The Maxx

Real Name: Dave

Identity/Class: Supernatural being

Occupation: Protector of Julie, vagrant

Affiliations: Julie Winters, Gen-13

Enemies: Iago, Isz, Mr.Gone, Mako

Known Relatives: None.

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: "The Outback", Pangea

First Appearance: Darker Image #1 (Image Comics, 1993)

Powers/Abilities: The Maxx is stronger and faster than regular humans. His arms are topped with claws that are raised from the back of his hands. These claws can cut through pretty much anything he is strong enough to drive them into, and cannot be broken. He wears an apparently living mask, which crawls round his face, and bites those who try to touch the enlarged teeth. Being magical, his costume mends itself when damaged, and it's unclear as to whether or not his own injuries heal in the same magical manner.

He can switch between the dream world and real world through concentration; he is never fooled by any disguises used by Isz, always seeing them in their true forms. However his mind appears to be damaged, and he tends to forget whichever world he isn't currently in.

History: "Most of us inhabit at least two worlds: The real world where we're at the mercy of circumstance and the world within, the unconscious, a safe place where we can escape. The Maxx shifts between these worlds against his will. Here, homeless, he lives in a box in an alley. The only one who really cares for him is Julie Winters, a freelance social worker. But in Pangea, the other world, he rules the Outback and is the protector of Julie, his jungle queen. There he cares for her. But he always ends up back in the real world.

And me? Old Mr. Gone. Only I can see that the secret which unites them could destroy them. I could be helpful… Bah, screw it. I think I'll have some fun with them first."

Dave was an amnesiac vagrant who lived in an alley and dreamed of a land, the "Outback", which he felt might be his real home. Then one night he was struck down by a car driven by social worker Julie Winters. Julie went to see what she had hit, and while doing so knocked over an old, abandoned lamp. Somehow it fell through into the Outback Dave had been dreaming of (whether this was a power of Dave's or Julie's is unclear). A being in the Outback, Uncle Artie, witnessed this, and pushed it back into the real world, where Julie, oblivious to the magic which had occured, had decided to hide the body of the man she had hit, covering him with rubbish. Julie finished by taking the shade off the lamp and used it to cover Dave's head, then fled.

Somehow, after she departed, the lampshade expanded, engulfing Dave's head and then his entire body...and Dave became the Maxx. Roughly three years passed, during which time the Maxx came to believe he was a superhero, on Earth to battle evil. The Maxx shared his mind with Dave, and the two would switch consciousnesses between the real world and the Outback, leading people to believe he was hallucinating or insane. As a result his crimefighting attempts tended to land him in jail, only to be released when Julie, who felt a strange affinity to him, would pay bribes to get him free.

Things came to a head when a series of vicious murders began. The Maxx discovered the killers where a group of tiny hungry beings he had been seeing in his dreams, and he began to wonder just how real his dreams were. Hunting them down led him to discover his full origin - the Maxx is a person's spiritual protector, each one different and unique, who inhabit that person's "Outback". In Julie's case, her Maxx took the form of a rabbit, and somehow when she put the lampshade on Dave's head, she merged her Maxx with him, giving this new and confused gestalt being access to both worlds.

The Maxx would face a number of threats while protecting Julie, most notably the occult serial killer Mr.Gone.

Comments: Created by Sam Keith.

In April 1995 a Maxx cartoon debuted on the MTV network, with the lead being voiced by Michael Haley. Thirteen half-hour episodes (titled Episode 1 to Episode 13) were made before the show cancelled.

The Maxx is one of the participants in War of the Independents.

CLARIFICATIONS: Not to be confused with

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

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