http://www.newsarama.com/marvelnew/Punisher/Axel_Pun.htm after reading this artical i'm surprised that the punisher is the only MAX title being made. (supreme power I belive is going to marvel knights) That being said MAX would seem like a great answer to DC's Vertigo imprint. So i guess the question I have is this if you could pick charecters to go under the max imprint who would they be? I'd personally like to see a nick fury title as Ennis showed in punisher that he can write a damn good fury as for after that I dunno.
Ennis had a Fury mini-series under the max label, and it was f'n amazing. I would love to see more MAX Fury. Other than that... I dunno..
Yes, MAX would be a great answer to Vertigo, if Marvel had any stones at all. Don't get me wrong, some of my favorite books out right now are Marvel books, but as a company, they're a bit too profit-geared. A great example is the recent move of Supreme Power from MAX to Marvel Knights. Sure, the book will probably be the same great quality, but the idea of basically toning down someone's art to sell more comics bothers me.
I'd partly agree, if only because they really backtracked (i.e. Frank Cho's SHANNA mini was supposed to be part of the MAX line). The big difference I think is that Vertigo didn't appear suddenly--it took SWAMP THING by Alan Moore, Rick Veitch, and other writers, SANDMAN by Neil Gaiman, DOOM PATROL by Grant Morrison, ANIMAL MAN by Morrison, Peter Milligan, etc to show DC that they had successful "Mature Readers labeled" books to create Vertigo.
Max stinks, JMS is mimicing Rising Stars with his Supreme Power book, and punisher hasnt been the same without steve dillon's art. Other than that the imprint doesnt have much. I do have to say though that the Fury series was pretty wild. Nick Fury killing his opposite number by choking him with his intestines was one of the more revolting things I have seen in a comic.
Worth noting: Ennis' FURY #1 (where the last page was of Fury saying that he wanted another war) hit stores on September 12th, 2001, along with U.S. WAR MACHINE #1, G.I. JOE #1 (titled "Re-Enlistment"), and ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #596 (which had Metropolis' twin buildings damaged after an alien battle).
Make Great Lake Avengers a MAX title. More graphic deaths of craptacular characters is all good in my book.
I do like how threads about good "Mature Readers" comics published in the US almost always read like a who's who of ex-2000AD writers.
The funny thing is that I went and found a copy of that issue of G.I. JOE #1 in a dollar bin on my birthday more than a week ago... on September 10th, to be precise. I thought it was bizarre that those books shipped on the day after 9-11 and I found (and decide to buy) one of those comics the day before.
Oh wait, I got it wrong--the G.I. Joe title wasn't "reenlistment," it was "reinstated." On a MAX-related note, I stopped by a Wal-Mart a few days ago and they had some packs of five comics in the toy isle. One pack was opened and I noticed that it had an issue of the FURY mini from MAX. I guess they didn't bother to check the ratings on the cover before putting them in the packs for sale.
I have loved a lot of the MAX line. For some reason, I never got into Alias and now regret it. However I have really enjoyed a great deal of them. War Machine tops the list. However I also enjoyed Howard the Duick, Supreme Power, Punisher, and Fury. Eternals was crap though. Also, I didn't hear many good things about Rawhide Kid.
So far I have all the Max Punisher issues, and have been a regular reader of the character for 5 years. Based on what the MAX line is all about (it's not exactly Vertigo--I think ICON is more similar), Wolverine and Deadpool would make great MAX books in my opinion. Just have to find the right angle for it. Also keep it distinctly separate from the regular MU.