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The Maxx


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Anyone remember this one?

Me & Junker talked about it; i remember it used to come on MTV before "The Head", another fun cartoon.

Thing is, The Maxx is a comic great series by Sam Keith, and this still stands as one of the best comic-to-animation translations ive ever seen (tho i really liked the Legends of Batman episode with about a minute of "Dark Knight Returns", that was badass).

Anyway, this series seems very hard to come by....Amazon.com says its only on video and heavily edited down for time.  Just wanted to know if anyone's seen it on Kaza or has it backed up somewhere, etc...

 

Can you tell which one is from the Image comic & which is animated?

 

outbackmaxx.gif

maxxvsisz.jpg

maxx.gif

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  • 1 year later...

Speakin of the Maxx...hey 2Track, of those spinoff series, which ones are worth getting? Oh, and how do you think the animated held up in comparison, did you get to see much of it? From what i saw, it looked/sounded dead on...

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I got the whole series on video. I picked it up in toys r us back in the day. It was nearly flawless. They put the story from Maxx 1/2 in it too.

 

The Maxx/Gen13 book is really good. Mesner-Loebs really concocted a great story. It's not just a bunch of heros show up and kick each other in the junk, make friends and then fight a greater evil type crossover story.

 

The Savage Dragon issue is good. Larson is a funny guy as you probably know and his Maxx was the outta-the-outback-hungover-stylee one so Larson did him pretty kick ass. Sarah (pre-Sara) makes a cameo too which is nice.

 

Gay Comics is worth it for the Kieth cover alone.

 

Friends of the Maxx is amazing. Although it only ran for three issues they are all classics and deal with (as the cover blurb says - don't quote me on this one fanboys) "emotional jeopardy as opposed to the usual physical jeopardy crap".

 

 

BTW the middle one is animated (me thinks)

Edited by 2track
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Hadnt thought of that - there's only one VHS as far as i know and its edited for length, sadly. Rumors of a DVD series have circulated for a while...i dont know of an episdoe guide but ill keep an eye out for it, i dont think it went on for very long but could be wrong, Junker might know.

PS 2T - ill check out some of those series when i can, and nice cover there, that's a trip.

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  • 4 months later...

Yeah, its pretty weird, to be honest...and i saw the whole damn thing. Accurate as hell, but since its cuttin the book down (which, of course, is weird as well), youre missin out some stuff. Having finally read the first half of this series in books, it occurred to me that Maxx isnt actually the main character of the book at all.....

Anyway, the animation, though choppy, was dead on (I think Keith himself did it), and if youre ever interested in the story itself - which is pretty damn cool if you can read it all together - let me know when these trades are out, man.

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  • 2 years later...

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just noticed my old review's gone...

 

During the early 90's, Image was hot shit. People were actually waiting on Wetworks. Writing was something that got in the way of splash pages, often, and landmark character events were costume changes (but youd need the die-fold or chromium cover to really see it). All this before the glorious alternate interirors.

 

Amazingly, Sam Keith (Sandman, Marvel Presents Wolverine, Epicurus) somehow slid by a fun but deep psychological book. It gained fame after a very faithful MTV cartoon, and even got a rare McFarlane figure, but most people i talk to think its an action book, 'cause no one read it in its entirety - its very hard to find, hence these late TPB's being awesome.

 

Its basically 2 parts, the first of which is the recognizable Julie, her outback, and Maxx - protecting her from the Isz and the wicked Mr. Gone, whose origin is told in the series' 2nd half, revolving around Sara, Julie's friend, but at some point you begin to question numerous things: who (if any) is the central character? Is Maxx real, or an animus projection of Julie's scarred psyche...?

 

I wont lie, by its end, the book's really out there, but its amazing for it, and its still my favorite work by Keith, an accomplished artist/writer. Amazon shows TPB # 6 coming out feb. 1st, not sure how many there are total, but as i recall, its only about 20 something issues, side-stories aside, and very much worth it.

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  • 3 years later...

Fuck yeah. The Maxx is the shit. That and Savage Dragon were what I was into when Image got rollin'. I dug Sam Keiths crazy ass Wolverine run in Marvel Comics Presents as well. For some reason when I think of him I think of this picture of Nightcrawler he did for the Marvel Universe series 3 trading cards.

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and, y'know, the first issue of Sandman I guess...

What's weird is The Maxx is actually better now, prob'ly because I "get" it more.

Savage Dragon...not so much. There was a part in that first trade where he grabs Officer Niceman (I think) by the balls and picks him up and gives him some surly speech about racism. When I was a kid that was the coolest scene ever. Now it seems kinda like a Steven Segal movie, sans ponytail.

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  • 8 years later...

revisiting this over a decade later, and so far, i love it even more - loebs meta-commentary shines at parts, and sam keith remains one of my favorite artists. this is just so good.

 

vIBmBvW.jpg

 

so you can imagine my hype seeing this recently! might be new stuff, might be more reprints (maxximized looks great, I'd love an omnibus though), hopefully we get more details soon 

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Quote

 

Sam Kieth will write and draw Batman/The Maxx: Arkham Dreams for IDW Publishing and DC Comics, according to Paste. This five-issue limited seires is Keith's first new work with the Maxx in over five years, and a return as well for the Batman  after writing and drawing 2010's Arkham Asylum: Madness.

Doing a Batman and Maxx crossover is like a family reunion with my favorite brother and our really cool cousin,” Kieth said. “You never want it to end…or at least I hope you won’t!”

IDW describes Batman/The Maxx: Arkham Dreams as a mixing of Gotham City with the Maxx's Outback - beginning with the Maxx becoming a resident of Arkham Asylum.

"When a devious new doctor at Arkham Asylum conducts unconventional forays into the human psyche, he kicks off a disastrous chain reaction by experimenting on Arkham’s newest patient: The Maxx!," reads IDW's description. "The city of Gotham soon begins to merge with the Outback, The Maxx’s psychedelic mental landscape. It’s up to Batman to save Gotham and all of reality… but only by joining The Maxx on a trip into the darkest depths imaginable: the twisted minds of Batman’s greatest enemies!

 

 

The Maxx comes into the store all the time. Not familiar with the character at all though. My first Sam Kieth exposure came from a random art book that came into the store last year. Didn't realize the Maxx was his though. Gonna have to check it out now. 

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I'd like to re-read the original Maxx run one day, but there's just so much other stuff on the "to read" list. I wonder why Keithi s publishing though IDW and not IMAGE?

 This new Batman crossover sounds interesting though; I'll likely check out issue #1 and see what's what.

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