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66th out of 1,512 books
—
3,107 voters
The Maxx, Vol. 1 (The Maxx #1)
An extremely imaginative and profound series, THE MAXX tells the tale of a fractured woman whose repressed emotions and memories prevent her from living a normal life and the hulking purple super-hero who tries to save her. A master of denial, Julie Winters created a magical dream world where she unknowingly escapes to when reality is too much. But when the two planes of e...more
Paperback, 144 pages
Published
September 1st 2003
by Wildstorm
(first published 1995)
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Dramatis Psychoticus Personae:
1. The MAXX: A delusional homeless man who believes that he is a superhero.
2. Julie Winters: A “freelance” social worker with deep emotional scars and repressed memories of a brutal assault.
3. Mr. Gone: A serial rapist and sadistic murderer with supernatural attributes and ties to Maxx and Julie.
4. Isz: Camouflage wearing, people-eating oompa loompas from a bizzaro version of the Australian Outback.
This is not your typical comic book.
For a series that came out bac...more
1. The MAXX: A delusional homeless man who believes that he is a superhero.
2. Julie Winters: A “freelance” social worker with deep emotional scars and repressed memories of a brutal assault.
3. Mr. Gone: A serial rapist and sadistic murderer with supernatural attributes and ties to Maxx and Julie.
4. Isz: Camouflage wearing, people-eating oompa loompas from a bizzaro version of the Australian Outback.
This is not your typical comic book.
For a series that came out bac...more
The Maxx is a homeless man who wears a purple superhero outfit and lives off the kindless of Julie Winters, a freelance social worker. But he's also king of the wildplaces, a super-strong barbarian who fights monsters in a world resembling the Australian Outback while protecting the Leopard Queen, who bears a striking resemblance to Julie Winters. Which of those identities is true? What is the deeper connection between Julie and The Maxx? And how does Mr. Gone, dark sorcerer and serial rapist, f...more
18 likes · like · see review
view 2 comments
Sep 14, 2010
Federiken Masters
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Románticos, suicidas y estetas.
Recommended to Federiken by:
El nombre de sus autores.
Preciosa poesía dibujada, y eso que la poesía no me suele gustar. The Maxx es una historieta que en teoría entra en la categoría "cómic de superhéroes", pero apenas roza algunos aspectos del género (trajes de colores y peleas contra "villanos"), y en su lugar se enfoca en ahondar en la psique humana y el vacío existencial de una manera mucho más comprometida que el 99,8% de las obras del género, y todo eso sin dejar de ser gracioso o divertido en ningún momento. Los dos protagonistas (Maxx y Jul...more
I can't remember when I first read this, but I watched the show on MTV when I was in high school. The effect was instantaneous on me - I was fascinated by the idea of dualism presented in the show. Some time later I picked up the book and read through it, pleasantly surprised to find that it's almost panel for panel the same as the TV show, meaning both are pretty close to each other to a point. Naturally, MTV capped the series to give it an ending (sort of).
The Maxx is centered around, well......more
The Maxx is centered around, well......more
I've been meaning to read The Maxx for ages. And I wasn't disappointed. I'll attempt a plot description, though it's is pretty loose. The Maxx is a superhero going through a mental breakdown, and may in fact be a hallucination himself; Julie is his complementary figure, and struggling through her own issues of what's real. Also there is Mr. Gone and the Iszes, twisted monsters that seem bent on inflicting the truth and reveling in power. It's all very trippy, and it's not really the point. What...more
This rating is based partly off of the overall fantasticism of this, and partly off nostalgia. You can feel so much teenage angst bottled up into this collection of Maxx comics from the 1990's. There is this quasi-psychological bend to the story line as well that makes it enjoyable - as you rail against the existentialism of our day (and stuff).
As you will note, and the author does in the first installment of the graphic novels, the art is fairly crude. You almost feel brought in to a friend's b...more
As you will note, and the author does in the first installment of the graphic novels, the art is fairly crude. You almost feel brought in to a friend's b...more
Really awesome, really underrated comics. I grew up reading these, thanks to having cool parents. I loved the characters and the art back then, and it holds up today.
The creativity here is off the charts and is a must check out for any comic reader. It's got a great blend of dark humor, goofball humor, over the top action, and a touch of love but without being corny. All this takes place on the streets of a grimy, crime-riddled city and an imaginary tribal land. All characters are likable inclu...more
The creativity here is off the charts and is a must check out for any comic reader. It's got a great blend of dark humor, goofball humor, over the top action, and a touch of love but without being corny. All this takes place on the streets of a grimy, crime-riddled city and an imaginary tribal land. All characters are likable inclu...more
1 like · like · see review
I didn't care about the Maxx when it first hit the stands with the inception of Image comics, and as it turns out, I still don't care about it. Fractured story-telling that has absolutely no connectivity or understanding of itself. If the creator doesn't know what the hell the story is and makes it up as he goes along, how is the reader supposed to follow it? There is absolutely no indication that Sam Kieth has any understanding of his own characters. He just knows what he wants to put on the pa...more
The first few books of the series (written with collaboration) are pretty awesome - quirky, touching, imaginative. The artwork at times can seem a little unskilled (proportions are off, etc.), and Kieth admits this in a new forward to the series. I first got into this story via MTV's Oddities series, which is a great adaptation, and I turned to the books to find out what happened next. After Kieth's collaborators dropped off, the writing took a bit of a dive. It becomes too self-indulgent and le...more
Mar 31, 2008
Ryan
added it
This wasn't my first read through The Maxx; I read a lot of the issues when they were individually released in the mid-90s, and I had fond memories of the book from what I could remember.[return]It's a superhero book, but superheroes from a completely novel perspective. Kind of like if Camille Paglia, an Australian aborigine, Carl Jung, and Bill Watterson (creator of Calvin and Hobbes) got together to create a superhero. The story follows Julie Winters, a 'freelance social worker' who looks afte...more
Независимо, че е комикс историята на Макс е една от най-добрите, които съм чел някога. Мрачната атмосфера и стила на рисунките са блестящи. Героите са представени многопластово, като всеки пласт е един отделен сюреалистичен свят, който си има свои закони. Действието се развива в два свята:
един свят на безкрайни савани с диви зверове и летящи китове
и един на бруралната реалност на големия град
Поне в началото. По-късно се появяват и други измерения на "реалността". Всяко такова измерение, обаче...more
един свят на безкрайни савани с диви зверове и летящи китове
и един на бруралната реалност на големия град
Поне в началото. По-късно се появяват и други измерения на "реалността". Всяко такова измерение, обаче...more
Little did I know that my innocent trip to the Capital Area District Library with the kids and wife would yield such dastardly results. A graphic novel of the Maxx series that I had only ever seen on MTV! Not only that, but it's the first of a series! My glee may have fueled part of my rating, but I am an admitted Maxx fan. The story was spot on, the font used for Mr. Gone was just right, and the artwork was delicious. I'll be looking for the next one when we head back to the library.
Sam Kieth's The Maxx is one of my favorite comic books of all times. Written with such clarity and ambition, The Maxx is a thoroughly realized allegory of how we, as humans, create our own reality, and how that reality simultaneously limits us and allows us to transcend the damage of the past. I read this about fifteen years ago, and I just started rereading it. I've been shocked by how well it has stood up over the years.
Sam Kieth creates such a twisted, darkened vision of the world we live in, yet it is wholly accurate. Injecting The Maxx with equal degrees of realism and fantasy, the story comes to life magnificently. The fragmented, fragile states of the characters is mirrored in the fluctuating artistic mediums used throughout the comics, to create an entirely magical hallucinatory trip for the reader.
As far as storyline, Kieth tugs at heartstrings, bringing the reader to a place not dissimilar to that of Ju...more
As far as storyline, Kieth tugs at heartstrings, bringing the reader to a place not dissimilar to that of Ju...more
Despite pretty much knowing this by heart thanks to the ruefully uncollected MTV animated series, I devoured this in on sitting. In the intro Kieth talks about the crudeness of the drawing and the obscurity of the writing, but I am struck by the free-association of imagination here that moves into patterns before the reader realizes. I'm hooked.
I started reading the Maxx as single issue comics. What I enjoyed so much of this comic is the feminist conflicts and sexual abuse that is discussed in graphic and satirical ways. I love the art work of Sam Keith, a talented draftsman who's amazing at seducing the viewer into the drama with emotion and feeling of the characters.
This graphic novel has always dealt with the concepts of the perceptions of reality. What's real for one is not so for another. The Maxx is a hopeless case for a social worker, but in his mind he's a hero of the outback defending his jungle queen. Is it a dream, or reality? To each individual, the definitions vary.
Very funky art style and some interesting scenes, but the story meanders all over the place and is too heavy handed in getting it's message across and trying to be 'clever' and after awhile I found myself losing interest, as I doubted Kieth would ever get around to explaining things and/or had any idea what he was doing.
I remember being suckered into the cartoon in the early 90s (Thanks non commercial TV) and the image of the MAXX always stuck with me.
Essentially its a riff on the standard 'tortured' costumed hero tale with more psychological analysis laid on. All the characters' issues are explored in the real world and the headspace that is the imagined "Outback". The outback is handled very well. Everyone as some imagined view of a real location populated by half truths.
What struck me was how well the threat...more
Essentially its a riff on the standard 'tortured' costumed hero tale with more psychological analysis laid on. All the characters' issues are explored in the real world and the headspace that is the imagined "Outback". The outback is handled very well. Everyone as some imagined view of a real location populated by half truths.
What struck me was how well the threat...more
What a flashback to the 90s! I love the heavy handedness of the delivery of the plot, and even though the art is sketchy at times, the edgy layout more than makes up for it. Will definitely buy more books of the series, if I can manage to get a hold of them.
A great, strange, fairly original comic from the heyday of Image Comics.
While the other Image artists were creating cheesy titles and setting their standard of Enormous Muscles, Gigantic Breasts, and Ridiculously Oversized Firepower, Sam Keith (and Bill Messner-Loebs) was producing a solid sleeper dealing more with the human psyche than overcharged superheroes.
I never cared much for this one during its original print run -- I was probably 12 or 13, so some (or all) of the complex plot points wer...more
While the other Image artists were creating cheesy titles and setting their standard of Enormous Muscles, Gigantic Breasts, and Ridiculously Oversized Firepower, Sam Keith (and Bill Messner-Loebs) was producing a solid sleeper dealing more with the human psyche than overcharged superheroes.
I never cared much for this one during its original print run -- I was probably 12 or 13, so some (or all) of the complex plot points wer...more
Dec 10, 2008
Andy
is currently reading it
Rediscovered my small collection of The Maxx comics and set to getting all the issues in original format and tackling them one by one with a friend!
I love The Maxx. The plot is interesting in itself; you don't have to love comics to read this book. The basic plot is of a homeless man who thinks he's a superhero, and his freelance social worker/love interest Julie. There are outbacks that Maxx goes back and forth into. Later we find out all sorts of things revolving around the characters and what they're meant to be doing.
I really like when stories are set in the gritty underbelly of cities. This is a perfect story if you're into stuff like...more
I really like when stories are set in the gritty underbelly of cities. This is a perfect story if you're into stuff like...more
The art work is cool and shifting, the action is plentiful and cool, and the sub story leaves you wanting to know more. The Maxx would be enjoyable as a mindless read, but the sub-story is what makes it compelling. Looking forward to reading more.
Does anyone else remember this series on MTV in the 90s? I love it and am very excited to find it again!
the best! i am currently re reading & I am once again falling in love w/ the characters. . . and Sam Kieth.
you either do or do not understand how amazing this book is. i don't see what i could possibly add here.
1 like · like · see review
Review aqui.
I love the art, and the tv show was amazing. I haven't finished the series but so far so good.
Just like the cartoon.
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Kieth first came to prominence in 1984 as the inker of Matt Wagner's Mage, his brushwork adding fluidity and texture to the broad strokes of Wagner's early work at Comico Comics. In 1989, he drew the first five issues of writer Neil Gaiman's celebrated series The Sandman, but felt his style was unsuited to the book (specifically saying that he "felt like Jimi Hendrix in The Beatles") and left, han...more
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