Sam Kieth (1963–2026)

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.
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 after show more The Maxx, a homeless vagrant who thinks that he's a superhero. At the same time, however, it's also the story of The Maxx, the greatest hero of the Australian dreamland Outback, who must protect the Jungle Queen (who looks like she could be a 'freelance social worker') from evil.
Heavily influenced by feminist philosophy (as is all of Keith's independent work), as well as showing influence of Keith's work with Neil Gaiman's Sandman, this is superheroes that require you to pay close attention to what you're reading. show less

I love Batman but stay away from this one. One of the worst Batman stories out there and the artwork is too Tim burton and Salvador Dali inspired.

reread Jan. 2021. The Ghosts story is actually more intriguing than I remembered it. I enjoyed the supernatural aspect but the storyline wasn't really fleshed out well. It's still not wonderful in terms of how women and folks with disabilities are treated. The artwork is also not to my taste. But I felt that the storyline had some interesting show more things to say about the nature of pain and memory, so I'm giving it a pass.

Oh but that Batman/Lobo story is horrific. A real piece of trash writing. show less

Holy crap, this isn't your grandfather's Maxx! First of all the actual Maxx doesn't make an appearance in his superhero guise. There is a new Maxx who looks kinda different. The story is less surreal and more comprehensible.

This comes with a "Suggested for Mature Readers" on the back in small letters, but really it should say "TRIGGER WARNING - FOR PREVIOUSLY MOLESTED READERS". I was never molested, but I can see this getting REALLY FREAKING HEAVY and not fun for someone who was. Or it might show more help them, who knows, but at least a warning that the topic is dealt with EXTENSIVELY along with references to rape. Don't get me wrong, I didn't get the feeling that Mr. Kieth was glorifying any of this or writing it to sell more comics, it was just soooooo dark and realistic that it made me uncomfortable while keeping me captivated.

Finally this ends with a cliffhanger and I don't own volume 5, so that's not fun either. show less

I see this as almost an alternate reality artifact wherein Neil Gaiman was a fairly decent comic book superhero writer laboring in the shadow of Alan Moore instead of the major fantasy writer he showed himself to be through Sandman and his subsequent novels. Thank goodness this material is just a footnote and not the road taken.