Fantomex Max #1 – Review

by Andrew Hope (Writer), Shawn Crystal (Artist), Lee Loughridge (Colorist)

The Story: Fantomex makes a lot of trouble, which means some people have to stop him at all cost.

The Review: The Max impring of Marvel comics is a bit of an interesting conundrum. Having seen some very potent work from authors like Garth Ennis, it allowed authors to tell story featuring materials that weren’t necessarily suited for massive audiences. Series like Punisher Max and Fury Max got out, dealing with a lot of harsh subjects of life throughout the explosive violence and the huge number of swear words. However, not all series managed to have the same complex views on mature subjects, as some saw the possibility of mature subjects as an excuse to be as nonchalantly violent and shocking as possible. With Fantomex getting the Max treatment, on which side of the fence does his series is sitting currently?

It is to my utter disappointment to see that the latter seems to be much closer to the reality presented by this series than the former, as the first issue of Fantomex Max reads much more like a series trying to pass itself as being mature than being actually relevant with whichever themes it’s trying to present.

One of the most obvious aspects that shows how much the author is striving for the ”mature” audience would be the over-reliance of swear words by the vast majority of its cast, as there is not a single page where profanities aren’t used at least once. The constant cursing isn’t exactly the worst part of the problem, though, as the dialogue is clumsy at best, with constant expositions ungracefully thrown at the readers constantly and several lines that truly do lack in subtlety.