Thursday, June 12, 2014

The Forgotten Comic Book of Swarming Mouth Monsters

Back in the late 80s and early to mid 90s my Dad would take my kid brother and I to several comic book shops. We would buy all sorts of comic books and trading cards and I really cherish those trips to the comic stores. There was one comic book that I have fond, yet vague memories of. 

One thing that stood out in this comic book were the millions of what can only be described as "mouth monsters". They had no eyes, and were basically just mouths with scrawny arms and legs attached. I remember tracing one of the mouth creatures. They were so cool looking to me, I just had to learn to draw them! If only drawings could be used in Google searches. The creatures looked something like this...




I remember the hero of the story fighting hundreds of these creatures at a time. The whole bizzare world was just covered in them. There's one large panel where the hero is looking out into a valley or desert or something and there are just millions of these creatures crawling everywhere. I do believe our hero sneaks around the home of a giant version of one of these mouth monsters. The giant's home was like any other, it had a kitchen, sofa, dressers, etc.

These mouth monsters inspired one of my own creations, a cute little man-eating plant.




Am I just crazy? Did such a comic exist? I may be doomed to never know. 

Perhaps my vague descriptions have sparked one of your memories? Do you too have vague childhood memories of long lost mystery comics or toys? 

UPDATE:

Now that I know this comic is The Maxx, it's very clear that this childhood made-up superhero I call "Mayhem" was clearly inspired by The Maxx!


I must watch this series!

The head may also be inspired by Hitmonchan.



Thanks again to Brian, A.K.A. The Trash Man, of Pop Pop! It's Trash Culture!

5 comments:

  1. It's gotta be Sam Keith's The Maxx. Big purple hobo/"superhero" who traveled between the real-world and a crazy metaphysical Outback. The creatures he fought were called Isz. and they were basically eyeless mouths with scrawny arms and lil' feet.

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    1. Oh my gosh, that's the one! I looks like it was pretty popular. A cartoon show on MTV and Spawn action figures? Yes please! I really wanna read this series! The last comic series I read was Bone by Jeff Smith. It's time to start reading The Maxx! Thank you so much! I thought I'd never find it and now I can hunt for Isz toys!

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    2. Yeah, the MTV show was actually where I had my first Maxx exposure. Great, weird story.

      When you described the desert or valley or whatever filled with these mout creatures, the first thing I though of was the horde of Mr. Gone's Isz in the Outback. Then I scrolled down and sure enough...

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  2. I was going to say the Maxx as well.

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  3. It looks like most people have heard of The Maxx. I'm so glad I didn't just make it up in my imagination?

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