Maxwell Strangewell

I’ve enjoyed the Fillbach Bros. work on other people’s series, such as“Poison Elves:  Pairintachin” or their contributions to “The Goon” on “My Space Dark Horse Presents.”  After reading “Maxwell Strangewell,” I want to read more original works from them.  The story starts off simply enough with a girl named Anna making friends with an eleven-foot man who fell from the sky.  She names him Max and quickly finds out that he is a man in demand.  Alien accountants, interstellar warmongers, galactic scoundrels and the FBI all want their hands on him due to the power that he represents and the only way to that is through Anna. 

Carnage and hilarity rapidly ensue as the factions converge on Anna and Max while the Fillbachs give the proceedings an air of deadpan absurdity that suggests “Star Wars” as made by The Coen Brothers.  As such an incongruous combination would imply, this isn’t a graphic novel for everyone.  I can see a lot of people just not “getting” the style or being bored by its methodical pace.  Still, the story has enough focus and logic to its storytelling to mark it as the “good” kind of different in my mind — the kind of different that endears itself to you and broadens your horizons in the process.