Like his namesake Mr. Gone is Gone

Spoiler alert for The Maxx: Do not read if you have not finished the series

Nov. 8 2021

The Maxx storyline ends in the comic book, but not in the animated series. The animated series ends without an ending or conclusion. The comic book ends at issue 35. I have not yet bought in Amazon Kindle format. It looks to be reasonable priced at $7.99 but that is only for the first 4 issues. To get to issue 35 you have to buy 7 volumes. At 8 dollars a piece (because who cares about one penny) the cost of the whole series is $56 dollar. But they can be all read using an unlimited subscription, but I don’t have time to read that many comics.

The actor who played Mr. Gone died at 56. The cause of death is unknown. I started looking into it. I found he may have been a very private person. His obituary told he had a family who loved him, but no wife or children. I guessed he died of a heart attack at age 56 (the same age I am right now). It is not usually to die of a heart attack at age 56 (if one smokes and does not exercise.) But I thought it could have been something else. He died at his home, but I believe he lived in an apartment in North Hollywood according to a Fast People Search. Strangely when the actor Patrick Mcgoohan who created and starred in the Prisoner died his case of death was also covered up by his family.

I bought the animated series the Maxx on Amazon. At the end of the series people who worked on the project discussed Mr. Gone’s inflections in his monologues. It is clear that Sara is Mr. Gone’s daughter. When she talks about her father and she says (more than once) her father is Gone. This is similar to the BBC show The Prisoner in which the opening dialogue gives all the answers. Number 6 is Number One. The opening monologue of the Maxx also gives all the answers, when Mr. Gone says, “I could be helpful.” This ties into how an absent father creates emotional issues for children and young adults. If Mr. Gone has stayed to help Sara grow up she likely would not be in her current maladjusted situation. Sara recounted how her father died when she was a baby and she can’t remember him. Later in the series Mr. Gone makes a comment about Sara, that she is an awkward phase, as if he loves her and can’t view her objectively the way he discusses Julie and The Maxx.

Barry Stigler is the actor who played Mr. Gone. He died in 2005. At that time the Internet was not as informative. I know someone would have found out more about him after he died and posted about it online, if he had not died so long ago. So if you know anything about Barry Stigler or Mr. Gone (more than his Wikipedia) post it here.

Bonus Questions

There are two unanswered questions in The Maxx animated series.

 1. What was Mr. Gone trying to tell Julie? If he tells her does the world return to normal meaning does the Outback disappear?

2. What is under the Maxx’s mask? What face (if any) is there or is it something else? When Julie sees under the mask she indicated that it’s something horrible.

These questions are left as chiff hangers unless one buys the comic book and accepts the ending within it. I gathered from reading commentary posted online that people were not satisfied with the ending of The Maxx. In the same way people are not satisfied with the ending of the book House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. I mentioned House of Leaves book because it is also in the horror genre like The Maxx. From what I understand, the series creator Sam Kieth refuses to continue the series stating that he is a different person now.

Bonus details about Mr. Gone:

He looks like Anton LaVey the founder of the Church of Satan. I only noticed this when I watched the series for the second time in 2021. The first time I saw The Maxx was on MTV in the 90s. I assume making him look like Anton LaVey was to make him seem more sinister. The only difference is Anton LaVey had hair that was less shaggy. It is not clear if Mr. Gone is alive or dead at the current time in which the series takes place. Sara believes him to be dead, but he can still interact with the real world in the first episode. Mr. Gone may have died when Julie cut off his head, but at the time he may have been already dead, if it is also true that he committed suicide when Sara was a young child.

Bonus Info about Julie Winters:

The reason Julie dresses overly sexy is a reaction to her being raped and beaten. The reason she became social worker is also an attempt to block out her own pain by helping others. The Leopard Queen has potential as a character, but apart from the exciting opening credits Julie never gets to go on adventures as the Leopard Queen in the series. The alternate version of the Leopard Queen (who looks darker) is Julie’s mental state has deteriorated due to her not facing her issues. Julie needs to face her issues (listen to Mr. Gone) instead of blocking them out.