MAX is an imprint of Marvel Comics for adult audiences, launched in 2001 after Marvel broke with the Comics Code Authority and established its own rating system. MAX titles are unique among Marvel's current output in that they are free to feature explicit content.
The MAX imprint is not the first time Marvel has done comics intended for adult audience; the Epic Comics imprint in the 1980s and early 1990s often featured adult themes and stories. Some series in the Marvel Knights imprint, such as Elektra, are geared towards mature readers, complete with "mature/violent content" warnings. However MAX was the first concentrated effort by Marvel to exploit some of its lesser-known super-hero titles with nudity, sex, four-letter words and explicit violence and gore. Additionally, MAX featured the title Rawhide Kid, re-envisioning the title character as a stereotypical homosexual who existed mostly to field or deliver gay jokes. At present, Marvel Comics does not offer subscriptions to Max titles, and they are only available at specialty comic shops.
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Titles in the MAX line
Current
- Punisher: MAX (ongoing series)
- Foolkiller (limited series)
- Zombie: Simon Garth (limited series)
- Terror Inc. (limited series)
- Dead of Night (limited series}
- War is Hell: The First Flight of The Phantom Eagle (limited series}
Finished
- Alias
- Apache Skies
- Black Widow: Pale Little Spider
- Blade
- Cage
- Doctor Spectrum
- The Eternal
- Hellstorm: Son of Satan
- Fury
- Howard the Duck
- Rawhide Kid: Slap Leather
- Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu
- Supreme Power (Moved to the normal Marvel Comics imprint in 2006 under the name of its predecessor Squadron Supreme)
- Supreme Power: Hyperion
- Supreme Power: Nighthawk
- The Hood
- Thor: Vikings
- U.S. War Machine and U.S. War Machine 2.0
- Wisdom
- X-Men: Phoenix - Legacy of Fire (see also this link for more info) (issues 2 and 3 of a 3 issue mini-series)
- Haunt of Horror: Edgar Allan Poe
- Zombie (limited series)
MAX Ant-Man and Deathlok limited series were solicited but were cancelled before their release.
Trivia
In the Twisted Toyfare Theater comic "Mego Super Heroes: The Secret Wars", Spider-Man mentions not wanting to be in any MAX books, saying that Garth Ennis scares him.
See also
Vertigo Comics, DC Comics' imprint for mature audiences
