Mad Max: Fury Road (comic book)

Mad Max: Fury Road
Cover of Mad Max: Fury Road trade paperback
Publication information
Publisher	Vertigo
Format	Limited series
Genre	Post-apocalyptic
Publication date	20 May – 5 August 2015
No. of issues	4
Main character(s)	Max Rockatansky Imperator Furiosa Immortan Joe Nux
Creative team
Written by	Nico Lathouris Mark Sexton George Miller (story)
Artist(s)	Mark Sexton Leandro Fernandez Riccardo Burchielli Andrea Mutti Tristan Jones Szymon Kudranski Peter Pound
Letterer(s)	Clem Robins
Colorist(s)	Michael Spicer Lovern Kindzierski
Editor(s)	Alex Antoine

Mad Max: Fury Road is a 2015 comic book limited series created by George Miller, Nico Lathouris and Mark Sexton. Serving as a prequel to the 2015 film of the same name, in addition to bridging the events of the film with the 1985 film Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, the series focuses on several characters from the film at various points in their lives before it.

Publication history

The series consists of four issues. Beginning in May 2015, Vertigo published one issue per month, ending in August. A single volume collection of all of the issues was published on 26 August. The reception of the series was mixed. Some considered it unnecessary and poorly executed, and many harshly criticized the issue centered on Imperator Furiosa. The issue focused on Nux and Immortan Joe, and the two issues focused on Max Rockatansky were received more positively.

Plot

Nux and Immortan Joe

Nux's parents travel to the Citadel where they live on the ground without basic necessities. To support his family, Nux's father takes up a job at the top of the Citadel but eventually dies due to the hazardous conditions. Nux's sick mother soon dies as well and believing his father to be still alive, he tries to reach the top by grabbing onto an elevator used by the guards. Nux desperately tries to hold on and the guards watching him start laughing. As he laughs back in a mocking response, the guards are stunned by his grit and one of them saves him from slipping by pulling him up to the platform. They call him "a hard nut to crack", which leads to him being named "Nux", and he eventually joins the War Boys when he grows up.

The second part focuses on the origins of Joe. After society started collapsing, war veteran Colonel Joe Moore formed a raider gang along with others who had served under him like Major Kalashnikov. During one of his raids, a fat man who is about to be executed reveals the location of a massive fortified aquifer in exchange for being spared. However, he warns that it is nearly impossible to enter without being granted access by those inside. Joe then tries to convince the defenders of the aquifer to allow him access by offering them several sex slaves. However, they refuse and he launches an assault. The resulting siege lasts many days, killing many of his followers and depleting their resources. He sends his scouts to search for more supplies, but they fail to find any; however, they report the discoveries of an abandoned oil refinery to the north, and a lead mine to the west.

Joe then draws up a plan to climb to the top of the aquifer by sending up a monitor lizard with his men tied to it by the rope. The lizard however keeps coming back down every time until one of his henchmen cuts off his own finger and attaches it to a rope, using it as a treat to motivate it to scale all the way to the top. The plan initially backfires, as most of them are killed. As the inhabitants of the aquifer begin executing the survivors and hanging their corpses from the walls, many of Joe's followers on the ground lose hope and prepare to leave. Joe however emerges with his few remaining followers, having killed all of the defenders. His stunned followers start calling him "Immortal", and he eventually acquires the name of "Immortan Joe".

The aquifer comes to be known as the Citadel and becomes the base for Joe's army. His men start operating the previously-discovered oil refinery and lead mine for supplies. The refinery is named as "Gas Town" and given to the fat man who told him of the aquifer and comes to be called the "People Eater". The mine is named "The Bullet Farm" and is given to Kalashnikov, who comes to be known as the "Bullet Farmer". Over time, Joe has three sons; Scabrous Scrotus, Rictus Erectus, and Corpus Colossus, all of whom were either mentally handicapped or deformed, paving the way for his plan to father healthy sons as heirs by using various women as his wives who would be isolated from the harsh elements of the wasteland, thus increasing the chances of them being born healthy.

Furiosa

Joe selects the Five Wives, healthy young women who could provide him with a suitable male heir, who he keeps locked in a vault. Joe's physician, the Organic Mechanic, informs him that he has a window of two days to impregnate one wife, Angharad, if he wants a healthy son. Angharad is impregnated by Joe. She attempts to kill the fetus but is stopped by Imperator Furiosa who, as his most trusted warrior, Joe has set to watch over them. Initially, the Wives hate her. The Wives attack Furiosa in turn after she prevents the abortion. Furiosa tells them they should feel grateful to have such luxurious lives. They retort that they are miserable.

Gradually, though, a bond forms between the Wives and Furiosa. One night, Joe expresses interest in taking Fragile's virginity. The Dag, upon hearing this tells him to stay away, as she is the only one who has not been abused by him. Joe rapes and impregnates her. He further limits their freedoms, while making them wear chastity belts. Furiosa is dismissed for failing to keep the wives in line, she decides to make a plan so they can escape. Giddy tells them to leave without her as she is too old. They escape the Citadel.

Mad Max

This comic takes place after Beyond Thunderdome and before Fury Road. Mad Max travels to Gas Town to battle in Thunderdome, in order to win a V8 engine he can use to build a new V8 Interceptor. The majority of the combatants are killed in combat. Max finally faces off with another survivor, who belongs to a bandit clan called the Buzzards. Mad Max wins, with the help of a flare given to him by an unknown woman. The Buzzards, led by the challenger Max defeated, take revenge. Mad Max is stabbed with a knife and gives him a choice of taking out the knife out of himself and bleeding to death or leaving it stay dying in the desert sun. Max pulls out the knife and uses the knife to cut his bonds. The woman from the Thunderdome, saying that she owes him, rescues Max, and takes him to the underground city of the Buzzards, who have her daughter Glory. She hopes he can rescue her. After some troubles, Mad Max returns Glory to her mother, then kills the Buzzard who had stabbed him, but both mother and child end up dead. Distraught, Max buries them and leaves the city.

The War Rig

The Tatra T815 truck is stolen by Colonel Joe Moore's gang and the driver is killed. The Tanker is found by them with a dead mother and daughter in a hidden compartment that is explained by the story. The Twin Engines belonged to twins who fought the gang and got killed. The Chevrolet Fleetmaster belonged to a mechanic named The Donk who grafted it to the other parts on Joe´s order after the car was damaged during a defense of The Citadel. The Volkswagen Beetle belonged to two women who were irradiated by a nuke half a year before The Fall. The gang found the car 9 years later and turned it into a gun placement with the owner´s skulls grafted to the vehicle. A young Rictus Erectus found a dead doll collector and grafted her head together with the over 500 other doll heads to the tanker. The unaging heads pleased Joe as a reminder of his immortality. The Skull Wheel was assembled out of scrap traded up to The Citadel by the beggars beneath. Joe´s chained slaves, who only get fed if their offerings please him, are responsible and their works make up the "Galleria Immortum".

Release

The comic book series was revealed in February 2015 by Vertigo and Miller was announced to helm the writing team. Beginning 20 May 2015, Vertigo started releasing four comic book prequels, one per month, that detail the backstory for a character in the film. The first comic titled Mad Max: Fury Road – Nux and Immortan Joe #1 was released on 20 May. The second one titled Mad Max: Fury Road – Furiosa #1 was released on 17 June. The third one titled Mad Max: Fury Road – Mad Max #1 was released on 8 July. The final prequel comic titled Mad Max: Fury Road – Mad Max #2 was released on 5 August. A single-volume paperback of the series was released on 26 August, collecting the four issues alongside a bonus short story chronicling the creation of the War Rig.

Reception

The series has received mixed reviews. The issue centered on Imperator Furiosa has been harshly criticized for its depictions of rape and its characterization of female characters. Some critics opined that it negatively affects the film. However, the issue centering on Nux and Immortan Joe and the two issues centering on Max were received more positively. The issue was in the top twenty of the "Apple iBooks US Bestseller List - Comics & Graphic Novels" for three weeks.

Individual monthly sales were as follows:

• Nux & Immortan Joe #1 (May 2015) – 11,569 issues sold, #141 top-selling issue by dollar volume, #162 top-selling issue by number of copies sold
• Furiosa #1 (June 2015) – 20,733 sold, #86 by dollar volume, #115 by number of copies
• Max #1 (July 2015) – 79,955 sold, #9 by dollar volume, #12 by number of copies
• Max #2 (August 2015) – 23,172 sold, #68 by dollar volume, #103 by number of copies
• Collected edition trade paperback (September 2015): 5,387 copies sold, #10 graphic novel by dollar volume, #7 graphic novel by units sold (An additional 536 copies were sold in October 2015)