Introducing: The Maxx

I wanna continue with the running them of talking about obscure characters that I discovered in junior high. This was the most influential time for me in terms of comic books since it was a very weekly obsession for me. The Maxx is another comic I got into because of the 7-11 comic book packs. When I first saw it I immediately recognized that I had seen this art style before. It was created and drawn by Sam Kieth who is the master of mass. What I mean by that is that his characters actually look like they have mass and depth to them. His shadows look real. The dirt looks filthy. You almost wanna wash your hands while reading it which makes sense since Maxx is a hobo! In this world at least.

In the Outback he is a warrior fighting to protect his Jungle Queen. In the real world she is Julie Winters, a social worker who is usually bailing him out of jail or chatting with him. She is a cool character and not just because she was hot. There is so much depth to her character that even by the time the comic ended it felt as if there was more to her. I’m gonna stick with the first story arc since later issues were pretty lame and they changed the look of The Maxx and Julie was exchanged too much for Sara’s story which I didn’t care for.

The main villain in this is Mr. Gone. Though he is a stalking murdering rapist I liked him. The way he looked was so damned cool. The long coat that moved and was its own weapon along with the pistol he used. While stalking Julie, Maxx decides to take him on in a crazy gas station battle that ends with Maxx being shot. He uses these little creatures called Isz. They are black eyeless things with hundreds of sharp teeth. In the real world and the Outback Mr. Gone is a challenge to Julie/Jungle Queen. It turns out that Mr. Gone was a friend of her fathers. The voice used for him on the MTV cartoon hit the nail right on the head. So did the rest of them.

It is revealed that in college Julie was raped and beaten by someone she tried to help on the side of the road. To deal with it she created the Outback in her mind where she was powerful. Later she hits a homeless man, Maxx, and instead of helping him because of what happened before, she leaves him. Since the Outback is so unstable now a lampshade that was “touched” by it covers the man’s body and becomes a costume. I know this all sounds insane but this is how this comic book was. If you’ll notice, Maxx looks sort of like a rabbit. There is a whole theme of spirit animals (the second Maxx was horse like). When Julie was a child she saved a rabbit and her mother beat it to death to put it out of its misery.

I have been called The Maxx because one of the most comfortable positions of mine is to crouch down low with my fists on the ground. The first few issues, or when the Mr. Gone story arc, are done the comic began to be all over the place. But the look of the characters and the insanity of the stories and depth make this a comic book definitely worth checking out if you never have. Maybe I will start to make more sense to people afterwards.