The Maxx is a comic book and animated series written by Sam Kieth.

Background: The Maxx comic book was first published in March, 1993 by Image. The short lived TV series ran from April 8,1995 to June 1995. It premiered on MTV’s Oddities series almost a year after the last episode of Liquid Television was on the air. Both the comic and series have been discontinued.

“Most of us inhabit at least two worlds: the real world where we’re at the mercy of circumstance, and the world within, the unconscious, a safe place, where we can escape.”

Plot and Characters: The Maxx is a purple-clad superhero with disproportional sized feet, living in a cardboard box. One of his only friends is Julie Winters, who is a freelance social worker. The Maxx often finds himself shifting back and forth between the “real” world and a more primitive one called The Outback. In that world The Maxx rules and protects Julie, who is known there as the Leopard Queen. The connection between the two is slowly exposed as the story evolves. It is a link that neither is aware of at first.

Let’s not forget Mr. Gone and the mischievous, little, eyeless Isz. (Sounds like the plural of “Is”.) Mr Gone plays the role of antagonizer and fights The Maxx in both worlds. The black Isz infest the real world and are manipulated by Mr Gone. The black Isz take on the appearance of an average person when seen by most people. In The Outback, the white Isz run wild and gather in huge herds, which look more like tidal waves, when chasing The Maxx.

Julie has a friend named Sarah. She is a depressed teenager who is the daughter of a friend of Julie’s. Sarah is often in conflict with her hippie mother, who disciplines her so she won’t grow up to be like her father, Mr. Gone. There are other key players such as the rabbit and Norbert, later in the story, but I don’t want to ruin it for you. The story will evoke many feelings from you.

The Maxx was written so that each person would see the story in their own way. The plot is also a bit of a mind-bender to grasp, which may lead you to digest the story more then once. There are varying interpretations of the meaning of the story. Just know that a dark underlying world exists in The Maxx and it is slowly exposed throughout the story.

The comics and the TV episodes differ in many ways, but both are enjoyable. If you are interested in finding the video or comic book you may be hard-pressed to find either, but it would be worth your effort. Be careful when surfing for more info, because you will come across more details that may spoil the experience, if you’re new to the world of The Maxx.

Update: If you’d like to see the episodes, check out MTV.com.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 3rd, 2005 by Andrew "Savage" Speers and is filed under Animation, Comics, Flashback, Television. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.