In 1993, Sam Keith created a giant purple creature called The Maxx. Form the first issue of his series, The Maxx was a very interesting character. Starting out as some guy in a box, we slowly learn the story of Maxx as his memory of his past returns. His relationship with the Jungle Queen another weird part of his past, especially since the social worker assigned to his case, Julie Winters, bears a striking resemblance to the strange queen dressed in leopard skins and wielding a spear.
Why am I reviewing a comic book from 1993? I’m not. IDW Publishing has taken that original series, down to the original art, rescanned it, crisped it up so to speak, and, using the current improved publishing processes, released a new comic, The Maxx Maxximized #1. All of Sam Keith’s great art from this series and with the new techniques for publishing, this is a cool new comic with a classic feel. According the letter to the reader from Sam in the back of issue #1, they did not recolor or anything they just remastered. I like it.
The story so far, for those new to the world of The Maxx: Maxx is currently living in a box in an alley, as opposed to a van down by the river, and tries to keep to himself. That doesn’t always work out so well, as trouble seems to find him. There have been a rash of rapes lately and Maxx is drawn into a battle with some thieves that seems to save a girl from being raped. The cops, seeing a huge purple creature with yellow stabby claws and a massive overbite, arrest him after the girl is safe… but we see her get snatched off page and later find out she was raped and savaged.
As Maxx sleeps in the back of the cruiser he dreams of another land where he fights little white creatures and sees a girl dressed in leopard skins. He knows it is Australia. The Leopard Queen is the woman he considers “almost an enemy… beautiful and feral as the great beast she runs with, still she inspires me” and he knows that “for her I can be… a hero.”
AS the story progresses we meet Julie Winters, Maxx’s social worker who bails him out of jail, let’s him sleep on her couch, and bears an amazing resemblance to the Leopard Queen. But who is she? She certainly seems like just a normal girl, but time will tell.
Meanwhile, there is a strange man in a cape and his strange little creatures, who we learned are called isz, that turns out to be the evil monster attacking and raping women. Maxx hunts one of the dark and twisted isz and comes face to face with the this man his monsters. What will happen to our purple and yellow hero? We will have to wait till the next issue to find out.
The look and feel of this comic is just as I remember it from the first series, but the pages are crisper, clearer, and the page stock heavier. I really like this remastered edition, but I would love to see them at the same price as they were back in 1993. No such luck, but we do still get Sam Keith’s epic character in the same story with a beautiful facelift.
