To the Max #1-3: Commericial Comics

Promotional comics are nothing new to the industry; you can trace this sort of hackneyed storytelling back to the origins of the comic book. Sometimes the consumer push is more subtle than others and every now and again, the publisher manages to capture lightning in a bottle and produce a well-done comic book in the process of shilling their wares.

Sadly, that is not the case here.

The premise revolves around three “ordinary” people encountering the mysterious Max the Dog, who disappears in all three cases, leaving behind a remote control shaped talisman that grants them user specific powers. How do we know the powers are user specific? Because the very first hero we meet, Hector the astronaut, informs us of that, despite the fact that these various heroes haven’t met each other yet. The actual narrative actions throughout these three issues are simply bad writing. Everybody intuitively seems to understand how to use their powers and are fortunately instinctively heroic, removing any learning curve (along with any need to actually develop a character and their limitations). The sky is the limit as these boring, ordinary people (a master diver, an Air Force veteran, and a stand-up comic) use their remote control to achieve MAXimum potential. The message here feels like, with HBO Max and a remote control, you too can explore their amazing variety of content to inspire yourself to maximum… something.

Most of the particulars of the comic are technically proficient. The art work from the various teams is never stunning but rarely awful. Mangual and HI-FI, consummate professionals, earn their paychecks, and the three cover artists do their best to put some sort of polish on this finished product. None of that can overcome the weak (and perhaps insidious) premise or the exceptionally poor writing, however, leaving the price tag of $0.00/Free still too expensive given the time spent reading these 30 pages is time I can’t have back.