinge of jealousy."
Kieth wanted to be a comic book artist from an early age and dropped out of high school in 10th grade. As the Times recalled, he began phoning comic book editors in New York, asking if work was available. His first professional comic book credit, published by Comico in 1983, was a 10-page story, which he wrote and drew, about a killer rabbit. He found more regular work on the series Mage, written and drawn by Matt Wagner. Kieth inked several issues, beginning in 1985.
His initial breakthrough came in 1988 with the fantasy series Sandman, written by Neil Gaiman. Kieth, artist Mike Dringenberg, and Gaiman together created the series. Kieth drew the first five issues of Sandman. In a 2010 interview with Digital Spy, he said, "All I did was draw a guy in a black robe, and they said, 'Yes, that's the character,' so I got the credit for it."
Gaiman recalled being with his editor Karen Berger when she made the phone call to offer Kieth the Sandman assignment: "We were in England, and the next thing I know, she's making an international call to America, which at the time was very fancy.... I just remember having the strangest conversation with Sam because he's like, 'Okay, who dropped out? You don't really want me.' I could never tell if it was low self-esteem in reality or low self-esteem being deployed as a weapon."
In 2013, Kieth won Comic-Con's Inkpot Award for lifetime achievement, and his work was the subject of a 30-year retrospective at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco.