I would love to see the Maxx out. With the release of Fishing With John i dont see why they could not.
“1. Have you seen these films?
Yes, on VHS. But I’m not sure if it was in it’s entirety."
Truth.
1. Yes. It is great.
2. No. Viacom would ask way too much for the rights.
3. For posterity’s sake the episodes should be released on DVD along with a complete Liquid Television boxset by Viacom/MTV/VH1. Criterion does not need to use its curating expertise in restoring and disseminating a cartoon that is at most twenty years old owned by a major media company. The owning company is a large studio/media company that can do the release just as well, but they haven’t either because they think won’t turn a profit or they haven’t even thought about it. Viacom is much larger than Criterion with a larger DVD release budget, and yet Viacom hasn’t done this since the 90s. Criterion should save those films from oblivion that have no chance otherwise, that would be culturally devestating or impoverishing to not add to the collection.
A Liquid Television boxset would be wonderful. I also would like to see Daria properly released (no, I’m not gay, but thanks anyways).
Wow, I forgot about this! I had the VHS tape way back when and thought it was great.. I’d have to revisit it… but picturing the Criterion cover certainly gives me a smile..
This is available, and it is fantastic.
http://www.amazon.com/Maxx-Complete-Michael-Haley/dp/B002WJHDJI/
A Liquid Television boxset would be wonderful. I also would like to see Daria properly released (no, I’m not gay, but thanks anyways).
A Daria set was released in 2010 which contained every episode, the unaired pilot and both films. Most of the music has been changed (rights were too expensive, especially considering every episode had at least one pop song) but Splendora’s theme remains over the credits, thank goodness. The packaging is flimsy but the set is very reasonably priced.
RaySquirrel
In 1995 MTV produced and aired a 13 episode adaptation of a comic book series by Sam Kieth. That series was called The Maxx. At the time MTV was known for producing smart, dramatic, experimental, occasionally repulsive, adult-themed animation. Some would might even call it avant-garde Many people know of long running series like Bevis and Butt-head, Daria and Celebrity Deathmatch. Aeon Flux has become a cult hit. Some might remember anthology programs like Liquid Television or Cartoon Sushi.
1. Have you seen these films?
Yes, on VHS. But I’m not sure if it was in it’s entirety.
2. Do you believe that these films should be released by the Criterion Collection?
Yes
3. Why do you do you believe this film is worthy of a Criterion release?
With the recent trend in comic book superhero movies, it seems as if the Criterion Collection should release a response to this trend. In much the same way The Maxx was a response to many of the trends that could be seen in comic books of that time. The series revolves around a astoundingly unheroic superhero, the Maxx. He has no advanced weaponry, no superpowers. His back story is that he is a homeless man who stumbled upon a purple costume. There is some question as to whether the fantasy world he descends into is real or just the product of a shattered psyche. It does appear that his nemesis Mr. Gone along with his horde of slimy Isz creatures do affect the world around him.
The story takes place in a gritty and unpleasant city-scape, where rape, suicide and murder are all present in the lives of the central characters. The characters are trapped in an existential void, and yet the characters are illustrated in a style that wouldn’t be out-of-place in the pages of Archie or Love and Rockets. The style appears to be a comment on superhero comics of decades past, where conflict boiled down to purely good versus purely evil scenarios. While superheroes fought evil in past generations it always was in a universe where the horrors described in The Maxx never appear to be present. That is why Gwen Stacy falling to her death or The Joker paralyzing Barbara Gorden were so shocking at the time. Because they occur in a universe where death is never permanent and good is always rectified in the end.
At the same time The Maxx appears to also parody gritty and unpleasant comic book superheroes that were popular at the time. Authors such as Alan Moore, Frank Miller and Todd MacFarlane where using comic book superheroes as a means to explore themes that had not been seen in comic books before. The costume was no longer just to protect ones identity but was an external expression of the characters inner ego. Sam Kieth’s The Maxx like Ben Edlund’s The Tick is a character who exists as a costumed hero. When he wishes to hide his identity, he where a costume over the costume. The Maxx even shared the same publisher with another trans-dimensional, angst-ridden superhero Spawn.
I could just imagine a Criterion Cover, imitating the cover of a comic book, with the Criterion ‘C’ inhabiting the space where the publisher’s logo would go.