Maxon will be familiar to many readers from his appearance in Terry Zwigoff’s 1994 award-winning film, Crumb. (If you have not seen this amazingly frank and honest documentary, go rent the video immediately.) The movie centers on Max’s older brother, Robert, but Maxon makes an unforgettable appearance in the midst of a yoga exercise, ingesting a 21-foot cotton cloth. While Robert’s work may be more well-known, Maxon is equally talented as both a writer and artist. His gritty fantasy story, Stigmata, appears in Crumb Family Comics (Last Gasp, 1998). The illustrations reprinted in Graphic Classics: Edgar Allan Poe are from his first complete book, Maxon’s Poe (Cottage Classics, 1997). As Robert Crumb says in his introduction, “Poe’s morbid, flamboyant text and Maxon’s visceral, nightmarish drawings are somehow uncannily well-suited to each other.” GC#1 presents illustrations of three Poe stories also interpreted in the book by other artists, but certainly not duplicated by Maxon’s decidedly individual perspective. His most recent book is an illustrated novel called Hardcore Mother (CityZen Books). Maxon’s Poe and original artwork are available from Word•Play, Inc., www.word-play.com.

New illustrations by Maxon are presented in Graphic Classics: H.P. Lovecraft and Graphic Classics: Bram Stoker,. For Graphic Classics: Robert Louis Stevenson, Maxon has created a new illustration along with his introduction to Treasure Island Days, a childhood reminiscence by his brother Robert Crumb.