The Maxx

Sam Kieth’s and William Messner-Loeb's opus, The Maxx, is collected here in all its freshly re-colored glory. Volume 2 collects issues #13–24.

Originally published by Image Comics starting in 1993, The Maxx became a cult hit of independent comics spawning a TV show on MTV. The series follows its titular hero in the real world as a vagrant and in an alternate reality called The Outback, where he sees himself as a superhero and protector of the Jungle Queen, represented by Julie Winters, a social worker and friend. The series lasted for 35 issues and ended in 1998.

Sam Kieth is a comic book writer and illustrator, best known as the creator of The Maxx and Zero Girl.  Kieth first came to prominence in 1984 as the inker of Matt Wagner's Mage, and a year later as the inker of Fish Police. In 1989, he penciled the first five issues (the "Preludes & Nocturnes" story arc) of writer Neil Gaiman's celebrated series The Sandman and collaborated with Alan Grant on a Penguin story in Secret Origins Special #1. In 1993 Kieth created the original series The Maxx for fledgling publisher Image Comics. The Maxx ran 35 issues, all of which were plotted and illustrated by Kieth. William Messner-Loebs scripted #1-15 and Alan Moore wrote #21. In 1995, The Maxx was adapted as part of MTV's short-lived animation series MTV's Oddities. After taking a break from comics to pursue other interests, Kieth created the series Zero Girl for DC Comics' Wildstorm imprint in 2001. He followed that with the drama Four Women later that year and Zero Girl: Full Circlein 2003. In 2010, Kieth wrote and illustrated the original hardcover graphic novel Arkham Asylum: Madness, which spent two weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list, reaching number five in the category of "Hardcover Graphic Books."