Sam Kieth is an American comic book writer and illustrator, best
known as the creator of The Maxx and Zero Girl. Kieth first came to
prominence in 1984 as the inker of Matt Wagner's Mage, and a year
later as the inker of Fish Police. In 1989, he penciled the first
five issues (the "Preludes & Nocturnes" story arc) of writer Neil
Gaiman's celebrated series The Sandman and collaborated with Alan
Grant on a Penguin story in Secret Origins Special #1. He
illustrated two volumes of writer William Messner-Loebs' Epicurus
the Sage, drew an Aliens miniseries for Dark Horse Comics, and drew
The Incredible Hulk #368, which led to drawing numerous covers for
Marvel Comics Presents.
In 1993, Kieth left Marvel to create the original series The Maxx
for fledgling publisher Image Comics. The Maxx ran 35 issues, all
of which were plotted and illustrated by Kieth. William
Messner-Loebs scripted #1-15 and Alan Moore wrote #21. In 1995, The
Maxx was adapted as part of MTV's short-lived animation series
MTV's Oddities, which included Eric Fogel's The Head.
After taking a break from comics to pursue other interests, Kieth
created the series Zero Girl for DC Comics' Wildstorm imprint in
2001. He followed that with the drama Four Women later that year
and Zero Girl- Full Circle in 2003. In August 2004, he launched the
Scratch series featuring a teenage werewolf.
Kieth then wrote and drew the five-issue series Batman- Secrets,
featuring the Joker, and Batman/Lobo- Deadly Serious, a two-issue
miniseries starting in August 2007. This was followed by 2009's
Lobo- Highway to Hell, written by Scott Ian of the band Anthrax,
and the 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 two weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list, reaching
number five in the category of "Hardcover Graphic Books".
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
Press, which he has dubbed "The Trout-a-Verse". The cycle will
concern the intertwined lives of Annie (Ojo), 13 Lo (My Inner
Bimbo), 3 Dana, Nola, Otto, and others all connected by an
encounter with an urban legend known as the Magic Trout.
In the UK, he has contributed to 2000 AD's Judge Dredd and provided
several covers for the Nemesis the Warlock reprint title. In 2011,
Kieth began drawing IDW Publishing's 30 Days of Night series. 3 IDW
released the 48-page The Sam Kieth Sketchbooks- Vol. 1, followed by
a second volume in August 2010.
"It's hard to deny that the writing and art aren't some of the best
that comics have to offer." –Outright Geekery
"The Maxx allows readers to engage with ideas and concepts
that are foreign to them; isn't this one of the purposes of
literature?" –ComicWow!TV
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