{"id":539853,"date":"2026-03-23T05:02:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T05:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/539853\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T05:02:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T05:02:11","slug":"rip-sam-kieth-comic-book-artist-and-sandman-co-creator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/539853\/","title":{"rendered":"RIP Sam Kieth, Comic Book Artist and ‘Sandman’ Co-Creator"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sam Kieth, the artist who helped Neil Gaiman<\/a> begin his\u00a0Sandman\u00a0comics<\/a>, and separately created\u00a0The Maxx\u00a0and\u00a0Zero Girl\u00a0books, passed away on Saturday. He was 63 years old.<\/p>\n

The initial news was broken by Bleeding Cool<\/a>, who revealed he\u2019d been diagnosed with the degenerative disease Lewy Body Dementia. Born January 11, 1963, the artist started as an inker for Matt Wagner\u2019s Mage and Steve Moncuse\u2019s\u00a0Fish Police\u00a0in the 80s. His big break would come courtesy of DC in 1989: after pencilling the first five issues of the aforementioned Sandman, he teamed with\u00a0Batman\u00a0writer Alan Grant for a Penguin story that same year.<\/p>\n

Like other comic artists, Kieth eventually decided to make his own original comic, which ended up being\u00a0The Maxx. Released in 1993 for Image Comics, the series lasted for 35 issues over five years, all of which were drawn and plotted out by him, with Alan Moore and William Messner-Loebs writing issues throughout its run.\u00a0The Maxx\u00a0was later adapted for TV in the\u00a0MTV Oddities\u00a0animated series. There was a point in 2019<\/a> where it looked like Channing Tatum might help get a new adaptation off the ground, but those plans apparently fell through.<\/p>\n

In addition to drawing (or writing) at DC and Marvel\u2014mostly Batman and Lobo stories for the former; Wolverine, Hulk, and Spider-Man at the latter\u2014Kieth\u2019s career included short stints at indie publishers like Oni Press and Dark Horse. He also did work outside comics: specifically, he co-wrote the pilot to \u201cNo Smoking,\u201d the pilot to the Cartoon Network series\u00a0Cow & Chicken, whose creator, David Feiss, is his cousin. Prior to his death, Kieth was attached to a revival of the\u00a0Negative Burn<\/a>\u00a0anthology comic, which reached funding<\/a> in February.<\/p>\n

It cannot be overstated how weird & groundbreaking THE MAXX was upon release. It was this crazy culture grenade, bridging the Venn diagram between mainstream comics & Alt (not indie) comics. In an era of anti-heroes, The Maxx satirized that, redefining what mainstream comics could be. RIP Sam Kieth.<\/p>\n

[image or embed]<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 C. Robert Cargill (@crobertcargill.bsky.social<\/a>) March 21, 2026 at 8:32 PM<\/a><\/p>\n

Amongst the comics community, creators remembered Kieth as one who \u201cshaped a whole generation of comic book readers and retailers and creators, myself included,\u201d said Ms. Marvel co-creator G. Willow Wilson<\/a>. \u201cThere was nothing else like [The Maxx] at the time. Completely unique.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking about\u00a0The Maxx, horror movie writer C. Robert Cargill<\/a> called it a \u201cweird and groundbreaking\u201d book for when it came out. \u201cIt was this crazy culture grenade,\u201d he said, \u201cbridging the Venn diagram between mainstream comics & Alt (not indie) comics. In an era of anti-heroes, The Maxx satirized that, redefining what mainstream comics could be. RIP, Sam Kieth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSam Kieth didn\u2019t bend for comics. Comics bent to him,\u201d wrote artist and writer Phil Hester<\/a>. \u201cMaybe not since Kirby had mainstream comics seen an artist with less filter between his imagination and the printed page.\u201d<\/p>\n

Image Comics<\/a> said it was \u201cdeeply saddened to hear of Kieth\u2019s passing,\u201d and eulogized him as a creator who \u201cbrought a completely unique look and voice to the industry. His art was raw and unmistakably his. Sam\u2019s influence will be felt for generations. Our thoughts are with his family and friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019re deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Sam Kieth.<\/p>\n

From The Maxx to his work across comics, Sam brought a completely unique look and voice to the industry. His art was raw and unmistakably his. Sam\u2019s influence will be felt for generations.<\/p>\n

Our thoughts are with his family and friends.<\/p>\n

[image or embed]<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Image Comics (@imagecomics.com<\/a>) March 22, 2026 at 1:56 AM<\/a><\/p>\n

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel<\/a>, Star Wars<\/a>, and Star Trek<\/a> releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV<\/a>, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sam Kieth, the artist who helped Neil Gaiman begin his\u00a0Sandman\u00a0comics, and separately created\u00a0The Maxx\u00a0and\u00a0Zero Girl\u00a0books, passed away on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":539854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[88,241700,13441,241701,5540,241702],"class_list":["post-539853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-image-comics","tag-obituary","tag-sam-kieth","tag-sandman","tag-the-sandman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}