Sam Kieth got interested in comics at about the age of nine, when he started collecting and reading comics avidly. He learnt how to draw from his cousins and his sister - one of his cousins made animated cartoons. So he felt like an odd man out for not drawing. He started his professional career when he was seventeen, and first came to attention as the inker of Matt Wagner's 'Mage' in 1983. He sold some work to DC and Marvel, were he got a job working on 'Wolverine' and as an illustrator of several covers.