'The Maxx' Returns to Comics

Sam Kieth's creator-owned '90s hit The Maxx is returning to comic shops, according to a vague [...]

By Russ Burlingame

Sam Kieth's creator-owned '90s hit The Maxx is returning to comic shops, according to a vague promotional image released on the IDW Publishing Twitter page.

IDW has been publishing reprints of The Maxx since 2013, and has released one as recently as October of last year.

The Maxx debuted in 1993, making 2018 the 25th anniversary of the beloved series, which was published by Image Comics and later collected by WildStorm before being brought to IDW for reprints.

The series followed the adventures of the titular hero in the real world and in an alternate reality, referred to as the Outback. In the real world, the Maxx is a vagrant, a "homeless man living in a box", while in the Outback, he is the powerful protector of the Jungle Queen. The Jungle Queen exists in the real world as Julie Winters, a freelance social worker who often bails the Maxx out of jail. While the Maxx is aware of the Outback, Julie is not, though it is integral to both of their stories.

The Maxx, like many early Image Comics titles, was visually arresting, featured a big-name artist, and sold like gangbusters. It was adapted into an animated series on MTV's Oddities. You can still buy The Maxx on DVD.

"I want to thank my pal Ted Adams for giving me and some of my books a home at IDW," Kieth said back when the reprints were announced. "I hope he doesn't lose his shirt!"

"Sam, as usual, is self deprecating to a fault," said editor Scott Dunbier, "he's an amazing artist and a good friend, and I could not be happier to have him at IDW."

Kieth also created a set of three comprehensive new art books for IDW called The Worlds of Sam Kieth, the aim of which was to "showcase his incredible powers as an artist, but also tell the story of who he is and how he came to be the artist he is."

There is no release date or additional information on the image shared by IDW. Given that it was tweeted out amid a flurry of upcoming projects, it seems likely that next month at Comic Con International in San Diego, IDW will shed more light on what Kieth has coming.

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