Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #301756 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

Customer Reviews

Awesome Angsty Avant-Garde Book By Keith and Loebs
This collection of the first six issues of 'The Maxx' is not only the most obvious place, but also the best, for newcomers to Keith's work. For me, this graphic novel sums up the best way to use the super-hero genre within comics and push the envelope a little further than most minds dare to tread.

Find yourself immersed in the adolescent artwork of Sam Keith which reflects the characters' inability to mature but also shows the dark recesses they live in. Marvel at Messner Loebs' use of the English language and ability to weave a yarn that goes from the fantastic to the bizarre. Anybody that grew up in the '90's will really undertsand where this book is coming from and everyone will be left puzzled by where it's going.

The only thing that stops this book from receiving five stars is the pretentiousness it puts across with the use of small plot devices that are lacking other than being mentioned by characters...even the perception of some characters changes in points in this book, which, I find, a little annoying. However, if you liked Watchmen and Lost Highway I recommend this. You'll love it.

THIS COMIC ISZ MAXXIMUM AWSOME
I've just read the first 11 issues of The Maxx. This book contains the first six. I highly recommend this book.

I love superheroes. Frank Miller says they're modern societies equivalent of the Greek gods. They're definitely an important part of modern popular culture. Sam Kieth has a clear understanding of this ideal and subverts it completely in The Maxx.

The character of the title is a homeless vagrant and squats with a push-over freelance therapist called Julie. The book centers from the outset on their dysfunctional relationship and the past trauma Julie has buried. While the previous reviewer found some of the elements in the story pretentious I would suggest that this book is only pretentious if viewed as a superhero genre piece when really I think it's something quite separate.

Kieth's concerned primarily with a character study and, in my opinion, seems to focus on this more so than the flow and logic of the plot. As a result the narrative tends to jump around a lot - although I truly believe this fits the content very well. Kieth's characters are exceptionally intriguing. It's rare for a man to write a woman character so well (perhaps even more so in a medium such as comics where readers are mostly familiar with buxom big-titted super-heroines flying about) and have the supporting cast interact with her convincingly.

The Maxx himself is interesting because he's such a failure. His attempts at success despite his failures are what kept me interested. Also the bad guy, a Mister Gone, is exceptionally bad - being unswervingly set up as a serial rapist and murdered from the outset. This initial labeling proves increasingly more disturbing as Gone's past history with the three main characters is examined with greater scrutiny. Gone's one of the most frightening antagonists I've come across in years.

I'm only a third of the way through this series but I strongly recommend this book as an initial jumping off point into the story of the Maxx. Anyone familiar with the MTV cartoon or Kieth work as an artist at Marvel and DC will be delightfully impressed by the care and commitment to his art in the book. I can only describe it as lavish and much of the panel layout is mesmerizing. On some occasions I had no idea 'why' something was done a certain way but simply accepted it as part of the strange world being built for me.

Amazing. I can't wait to read the next issues.