J. Scott Campbell

🌟A reminder to all of you in the Chicago area that I will be in attendance at this year’s in Chicago at McCormick Place, THIS WEEKEND!
Friday & Saturday - March 27 & 28.
J. Scott Campbell Signatures and Fan Experience Packages are available for pre-purchase at:
https://www.c2e2.com/en-us/buy/j-scott-campbell-experience.html 
🔗*Link also in profile.

I join my fellow colleagues and comic book fans in our community in mourning the loss of the immensely creative artist Sam Keith. Sam had a distinction he was probably never aware of. That of being the very first working comic book professional I ever met and talked with. It was at a small comic con held in a Holiday Inn ballroom in Denver, Colorado, with a handful of dealers, and he was the talent flown in to anchor the event. I was thrilled to go meet the up-and-coming superstar, hot off his explosion in Marvel Comics Presents, drawing Wolverine. He couldn’t have been more gracious and accommodating of a young guy like me talking his ear off about what pens he uses, what it was like drawing for Marvel Comics, and who knows what else. It was only a short year or two later that I was in the comics business myself, but early interactions like these were monumental in giving me the confidence to pursue a career in drawing comic books.

I, strangely enough, don’t remember ever running into Sam again after becoming a working artist myself, and I doubt he was aware that that kid who chatted him up in Denver actually did break into comics and did quite well for himself. But I continued to follow Sam’s work as he transitioned into his personal creation, The Maxx, over at Image. I always loved Sam’s combination of strange whimsy mixed with hyper detail. His work also served as an inspiration to create art and ideas that were true to oneself without having to follow any rigid rules. That you could get a little out there and even crazy sometimes, and the audience will come along.

It’s been many years now since Sam has been actively drawing, but I highly encourage you, if you haven’t been exposed to Sam Keith’s work, to find his brilliant run on Marvel Comics Presents and his creation, The Maxx. You’ll be so happy you did.

*I included my artwork of The Maxx from Gen 13 #13, which was a thrill for me to do at the time