The Maxx was one of my favorite comic series, but it’s virtually impossible to break it down because Sam pretty much made it up as he went along. He’d even admit in his letter columns he didn’t always know what was happening or going to happen next.
But here’s a general gist:
Everyone has an outback. You know, it’s that little world you create in your head when you just want to get away from it all. For some people, it’s a dark cave, for others, a huge city of neon lights, for others, it’s a vast outback full of strange and bizzare creatures. Julie’s happened to be the latter.
Also, everyone has a spirit animal. Within their outback, their spirit animal also takes on the form of a protector. It’s their job to make sure everything runs smoothly and the person’s inner self manages to avoid corruption and such.
Now, at some point in time, Mr. Gone discovered a way to travel between the real world, and other people’s outbacks. For some reason, he really enjoyed Julie’s, and in some way, probably helped to fashion it and create his own little sanctuary in her head. It’s also here that he discovered and learned to control the Izs, and apparently, developed some other various abilities.
Now, one thing that wasn’t included in the cartoon was a gentle little scene involving a rainy night, a not-too fast bum, a horrible rape flashback, the gas pedal, and a dank little alleyway with a portal into the outback. Basically, Dave (a homeless bum wandering across the street) freaked Julie out, recreating the scene of her rape, and she lashed out and ran him down. In the process of knocking him into an alleyway, she knocked a lamp threw a small portal in the alleyway, where the lamp shade picked up some residual residue. Seeing Dave lying there, Julie’s emotions went back to the suffering rabbit, and all she wanted to do was care for him. Unfortunately, people in such situations are generally selfish, so instead, she covered him with some garbage and the lampshade and left. Unfortunately, all that combined in a strange way and fused Dave with Julie’s Maxx, and he became the wandering, psychotic protector we all came to know and love.
Yes, Mr. Gone was really a rapist and murderer. Yes, Julie really did cut his head off. Yes, his spirit managed to survive in the outback, and in time, his body survived as well. I don’t recall the kids you’re talking about him interracting with…as far as the t.v. show went, he just talked to Sarah through telepathy, and the doctor threw the tapes.
Eventually, what happened to the Maxx is…Julie got better. Sort of. Maxx came to the conclusion that he couldn’t protect her anymore, and that she was capable of taking care of herself. So, he went back to being a plumber (in the comic, he was a plumber…in the cartoon, they made him out to be a gardener to try and explain why everything in the outback was a plant and not an animal, but that makes no sense, because it was Julie’s outback, not his, and therefore, he really had no influence on it whatsoever. But basically, he went back to being his own man.
Until about 20 years later, but that’s a whole different story.
Overall, I loved this cartoon because it was pretty damn close to the comic in terms of the story and characters, and incredibly true to the comic in the artwork, which was the greatest aspect of it. I absolutely love how smooth and detailed and wonderful the visual aspect of the cartoon was. Obviously a lot of rather simplistic CGI modified images, but I feel it all worked really well, and was just absolutely gorgeous. I have the whole thing on tape from when it aired, as well as the VHS release, and I have to say, the VHS release cut out some of the greatest parts. there’s a great monologue by Julie in the first episode that’s completely gone, and it’s a damn shame because it’s absolutely wonderful. I don’t nkow if the DVD put that back in or not, does anyone else?
