3D Metropolis

After far, far too long they’ve finally done it – Mtv’s The Maxx is now available on DVD!

If you’re familiar with the show, that should be all you need to know – go buy it at Amazon already!

If you’ve never seen The Maxx, read on…

Back in the mid-90s Mtv transformed Sam Keith’s graphic novel The Maxx into an animated series. I say transformed but what they really did was more literal – like taking high quality scans of his panels and then bringing all his characters to life with animation that stayed true to his designs.

It was as if Keith himself had frozen these characters in place against the backgrounds, and animators at Mtv went back and woke them up, gave them the liberty to move again. Keith’s drawings were already very dynamic, plenty of movement on each page, but in the series they were moving and talking in a whole new way.

More than just the art and the memorable voiceover acting, The Maxx possesses a fantastic story. Mtv’s series was my first introduction to the work of Sam Keith, and I was thrilled to discover uncanny storytelling abilities that betray his deep link to childhood, adolescence, the female psyche, and what happens to adults who are doing the best they can to grow up but don’t always know how (that’s all of us).

I could go on about the characters – Julie Winters, the social worker who can’t help but keep bailing out the homeless man who dresses as the purple superhero The Maxx and claims to be her protector. Mr. Gone, the serial killer with a link to Julie; Sara, Glorie, the Isz… but I think it’s best to see for yourself.