It Came From The '90s The Maxx #4 - Image (1993)

Yedna suggested that I move The Maxx to the top of my list and I'm glad I followed the suggestion! This is a cool comic. So cool, in fact, that I have changed the name of this feature to It Came From The '90s.

I didn't read many comics at all during the early '90s and the few non Marvel/DC titles I did read were either The Tick or back issues of The Badger and Grimjack. Therefore, this is the first issue of The Maxx I have ever read. I know a little about the premise of the series from the animated version but my memories are vague. Mostly I remember that there was a whole "what is reality?" thing going on and that the characters' perceptions did not (necessarily) reflect reality.

I really like the art in this issue. Sam Keith draws characters in a way that reminds me of Bill Sienkiewicz's work. He also uses the whole page to tell this story. He has a masterful use of style and he knows which rules to break to make his point. For example, certain features of a character such as eyes, hair, or the entire body may change size or shape in order to make a scene work.

This issue is told from Sarah's point of view and reinforces the fluid reality of the setting. Sarah is a depressed teenager who hangs out with The Maxx under a bridge. Julie (who I remember from the animated series) is counseling Sarah but Sarah is resisting it in true depressed teenage fashion. There's a lot of good character work, here and I finished this issue knowing a lot about the world and the people in it. It turns out to be a good jumping-on point for the series.

So, this was a pleasant surprise. I liked everything about this issue. From the art to the writing to the way that it appeared that this mere comic book was too small to contain the characters and story within it. It was like things kept striving to leap off the page and fly away to freedom. When I get to Dragon*Con I'll try to dig up some Maxx trades so I can get the rest of the story.

Next up: Action Comics #687!

It Came From The 90s: Intro

There are three good comic shops here in Nashville one of which has a couple of branches. My hold box is at the one closest to my house. It's also at the one with the employees I prefer to deal with. However, I go to the other shop once every couple of months because they sell a lot more than just comics. I was in their Half-Price-Or-Less store a couple of weeks ago and a spinner rack filled with overstuffed comic bags caught my eye. They had two different deals:

5 for a dollar.

12 for two dollars.

I figure they ended up with a bunch of comics that neither they nor the original owners wanted. Kinda like the situation Mike Sterling talks about in this post.

I was curious enough to shell out a few bucks of my relatively hard-earned cash to see what was in these treasure troves. All I had to go on was what the dudes at the comic store chose to put on each end of the stack. I predicted that there would be a bunch of titles from the 1990s in there and that they would be very, very bad. As you can see from the list below, I was right about the first part of the prediction. As for the second part, that remains to be seen.

Follow along with me and help me decide which book to review next. Here are the first twelve comics I opened up. I'll start with the two I could see when I made my choice because those are presumably the best of the lot. We'll see about that.

EDIT: I have changed the name of this feature from "Parade of Mediocrity" to "It Came From The '90s". Also I will add the link to each review below as it is written.

1. Superman in Action Comics #687 (DC - 1993) This was the "front cover" of the stack. It's also one of the post-Death-Of-Superman titles. Here's the cover:

2. The Hacker Files #10 (DC - 1993) This was the "back cover" and I have to admit that it looks pretty cool. It was even written by one of my favorite authors, Lewis Shiner:



3. The Maxx #4 (Image - 1993)
4. Prototype #6 (Malibu - 1994)
5. Stormwatch #3 (Image - 1993)
6. Batman: Shadow of the Bat Annual #1 (DC - 1993)
7. The Amazing Scarlet Spider #1 (Marvel - 1995)
8. Archer & Armstrong #20 (Valiant - 1994)
9. Pitt #2 (Image - 1993)
10. Ultraforce #0 (Malibu - 1994)
11. Marvel Comics Presents #93 (Marvel - 1991) [features Wolverine and Nova]
12. Brigade #5 (Image - 1993)

So, there they are. I'm going to review each of them and I'm curious to see what they are like. The only one of them I have read before is Action #687 and I don't remember much about it. I hope there will be some pleasant surprises and I expect to see some now-familiar names from earlier in their careers.

Leave a comment if there's one you'd like to see me move up the review list. I don't have a set order right now.