Sam Keith, creator of the comic The Maxx and co-creator of Sandman, passed away on March 15th. He passed away at the age of 63.
Scott Dunbier, Keith’s lifelong friend and collaborator, confirmed that Keith’s cause of death was bleeding from Lewy body dementia.
Born on January 11, 1963, Keith began his career as a cartoonist at the age of 17, publishing his first work in Comico. He worked on a number of projects, including Marvel Comics Presents’ “Wolverine” and “Hulk.” In 1993, he created The Maxx, a series that explores themes of identity and reality at Image Comics. The series was later adapted into an animated series on MTV’s “Liquid Television” and became known worldwide. Keith’s work on this series also led to a series of action figures created by Todd McFarlane.
Keith worked with Neil Gaiman to co-create “Sandman” and illustrated the first five issues of DC Comics. His work has also appeared in Wildstorm’s comics “Zero Girl” and “Four Women” and Oni Press’s comics “Ojo” and “My Inner Bimbo.” Keith also helped produce the Cow and Chicken pilot, No Smoking, and directed Roger Corman’s Concorde: New Horizons film, Take It to the Limit.
Keith’s subsequent works include Batman: The Secret, Batman/Robo: Deadly Serious, and Robo: Highway to Hell. He also created Arkham Dreams, the Batman/Max crossover for DC Comics. He also contributed to 2000AD’s “Judge Dredd” and IDW’s “30 Days of Night.”
Keith retired from mainstream comics after the publication of Arkham Dreams due to health problems.
He is survived by his wife of 43 years, Kathy Keith;
