[Series Rec] THE MAXX

[anarchicq]

*Violently hammers fist into palm with each word* I will take every chance I get to recommend Sam Kieth's THE MAXX to anyone who will listen!

WARNING: This comic deals with triggering subjects and delves into violence quite a bit! Animal death is a plot-point. You have been warned!

You might remember a late 90's cartoon on MTV (Or YTV here in Canada) called THE MAXX, about a big purple homeless guy who lived in a box in the alley and traveled between the real world and the subconscious.

What you may not know is that it was adapted pretty darn faithfully from a comic book series that ran for about 35 issues. The cartoon pulled from the first dozen episodes, and changed the ending, and a few crossovers were changed, but otherwise the animated mini-series was spot on.

THE MAXX is the creation of Sam Kieth, the original artist of Neal Gaiman's SANDMAN and character designer of Morpheus. It was co-written by Bill Messner-Loebs and it was helped along by Alan Moore for one issue.
THE MAXX is a subversion of the super-hero genre, particularly all that was 90's in comics, and it's also a surreal trip into the disturbing and psychological. All the characters play off each other wonderfully and weave a tapestry that tends to unravel if one or more of them go away for a while.

Also it created Mr. Gone, my all time favourite villain of anything anywhere.

A few years ago, they came out with new trades of THE MAXX called THE MAXX: MAXXIMIZED which featured newly scanned and remastered art and a new colourist.

But that's not the end of Maxx's story. He's been brought back in a limited 5 part mini-series called Batman/The Maxx: Arkham Dreams which is out now.
If you want something more surreal and thoughtful, subversive and satirical that wasn't seen a lot in the 90's, I urge you to hunt down THE MAXX and give it a try. The art is beautiful, the story's intriguing and the run is short so you can't get lost.

Recommended Reading

• Darker Image (First real appearance)
• The Maxx #1-35
• Gen 13/The Maxx #1 (one shot)
• Batman/The Maxx: Arkham Dreams (5 part mini-series)

Comments

[kalloway]

Thank you for this. I've met Mr. Messner-Loebs multiple times but am really only familiar with his work on Impulse.

[anarchicq]

He's still homeless, right? There's a Go Fund Me to help him and his wife out. I didn't want to mention it because the post wasn't the place, but here should be fine.

https://ca.gofundme.com/billmessnerloebs

[kalloway]

I believe he's had quite a bit of assistance recently, thankfully, including at least temporary housing (or at least when I last spoke with him a couple of months ago). I've made my donations to him in person, but I'll pass along the link. ^_^

[delphi]

This is such a timely rec for me. I first encountered The Maxx in its cartoon iteration (as you say, on YTV, during the late-night lineup with Aeon Flux and The Head) and was obsessed with it. I picked up a few comics in the following years, but they were hard to find in my area - and just last month I finally splurged on the whole series in a fit of nostalgia. I had no idea there was a new crossover miniseries - thank you!