RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books Sam Kieth

Anyone a fan of Sam Kieth?
What comics of his are good?

truly, all i can ever associate with sam kieth is the maxx ... and the original, image-founding run, not the later mtv series or bastardized dc "reprinting."

i very much enjoyed both his writing and his art style because, at the time, at least to me, they were so incredibly out there and strange that i found them appealing. it was different than the standard norms, and to me, that was good. the maxx, both in artwork and dialog made seemingly little to no sense.

granted, after a dozen or so issues, that was proven to be, at least partially, by design. but the ride was different and fun enough to make me a fan, anyway.

other than a batman cover here and there, and that recent comic he had out there that was awful, the only other sam kieth stuff i know of is a wolverine one shot, whose name i currently forget, starring our scruffy canadian hobbit hero and an enemy who sorta looked and acted like sabretooth, except he wasnt; he was some other guy with adamantium laced fingernails ... or something.

i don't know marvel history all that well.

the book, however, was pretty cool.

He did the first couple of Sandman issues, co creating the look of Morpheus and some of the supporting characters, before deciding it wasn't for him.

He also drew a pretty dope Venom.

I have some of his venom issues.
I'm curious about his work because I found out recently that my mom is good friends with his wife.

Well, there you go.

Go get those autographs!

I love Sam Kieth. My buddy is obsessed. Besides The Maxx and the early issues of Sandman, check out both Zero Girl tpbs, the Four Women tpb, and (if you can find it) the one-shot called Legs. He's also doing a mini-seires right now called Ojo. It's cool and quirky, but I wouldn't recommend it to you if you're new to his stuff - I'm still trying to figure out what the hell is going on.

If you get a chance to talk to him and/or his wife, could you find out when "The Art Of Sam Kieth" is gonna be released by IDW Publishing? I ordered two copies in spring, 2003, and have yet to see it.

I liked The Maxx. I used to watch the animated series on MTV. I even have a videotape of the season.

The books I like most of Kieth's are EPICURUS THE SAGE (two graphic novels done for DC's short-lived Piranha Press line, that take a humorous looks at the Greek philosophers and gods).
The two books were recently reprinted in a collected edition trade.

larger image link HERE


And a very funny two-page story in ANYTHING GOES # 2 (a book also noteworthy for "Pictopia" by Alan Moore and Don Simpson, which I've mentioned many times as a great commentary on the "dark" trend in comics. )



There was also a good single-issue story written by Peter David and illustrated by Kieth in INCREDIBLE HULK 368.






I also recall that Kieth had a long and popular run in MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS, that had really nice art, but was a little too typical 90's Marvel for my taste (a Wolverine feature,
art in issues 85-92, and 117-122
covers also on 85-113, 117-122 ).


all covers, plus larger images HERE


As I recall, MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS was the series that made Kieth a fan-favorite, before he made the jump to Image, and started doing THE MAXX.

other THE MAXX covers, 35 issues




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"This Man, This Wonder Boy..."

That Marvel Presents story was written by Peter David, and introduced the villain Cyber, with adamantium covered skin (the original intended artist for that story was Todd Mcfarlane, btw).

Keith did quite a bit of Wolverine stuff on MCP, including a Wolverine/Venom story, and the whole of issue 100 which teamed Wolverine with Ghost Rider (they were the mainstay features of the book at that time).

Tons of Batman covers as well.

I will have to check out the Pirahna Press tpb. I'd never heard of this.

Epicurus...I'd forgotten about Epicurus. That's a funny book. Definitely worth owning.

I couldn't recall Kieth's most recent work before. But it's a five-issue miniseries called SCRATCH, about a teenage werewolf, that ostensibly guest features Batman.
But Batman is about as necessary to the four issues I've read so far as Cain is to a HOUSE OF MYSTERY story. Batman just narrates the opening panel or so in each of the first four issues.



But otherwise I like it.

Sort of a rural hillbilly mystery story, about deformed freaks and looking past a person's appearance to appreciate them for their inner selves.
Plus a local sheriff and angry mob of locals, who could double for the folks with torches and pitchforks in Boris Karloff's Frankenstein.

They made a cool bust based on his Wolverine designs - they're doing a Hulk one also!

I ordered the Hulk bust. This month, I'll be ordering the Venom bust. Sweet Kieth design!

I don't like Wolverine but I got that bust!

I loves the Hulk - so that's a definite!

I haven't seen the Venom and I don't particularly like the character but I remember the mini he did called Madness - pretty good are(gay story) And his covers for the recent Venom series were the best thing about the whole sorry affair!

The bust, if you're a Sam Kieth fan, must be added to your collection. Trust me on this.