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The Maxx #5
The Maxx, Vol. 5
The long-awaited fifth volume completing the story of the Maxx, Julie, Mr. Gone and Sarah! Julie and li'l Sarah encounter a slew of new characters, but can both of them survive the experience? Glory's story is finally revealed, Megan shares a special moment in her life, and much more in issues #28-36 of THE MAXX!
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
2 people are currently reading
206 people want to read
About the author
Sam Kieth
409 books269 followersKieth 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, handing over to his former inker Mike Dringenberg.
He acted as illustrator on two volumes of writer William Messner-Loebs' Epicurus the Sage and drew an Aliens miniseries for Dark Horse Comics, among other things, before creating The Maxx in 1993 for Image Comics, with, initially, writing help from Messner-Loebs. It ran for 35 issues and was adapted, with Kieth's assistance, into an animated series for MTV. Since then, as a writer-artist, he has gone on to create Friends of Maxx, Zero Girl, Four Women and Ojo.
Ojo comprises the first and My Inner Bimbo the second, in a cycle of original comic book limited series published by Oni Press. Loosely connected, the cycle will concern the intertwined lives of people with each other and sometimes with a supernatural entity known as the Mysterious Trout. Kieth has stated that other characters from The Maxx series will appear in this cycle of stories. My Inner Bimbo #1 was published in April 2006. Issue #2 was delayed past its original release date; It was finally resolicited in "Previews" in 2007 and hit the store shelves in November 2007.
DC Comics' Batman/Lobo: Deadly Serious, a two-issue prestige format mini-series that started in August 2007, was written and drawn by Kieth. This was followed by 2009's two-issue prestige format mini-series Lobo: Highway to Hell, written by Scott Ian and featuring art by Kieth.
He acted as illustrator on two volumes of writer William Messner-Loebs' Epicurus the Sage and drew an Aliens miniseries for Dark Horse Comics, among other things, before creating The Maxx in 1993 for Image Comics, with, initially, writing help from Messner-Loebs. It ran for 35 issues and was adapted, with Kieth's assistance, into an animated series for MTV. Since then, as a writer-artist, he has gone on to create Friends of Maxx, Zero Girl, Four Women and Ojo.
Ojo comprises the first and My Inner Bimbo the second, in a cycle of original comic book limited series published by Oni Press. Loosely connected, the cycle will concern the intertwined lives of people with each other and sometimes with a supernatural entity known as the Mysterious Trout. Kieth has stated that other characters from The Maxx series will appear in this cycle of stories. My Inner Bimbo #1 was published in April 2006. Issue #2 was delayed past its original release date; It was finally resolicited in "Previews" in 2007 and hit the store shelves in November 2007.
DC Comics' Batman/Lobo: Deadly Serious, a two-issue prestige format mini-series that started in August 2007, was written and drawn by Kieth. This was followed by 2009's two-issue prestige format mini-series Lobo: Highway to Hell, written by Scott Ian and featuring art by Kieth.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
April 12, 2016
In the fifth volume, things come to a head. Sara goes to her outback with Mr. Gone as her guide in an effort to fix it. Dave becomes The Maxx again and Julie and her son help Gone in the aftermath of Sara's trip to the Outback. The saga of The Maxx finally comes to a conclusion.
The last volume of the regular Maxx series ties up all the loose ends. Finding out the connection between all the characters is both a revelation and a forehead slapping moment. While to the casual reader, The Maxx is just a super hero book, it's acutally so much more. While there are fantasy and super hero trappings, it's actually the story of people dealing with mental and physical abuse. The monsters and costumes are just set dressing.
The ending to the saga is satisfying. There's a sense of finality to it but also a sense of hope.
The last volume of the regular Maxx series ties up all the loose ends. Finding out the connection between all the characters is both a revelation and a forehead slapping moment. While to the casual reader, The Maxx is just a super hero book, it's acutally so much more. While there are fantasy and super hero trappings, it's actually the story of people dealing with mental and physical abuse. The monsters and costumes are just set dressing.
The ending to the saga is satisfying. There's a sense of finality to it but also a sense of hope.
June 11, 2015
At a certain point while reading this book I realized that Sam Kieth's story had really strayed from what had originally excited me about The Maxx: the sense of wonder and mystery.
To some extent, this was unavoidable. After all, you can't just leave questions unanswered indefinitely: eventually you have to start explaining things. And when Kieth did, back in volume three, it was wonderful. But now that we have some idea of what's going on--now that the wild, not-quite-sane world of The Maxx makes a little more sense--it's lost some of its kick.
This is similar to the problem that takes the sting out of a lot of horror stories. Malevolent, inscrutable entities are terrifying when you don't know who they are or what their agenda is, but eventually the author's going to have to do some explaining, and when that happens, all the strangeness that's occurred suddenly becomes much less scary. (Lovecraft was certainly right about fear of the unknown.)
But as I said, the explanations in The Maxx were inevitable, so I can't fault Kieth for that. And really, the book is still interesting--it just doesn't have me as hooked as it once did, because a lot of the mystery is gone.
The other thing I noticed in this volume is that there's a lot more "real-life" stuff going on: we get lots of stories about our characters' pasts, generally with no supernatural element involved. On the surface, these stories are good--great, in fact! But after I took a step back and thought about what was so appealing about the first few volumes of The Maxx, I remembered the fantastic element of it all: the guardian animal that is The Maxx, who may just be a street bum in a mask; the evil sorcerer/rapist Mr. Gone, who has a nasty habit of surviving multiple decapitations; and the Outback itself, a wild world existing in the mind of Julie Winters, somehow parallel to Earth as we know it.
In this volume a lot of the fantasy elements take a back seat to real-life stories about people growing up under lousy circumstances. And, while those stories offer some great insight into the characters' lives, they don't quite evoke the same sense of awe that the earlier Maxx tales gave me.
But hey, there's only one more volume left, and I'm certainly excited to see where it goes--because as of now, The Maxx is still one of the better comics I've ever read, if not just for its uniqueness.
UPDATE: Since writing this review I've come to realize that the sixth volume of The Maxx doesn't continue the previous storyline--it appears to be a collection of stories printed under the title Friends of Maxx.
This means, of course, that the main Maxx storyline ended with volume 5, and I'm not sure how I feel about that.
To some extent, this was unavoidable. After all, you can't just leave questions unanswered indefinitely: eventually you have to start explaining things. And when Kieth did, back in volume three, it was wonderful. But now that we have some idea of what's going on--now that the wild, not-quite-sane world of The Maxx makes a little more sense--it's lost some of its kick.
This is similar to the problem that takes the sting out of a lot of horror stories. Malevolent, inscrutable entities are terrifying when you don't know who they are or what their agenda is, but eventually the author's going to have to do some explaining, and when that happens, all the strangeness that's occurred suddenly becomes much less scary. (Lovecraft was certainly right about fear of the unknown.)
But as I said, the explanations in The Maxx were inevitable, so I can't fault Kieth for that. And really, the book is still interesting--it just doesn't have me as hooked as it once did, because a lot of the mystery is gone.
The other thing I noticed in this volume is that there's a lot more "real-life" stuff going on: we get lots of stories about our characters' pasts, generally with no supernatural element involved. On the surface, these stories are good--great, in fact! But after I took a step back and thought about what was so appealing about the first few volumes of The Maxx, I remembered the fantastic element of it all: the guardian animal that is The Maxx, who may just be a street bum in a mask; the evil sorcerer/rapist Mr. Gone, who has a nasty habit of surviving multiple decapitations; and the Outback itself, a wild world existing in the mind of Julie Winters, somehow parallel to Earth as we know it.
In this volume a lot of the fantasy elements take a back seat to real-life stories about people growing up under lousy circumstances. And, while those stories offer some great insight into the characters' lives, they don't quite evoke the same sense of awe that the earlier Maxx tales gave me.
But hey, there's only one more volume left, and I'm certainly excited to see where it goes--because as of now, The Maxx is still one of the better comics I've ever read, if not just for its uniqueness.
UPDATE: Since writing this review I've come to realize that the sixth volume of The Maxx doesn't continue the previous storyline--it appears to be a collection of stories printed under the title Friends of Maxx.
This means, of course, that the main Maxx storyline ended with volume 5, and I'm not sure how I feel about that.
May 6, 2016
This fifth volume of Sam Kieth's The Maxx collects issues #28–35, which is to say the final eight issues of the comic, and it does bring the story to an ending of sorts (I say "of sorts" since there is a sixth volume collecting some other the Maxx related material).
As I wrote in my review of volume four, The Maxx is not your regular superhero book (even though it is a superhero book) and it is perhaps because of this the series felt fresh when it was first released. Kieth definitely set out to do something different, when most of his Image Comics compatriots seemed to set out to do more of the same (not necessarily saying that that is bad per se, but at the time, it did feel quite a bit like Image Comics was a missed opportunity).
Anyway, if you've read the first four volumes, you should be ready for this one. And if you haven't... well, there's no time like the present to get started, right?
As I wrote in my review of volume four, The Maxx is not your regular superhero book (even though it is a superhero book) and it is perhaps because of this the series felt fresh when it was first released. Kieth definitely set out to do something different, when most of his Image Comics compatriots seemed to set out to do more of the same (not necessarily saying that that is bad per se, but at the time, it did feel quite a bit like Image Comics was a missed opportunity).
Anyway, if you've read the first four volumes, you should be ready for this one. And if you haven't... well, there's no time like the present to get started, right?
September 27, 2018
i started reading The Maxx after it was turned into an animated series in the mid 90s. I caught up on the story with back issues, and bought the book regularly up until a certain point- maybe halfway through the second phase, or arc, or whatever, of the overall plotline, beginning with issue 21.
i recently started cleaning out all my old comic books. i have hundreds and hundreds of them, packed into boxes, that have been in my basement for seven years; before that, they were in my mother's basement for just as long- maybe longer. i found all my old Maxx books, and realized that i was only missing a few issues in the series, conveniently, they are all collected in this volume. i always wondered how this all ended, and now i know.
i went through and read all of The Maxx, from beginning to end; i, more than likely, should not have been allowed to read this as a kid. but there's no way i understood half of what is going on here. and in re-reading it all, especially beginning with issue 21, i feel like sam kieth really lost control of the story, or, at least, tried to cram too many ideas and themes into the story, and by the end, it winds up buckling under its own ambitions.
volume five here brings things to a close. the characters don't get a 'happy' ending, but they get endings never the less, and there are a number of things in these collected issues that have little, if anything at all, to do with the overall story of The Maxx, and how it ends, which was a little frustrating, and made this (for a comic, at least) a little dense and difficult of a read.
i recently started cleaning out all my old comic books. i have hundreds and hundreds of them, packed into boxes, that have been in my basement for seven years; before that, they were in my mother's basement for just as long- maybe longer. i found all my old Maxx books, and realized that i was only missing a few issues in the series, conveniently, they are all collected in this volume. i always wondered how this all ended, and now i know.
i went through and read all of The Maxx, from beginning to end; i, more than likely, should not have been allowed to read this as a kid. but there's no way i understood half of what is going on here. and in re-reading it all, especially beginning with issue 21, i feel like sam kieth really lost control of the story, or, at least, tried to cram too many ideas and themes into the story, and by the end, it winds up buckling under its own ambitions.
volume five here brings things to a close. the characters don't get a 'happy' ending, but they get endings never the less, and there are a number of things in these collected issues that have little, if anything at all, to do with the overall story of The Maxx, and how it ends, which was a little frustrating, and made this (for a comic, at least) a little dense and difficult of a read.
February 2, 2017
Not sure what The Love for Three Oranges was about, but the rest of this was interesting and a good send-off to the characters. It was sad, beautiful, and bizarre which is exactly what I expect from The Maxx. Go read it.
January 5, 2018
The Short of It: Meh. Interesting ideas are undercut by stale dialogue and poor pacing, resulting in a tepid ending.
So I guess this is the series finale? Certainly doesn't feel like it. Those of you who've been following my reviews know that I've been pretty positive about The Maxx up until this point. A surreal, gorgeously illustrated adventure that delves into some of the darker corners of humanity. But knowing that all the world-hopping and time-bending would lead to this, I find myself seriously reevaluating the rest of the journey. The main problem, so far as I can tell, is that The Maxx is just far too invested in its own overarching mythology, and the in-the-moment storytelling suffers as a result.
There are some great individual stories within this volume, some of them (the one set at the library, for example) packing real emotional punch. And if they were standalone, I'd consider the volume as a whole really satisfying. But at the end of each seemingly digressive story-line, we return to the protagonists we've been following for 5 paperbacks now, sarcastically asking how that story relates to their adventure.
That's the other thing that got to me after all: the disaffected attitudes. The Maxx is rife with jaded characters who are above such things as emotional investment, at least until said emotional investment is needed to forward the plot. And don't get me wrong, I LIKE jaded, cynical characters just fine. But when these characters are blithely commenting on the ridiculousness of the premise itself, resulting in other characters over-explaining the mechanics of the Maxx universe, things get dull, and then they get annoying.
Right off the bat, there's a story-line that pays homage (read: completely rips off) Alice in Wonderland, and half the dialogue is reiterating what the visuals already tell us. The words and pictures are communicating the exact same thing, leading to major redundancies.
And the ending! I like these characters, and have been invested in what's happened to them since Volume 3, but at the end of this I felt nothing. I didn't care. And maybe that's part of the point? But I don't know. The whole just feels like a rip-off of David Lynch's later stuff. Again: interesting ideas, but they're not implemented in the most effective way.
The best part of The Maxx, Vol. 5 is the guest comic by David Feiss, creator of Cow and Chicken. It's fun, creative, well-paced, and it has nothing to do with The Maxx whatsoever!
I'd maybe consider giving The Maxx a reread at some point, just to see what these later revelations mean for events that happened before. (After all, I've yet to get my hands on a copy of Volume 1.) But honestly? I'm majorly disappointed here. If you've read The Maxx this far, you might as well finish it. But otherwise, just skip it.
So I guess this is the series finale? Certainly doesn't feel like it. Those of you who've been following my reviews know that I've been pretty positive about The Maxx up until this point. A surreal, gorgeously illustrated adventure that delves into some of the darker corners of humanity. But knowing that all the world-hopping and time-bending would lead to this, I find myself seriously reevaluating the rest of the journey. The main problem, so far as I can tell, is that The Maxx is just far too invested in its own overarching mythology, and the in-the-moment storytelling suffers as a result.
There are some great individual stories within this volume, some of them (the one set at the library, for example) packing real emotional punch. And if they were standalone, I'd consider the volume as a whole really satisfying. But at the end of each seemingly digressive story-line, we return to the protagonists we've been following for 5 paperbacks now, sarcastically asking how that story relates to their adventure.
That's the other thing that got to me after all: the disaffected attitudes. The Maxx is rife with jaded characters who are above such things as emotional investment, at least until said emotional investment is needed to forward the plot. And don't get me wrong, I LIKE jaded, cynical characters just fine. But when these characters are blithely commenting on the ridiculousness of the premise itself, resulting in other characters over-explaining the mechanics of the Maxx universe, things get dull, and then they get annoying.
Right off the bat, there's a story-line that pays homage (read: completely rips off) Alice in Wonderland, and half the dialogue is reiterating what the visuals already tell us. The words and pictures are communicating the exact same thing, leading to major redundancies.
And the ending! I like these characters, and have been invested in what's happened to them since Volume 3, but at the end of this I felt nothing. I didn't care. And maybe that's part of the point? But I don't know. The whole just feels like a rip-off of David Lynch's later stuff. Again: interesting ideas, but they're not implemented in the most effective way.
The best part of The Maxx, Vol. 5 is the guest comic by David Feiss, creator of Cow and Chicken. It's fun, creative, well-paced, and it has nothing to do with The Maxx whatsoever!
I'd maybe consider giving The Maxx a reread at some point, just to see what these later revelations mean for events that happened before. (After all, I've yet to get my hands on a copy of Volume 1.) But honestly? I'm majorly disappointed here. If you've read The Maxx this far, you might as well finish it. But otherwise, just skip it.
March 20, 2018
The Maxx is a decidedly surreal, emotionally challenging, utterly bizarre series. You open that first book, and you see a big purple guy with a giant claw on each hand battling for his life. You think you're in for a thrilling super-hero adventure. There are even some good jokes thrown in to keep the mood jovial. Then, you're in a story about abused people, mostly women, coming to terms with themselves, their attackers, and their loved ones.
The Maxx has two very clear arcs - the first three books tell the story of Julie Winters, freelance social worker, rape victim and all-around cynic. Her Maxx is Dave, and he fights for her soul in the real world and in Julie's mental "outback." And Mr. Gone operates somewhere between the villain and the wise mage who instructs our heroes. All in all, the first three books are extremely engaging - Emotionally real, and full of intriguing metaphysical and psychological notions.
The second major arc encompasses the final two volumes and deals with Julie's friend (and Mr. Gone's daughter) Sara's struggle to cope with feelings of abandonment (As Kieth points out, where do you think the name Mr. Gone came from?). Although Sara is a much more empathetic character than Julie, I still found the final two volumes less fulfilling than the opening books.
The early books have plenty of interesting digressions and stories detailing our characters' histories, but the side-plots in Sara's story seem much more numerous and constantly interrupt the momentum of her story. There is a point in the second half of Book Five when I wondered if Kieth was simply stalling for time because he didn't know what would happen next. And, in fact, the ending seemed almost tacked on. After all the time spent having these characters face up to what they'd done and what had been done to them, for it to end with a magic reboot struck me as an emotional letdown.
It's a very bleak series at times, and yet there is also genuine charm and funny humor throughout. Kieth's art progresses at an amazing rate. The earliest stories are filled with clumsy designs, many of which work, some of which don't. He also experiments with different styles more frequently in the early volumes, often creating a palpable emotional reaction by doing so. The later books eschew much of this complication and experimentation for a clearer sense of storytelling (without losing any of Kieth's quirky illustrations).
The first three volumes of The Maxx are smart, funny, emotional and imaginative. The latter two volumes are interesting and worthwhile, but not as fresh or challenging as Sam Kieth's first, clumsy steps into the world of Outbacks, lampshades, Isz and freelance social workers.
The Maxx has two very clear arcs - the first three books tell the story of Julie Winters, freelance social worker, rape victim and all-around cynic. Her Maxx is Dave, and he fights for her soul in the real world and in Julie's mental "outback." And Mr. Gone operates somewhere between the villain and the wise mage who instructs our heroes. All in all, the first three books are extremely engaging - Emotionally real, and full of intriguing metaphysical and psychological notions.
The second major arc encompasses the final two volumes and deals with Julie's friend (and Mr. Gone's daughter) Sara's struggle to cope with feelings of abandonment (As Kieth points out, where do you think the name Mr. Gone came from?). Although Sara is a much more empathetic character than Julie, I still found the final two volumes less fulfilling than the opening books.
The early books have plenty of interesting digressions and stories detailing our characters' histories, but the side-plots in Sara's story seem much more numerous and constantly interrupt the momentum of her story. There is a point in the second half of Book Five when I wondered if Kieth was simply stalling for time because he didn't know what would happen next. And, in fact, the ending seemed almost tacked on. After all the time spent having these characters face up to what they'd done and what had been done to them, for it to end with a magic reboot struck me as an emotional letdown.
It's a very bleak series at times, and yet there is also genuine charm and funny humor throughout. Kieth's art progresses at an amazing rate. The earliest stories are filled with clumsy designs, many of which work, some of which don't. He also experiments with different styles more frequently in the early volumes, often creating a palpable emotional reaction by doing so. The later books eschew much of this complication and experimentation for a clearer sense of storytelling (without losing any of Kieth's quirky illustrations).
The first three volumes of The Maxx are smart, funny, emotional and imaginative. The latter two volumes are interesting and worthwhile, but not as fresh or challenging as Sam Kieth's first, clumsy steps into the world of Outbacks, lampshades, Isz and freelance social workers.
December 16, 2008
I have no idea what the hell happened in this one. Sam Keith is either a complete genius or has absofuckinlutely no idea how to get his story out of the corner he backed it into.
May 31, 2009
What an unorthodox, surreal, utterly personal way to end this book. I've always liked Sam Kieth's work, but reading this series has made me a true fan. Can't wait for volume six to get to my house.
August 16, 2018
2.5 I guess I just don't...get it? Like, I understand the ending (even if I'm still unsure who the
rememberer" is. Mark? Julie? idk), but I kind of feel like it would have had more impact if the candle burned and that was it. They're all in a second chance world, the end. But their new existence WAS fleshed out and all the questions weren't answered. What the hell did Megan and Uncle Freddy have to do with anything? If Gone is in the new bubble, is Sara? Glorie? Just...I don't know. I struggled through this the whole way. The story was interesting and kept me going, but it was so wordy and tedious in parts that I never really got invested. Reading this is a culmination of 25 years of idle wondering since I first watched a few episodes of the TV program. Now there's no more mystique.
rememberer" is. Mark? Julie? idk), but I kind of feel like it would have had more impact if the candle burned and that was it. They're all in a second chance world, the end. But their new existence WAS fleshed out and all the questions weren't answered. What the hell did Megan and Uncle Freddy have to do with anything? If Gone is in the new bubble, is Sara? Glorie? Just...I don't know. I struggled through this the whole way. The story was interesting and kept me going, but it was so wordy and tedious in parts that I never really got invested. Reading this is a culmination of 25 years of idle wondering since I first watched a few episodes of the TV program. Now there's no more mystique.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 28, 2023
Just re-read for maybe the fifth time recently. I still love how the book ends, but I also feel like Sam Keith was really losing it at times. There are whole issues that have nothing to do with the actual storyline. When there are many loose ends, wish he'd devoted his time to tying things up, not introducing side characters or other messes. The story is messy enough! And he has a good bit of self referential mentions that he knows the story is a mess. But it ends in a satisfyingly way, in my opinion.
July 3, 2018
Okay, fine, that was as good an ending as one could expect of this series. As a whole, some flabby bits and it suffers from not having a series bible before it started. Characters narrating obvious actions recur. But, overall, it is worth experiencing.
Except for that stupid digression about the moose and flower. What an absolute waste of ink and paper. It is a weak allegory at best and mostly just breaks up any tension that was building without any payoff. If you read it, skip that bit.
Except for that stupid digression about the moose and flower. What an absolute waste of ink and paper. It is a weak allegory at best and mostly just breaks up any tension that was building without any payoff. If you read it, skip that bit.
August 20, 2018
This volume finishes up Julie's storyline, her dreams, Maxx and who he is (and then leaves). This volume also begins a new storyline revolving around Sara 10 years later. She has to go see her father, the former Mr. Gone. There is also a giant yellow banana slug out to kill people.
This storyline, while still kind of weird, is more straightforward than the surreal stuff in the first storyline with all the dream sequences.
This storyline, while still kind of weird, is more straightforward than the surreal stuff in the first storyline with all the dream sequences.
February 14, 2018
I wasn't that sure of this final tome, but the way to go out with that last volume (n. 35) elevated for me the whole work to the level of an utter masterpiece... specially that page of Sara and Mr. Gone in the Outback … really sums up the whole experience.
October 27, 2018
This was a very well done series that dealt with some extremely heavy issues. It was quite surreal by the end but that's what the world can be like when you are dealing with trauma.
August 31, 2025
Why did this ending actually make me sad?
8/10.
8/10.
November 24, 2025
A fitting conclusion, maybe not as strong as the first few issues in the series, but all good things must come to an end and I found this to be satisfying enough.
September 30, 2009
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 Julia Winters or Maxx, or even Sarah. Through the occurrences and lessons the characters must undergo in the book, Kieth does nothing short of forcing the reader to ruminate over his or her own life and hurts. It really brought me to a point of tears multiple times throughout. It's just a beautiful narrative, and the art only works to boost that quality.
As far as storyline, Kieth tugs at heartstrings, bringing the reader to a place not dissimilar to that of Julia Winters or Maxx, or even Sarah. Through the occurrences and lessons the characters must undergo in the book, Kieth does nothing short of forcing the reader to ruminate over his or her own life and hurts. It really brought me to a point of tears multiple times throughout. It's just a beautiful narrative, and the art only works to boost that quality.
November 12, 2012
The transition from sloppy, early stage, to polished art, was a welcome change. This installment seemed to be headed in the right direction, and then a slew of randomness was inserted. By the end, you had some resolution related to the main story arch. However, I personally became so confused and distracted by other stories in this collection that I was more interested in making it through them than enjoying them.
I'm glad to have some clear idea in the end of the author's intentions, but also was a little sad. Mostly, I wanted to be blown away, but found myself instead hoping the sixth and last volume will make up for the 1/2 of this I didn't care for. The other half was great.
Fans of the series will want to read this regardless of its relative success compared with earlier comics.
I'm glad to have some clear idea in the end of the author's intentions, but also was a little sad. Mostly, I wanted to be blown away, but found myself instead hoping the sixth and last volume will make up for the 1/2 of this I didn't care for. The other half was great.
Fans of the series will want to read this regardless of its relative success compared with earlier comics.
August 2, 2009
Found it at the CADL!
The Maxx is The Maxx again, the world is ending, and Sarah is now an Isz. Sort of. Not quite. But, yeah. The strangeness dial keeps getting turned up, and it makes me sad that there's only one more compilation left. It ends with a possible ending, but... it's not done. Smooth read, despite the trademark disjointedness. Art is great once again.
The Maxx is The Maxx again, the world is ending, and Sarah is now an Isz. Sort of. Not quite. But, yeah. The strangeness dial keeps getting turned up, and it makes me sad that there's only one more compilation left. It ends with a possible ending, but... it's not done. Smooth read, despite the trademark disjointedness. Art is great once again.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 31, 2013
I must admit I didn't care for this as much as volume 4. The story was disconnected and there were lots of different characters. But I did really love one of the stories about a young queer girl growing up whose only refuge was the library.
March 19, 2007
I'm actually currently on Volume 4, which also actually deserves the 4-star rating. I'm skeptical that V.5 will be as good.
Want to read
August 2, 2011I heard its not really about the Maxx towards the end?
July 21, 2012
Review aqui.
February 14, 2015
Just not enough Maxx. The rush to tie it all up left too much time chasing down each thread in a distracting and unsatisfied muddle.
October 11, 2016
more great !!!!!
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews