Mighty Max was one of those rare cartoons during the 1990’s. It was a cartoon that seamlessly mixed lighthearted humor normally found in American children’s cartoons with dark storytelling which is typically not found in American children’s cartoons.
One of the things I loved most about Mighty Max was its characters and storytelling. The series consisted of four main characters, three of them good, one evil. Max was the series main protagonist. He was a young adventurous boy who happened to be the “cap bearer.” In this mythos, Cap bearers have been in existence in since 3000 B.C protecting mankind from the evil of Skull Master, the main antagonist. When one cap bearer died in battle another was immediately chosen to take over the mission.
There was also Virgil, a 10,000 year old, omniscient, Lumerian Fowl (there was actually a running joke throughout the series in which Virgil was constantly called a chicken to which he’d correct the person by saying: “Fowl, actually”). He served as the brains of the group and mentor/teacher to the Mighty One. And lastly there was Norman, the immortal Viking bodyguard, there to protect Max and Virgil. He’s been known as various incarnations of unusually strong and/or strategic personalities such as Thor, Hercules, Achilles and Samson, to name a few.
The aforementioned main protagonist, Skull Master, was their biggest and most powerful nemesis. Plot driven stories usually dealt with him and his various demonic creations, but Max and the gang frequently went up against independent villains (one of my favorite episodes was when they were in Scotland battling a mad scientist that morphed into a three headed immortal werewolf who stole lychan DNA from a pack of Scottish immortal Weres).
People regularly died in this show. In fact, it was constructed the same way shows like Six Feet Under and Law and Order began, with a person dying by the menace the group had to capture, defeat, and subdue. It was certainly darker than most of its contemporaries and it is darker than most cartoon series airing today.
I think its safe to say a cartoon like this was ahead of its time. It only ran for two seasons amassing 40 episodes. It debuted at the end of 1993 and ran until 1994. There are no DVD or Blue Ray box sets available. Only random episodes on VHS. I wish the people behind this cartoon would get with the times and upgrade them. There are generations of adults from this era and children today that are missing out on special piece of work.
Mighty Max, I give you the forgotten cartoon of the week award. I pray for you to be resurrected for the eyes of children today stuck with these mindless vices of storytelling.