The Maxx was a cartoon that aired on MTV in 1995. It was based on a comic book series of the same name by Sam Keith. I just finished watching the complete series, only lasting 13 approximately-15-minute episodes, on Youtube. I’m surprised that they haven’t been taken down, what with Youtube’s stricter stance on material that violates copyright. I’m glad, though, since I never saw the show when it was first on TV. The plot goes something like this, taken from Wikipedia:
The series follows the story of The Maxx, a homeless man who believes he is a superhero. The Maxx shifts between the real world and a dream world, which he refers to as The Outback, which is just as real to him as the real world. Julie Winters is a “freelance social worker”, who befriends The Maxx. Little does she know that she and The Maxx have a deeper connection, and it involves the dream world that The Maxx is constantly drawn into.
The hand-drawn animation is awesome, humor and drama are balanced extremely well, and the voice work is over-the-top in a good way. Evidently Blizzard thought so too, since they hired Glynnis Talken Campbell, the voice of Julie, to be Kerrigan in the Starcraft games and other voices and Michael Haley, the voice of The Maxx, for Diablo. The distinctive voice of Mr. Gone, Barry Stigler, went on to do voicework for many anime productions.
Cartoons no longer are seen in America as solely the realm of children, with television programming like Adult Swim, but I don’t know if most people would be accepting of mature topics like rape being handled seriously in animation. Probably not since the MTV Oddities block, which The Maxx, didn’t take off. I hope it comes to DVD one day with a copious amount of extras, especially commentaries, but it isn’t too likely. Enjoy while you can:
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