It feels like there have been quite a few notable deaths recently (former FBI chief Robert Mueller, Nicholas Brendon of Buffy), but the one that struck me the most was comics artist Sam Kieth, whose death I saw announced by a fellow penciller, Kelley Jones.
I didn't know Kieth's work too well beyond a few issues of various books and pinups that popped up on posters or the internet. But he had such a notable style, evinced partly in his issues of the first Sandman storyline, Preludes and Nocturnes, but even more in his creator-owned Image series, the Maxx. I had that first issue of the Maxx, or the Maxx's appearance in the sole published issue of Darker Image, but it disappeared in one of the many clear-outs I had over the years, but I remember how the line art in it was unlike basically anything else in mainstream (ish) comics.
As for the Sandman issues, I have them on hand and was able to look through those issues Kieth drew, and he was able to change tone from issue to issue and page to page, going from brooding horror and the landscapes of Hell to traditional superhero work and even down to a Jack Kirby homage. Mike Dringenberg remains the artist I associate most with early Sandman, but Kieth did so much to bring the look of the book to life, which set the bar for subsequent artists.
To put it another way, if my mental image of Dream is drawn by Dringenberg, my mental image of Cain and Abel (and Goldie) is by Kieth.
It's sad to see such a talent go so young (he was 63), but it's even sadder that there's not that much of his body of work, and I don't know where to find most of it. Still, having been on the Sandman's greatest storyline (along with the Season of Mists) is a hell of a legacy to leave.
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