Because I'm still swimming my way out of comic pages before the Holiday hits... here's a few extra commissions you may missed, or I forgot to throw up.
This is the first Maxx i've drawn in a ga-zillion years... but don't get your hopes up i'll do the book again. I know it's a losing battle fighting fan's nostalgia, but ere's a few myths about the Maxx:
Myth One: Maxx made sense, sorta... at 2am, if you weren't stoned. Truth: Maxx didn't even make sense to ME... so it's doubtful anyone else could make sense of it. I had a few rough ideas of how 1-20 would end... but you could tell past that i kept trying to cram other non-Maxx stories into Maxx, which didn't work... and is why it's GOOD news i moved onto to Zero Girl, Four Women, Ojo and Bimbo. Plus THOSE suckers made sense. Mostly.
Myth Two: This was my 'peak'. Creative freedom wise? Possibly. Ideas we're flying out like sh*t from a goose. So to speak. Skill wise, nope. Maxx was *very* hit and miss. And most fans I talk to agree it the most inconsistent art of any comic I've drawn. Some really ugly wretched panels, and pages... don't believe me? I'll dig a few up someday and show you. Tiny little line wise: Marvel presents had more tiny lines ( if that's the sophomoric narrow permitters we're measuring 'good' art by) - but Epicurus is actually the best ( detailed ) art I've done in my book.
I know ratings are silly and subjective: But detail wise... I'd rate Maxx art as a C plus, Marvel Presents Covers and a few other pieces as B-, and Epicurus as A-.
Inspiration wise: I'd take some of the paintings I've done over my blog, (and some older ones too) as being valid in their own way. The point of he Museum show is for me to stop quibbling and just be gracious any body likes all four sams: 'Vintage Epicurus Sam', 'Classic MCP covers Sam', 'Underground Maxx Sam', Storyteller Sam ( Bimbo, Zerogirl, Ojo), or ' Weird-ass-Patings Sam' .
I think I added an extra 'Sam' in there somewhere. Oh and there's Weird Antiques Sam, and Trout Sam, and Dana and Nola Sam ( probably better filed under Storyteller Sam, or maybe Trout Sam.) Gets silly in a way... but when someone asks you
Do you like Sam Kieth? The question that spring to mind is:
...which Sam?
Thanks to all the folks who requested these commissions in the first place. (Hey...Is that SuperMeatBoy in there??? ) And I promise, no more bitching about Maxx. Ignore any gripes I make. Hey, If i didn't have *some* affection for Maxx (or all my other creations), i wouldn't have dreamed them up in the first place, right?
Just trying to bring all my halves... or fourths... (or sixteenths?) together. That's what all these art books are trying to do... as a shift from 'middle age sam' into 'old man sam'. Looking for a little Closure. Rest. Compassion on myself.... and for all my various 'drawing highs'.... and 'drawing lows'. It's the lows that make the highs possible. Sublime and Grotesque, that's my art in a nutshell.
Here's Lastly... an old commission I did Neil threw up on his Tumblr account and had a nice word for it.
http://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/37688416396/travisellisor-deaths-trophy-wall-by-sam
Getting a 'wonderful' from Mr. Gaiman... is kinda cool.
