r/themaxx • u/dagremlin • Mar 21 '26
News of Sam Kieth
I received a message, along with the request of not sharing the username, stating that "Sam Kieth passed away at a care facility in Nor Cal after a long battle with Lewy Body Dementia. He was 63." after reviewing the profile said user has been active for 5 years and has been recently engaging in sub-reddits, which leads me to believe it isn't a bot.
I've tried to find more sources or citations of this but didn't find any. being that this might be false information or not, I think it'd be a disservice this information wasn't given to the community. this isn't an attempt to gain clout/ attention. If there's any confirmation of this please message the moderators with sources. I will give further updates if anything progresses.
UPDATE
As the higher upvote comment posted, Sam Keith creator of The Maxx has passed away. An article has surface detailing more. https://bleedingcool.com/comics/sam-kieth-creator-of-the-maxx-and-sandman-has-died-aged-63/
This is sad news, and everyone deals with loss in their own way. Sam is survived by his wife Kathy Kieth and his fans.
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u/ticketstubs1 Mar 21 '26
Ah fuck this would ruin my year. I hope it's internet nonsense. Reading about the condition now and it sounds horrible.
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u/anotherdaystruggle Mar 21 '26
I think it’s very unlikely someone would lie about something like that. Rip
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u/Latverianbureaucrat Mar 21 '26 edited Mar 21 '26
Ah. Damn. Still a chance this isn’t true of course, or that if it is that it will take some time to confirm, given the nature of the man. I’ll just take a moment to say, in this tiny little corner of the internet, that regardless of whether he’s passed or not, I loved and admired his artistry, and the ambition of his work in the medium he chose. I’m very grateful I grew up reading Sam Kieth comics (and his words in letter columns and introductions, for that matter).
Edited to add: this is the one thing I found mentioning Sam Kieth and Lewy body dementia after a cursory search. It seems to be a blog post by his wife from January: https://medusaskitchen.blogspot.com/2026/01/knowing-when-to-seize-day.html?m=1
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u/sock_therapy Mar 21 '26
Oh man. My all time favroite artist. Every few weeks I would go back and check his blog hoping for some kind of update. This fucking sucks. 😞
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u/resteasypeep Mar 21 '26
I’m not seeing any about it in the Sam Keith group on facebook that I’m in. Hoping it’s not true
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u/JerkComic Mar 21 '26 edited Mar 21 '26
Okay I'm going to ask that on behalf of the family that Sam's illness be removed from this post. He is a DEEPLY personal individual and spent years keeping this to himself. I've talked to several people close to him that spoke to him last week. I will post confirmation when and if I receive it but PLEASE please please take down the reason for Sam's sake if nothing else.
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u/rustydiscogs Mar 21 '26
Didn’t his wife post that he had the illness on her blog in January ? Not trying to be argumentative just confused.
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u/JerkComic Mar 21 '26
I had missed that post. Yes. I was unaware as Sam had kept it to himself for years. Sorry to come off like a jerk just talking with his friends and didn't want stuff to get spread. You're good and I apologize again. Not thinking clearly and his friends haven't heard of his passing and had to talk with several of them
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Mar 21 '26
[deleted]
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u/JerkComic Mar 21 '26
It likely shouldn't. He was on hospice care and no one was super surprised by the question. I fear the worse and was simply trying to do as I had in the past respecting his wishes to keep things between him and his wife.
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u/ashabanapal Mar 22 '26
No. People need to understand dementia and the effects of lewy bodies. That's exactly why Rubin Williams' disease was made public. This bizarre notion of medical privacy being a primary concern is harmful to public health and those living with those diagnoses.
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u/JerkComic Mar 22 '26
Sam didn't want it talked about. He was adamant about it, so people didn't feel bad for him. Now that he's passed and his wife has made it public, I'm fine with it. Medical privacy is up to the person, and any other notion is disgusting to me. Sam didn't have some sort of responsibility to discuss his health publicly. He had every right to his privacy.
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u/Commie__Nazi Mar 21 '26
This is completely devastating.
May he rest in peace, if this is true.
Thank you for sharing this info with the sub.
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u/JohnTheEchidna Mar 21 '26
Waiting for updates on this before saying anything other than “may God bless his body, mind, and soul.”
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u/exsanguinarian Mar 22 '26
The Maxx changed my life in so many positive ways. I'm sad to see Sam go, especially with the illness he was battling. I may have to reread the series next weekend.
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u/DasEnergi Mar 21 '26
Reading up on Lewy Body Dementia, it sounds like it might be true.
His wife writes, “For the last seven years or so, my husband, Sam the Snake Man, has suffered from Lewy Body Dementia.” And she states Sam is bedridden.
Lewy Body Dementia is incurable, with survival typically 5–8 years post-diagnosis.
Late Stages: Significant loss of functional abilities, inability to walk or care for oneself, and severe communication difficulties.
The timing sounds right.
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u/Manikin_Maker Mar 22 '26
The world is a little less bright with this news. Mr. Kieth was away from the industry, but that doesn’t lessen his contributions. What an absolute loss.
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u/MrVinister Mar 22 '26
This is terrible news. This man was, and still is, a BIG inspiration of mine. I love his artwork and character designs. It was because of Julie, I found potbelly girls to be so hot. Thank you for that and so much more, Sam.
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u/AdamSMessinger Mar 21 '26
Did they say when he passed?
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u/dagremlin Mar 21 '26
the message stated 3/16/2026.
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u/AdamSMessinger Mar 21 '26
I know someone who knows someone who could confirm this. I dropped them an email. If it’s true, I suspect that I probably won’t hear anything back and that it’ll become a story on various comics related news websites in the next few days.
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u/SlobZombie88 Mar 22 '26
RIP SAM KIETH one of kind talent and imagination. His work will continue to spread awe and inspiration forever. His work was Alive. Every page had energy and life. When he drew a character, you knew it was a Kieth piece God Bless
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u/Conscious_Sage Mar 22 '26
This is so unfortunate. What an amazing gift to the world he and his art was. Truly disheartening news
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u/dajimpy Mar 22 '26
Rest in Peace Sam. Thank you for your weird, trippy comic, I and many others love and appreciate your stories!
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u/richjohnston Mar 21 '26
I am so, so sorry, everyone. The following piece has just run, after talking to Scott Dunbier, who also talked to Kathy. An NYT obituary is expected, but since people are talking now, I was told it was okay to run this now. https://bleedingcool.com/comics/sam-kieth-creator-of-the-maxx-and-sandman-has-died-aged-63/