Mad Max: Fury Road is a comic series adapting the 2015 film published by DC Comics' Vertigo imprint. It marks the first time Mad Max has appeared in an American comic book.
Overview[]
In 2015, Mad Max: Fury Road became a global smash hit at the box office with great critical reviews in winning many cinematic awards including six Oscars.
Warner Bros, the owner of the Mad Max franchise, also happens to own DC Comics, so it is only natural that their imprint -- Vertigo -- produce a comic book adaptation of the 2015 film in support of its release. Vertigo is an imprint apart from the regular DC Comics known for producing edgier, adult-themed comic books and graphic novels.
Historically, comic book adaptations were a short or limited run of books, anywhere from one or more issues in length, encompassing the breadth of the film; they were usually shot-for shot duplications such as 1989's Batman adaptation. However, Vertigo chose a different route by breaking the "adaptation" into several parts with the comic series serving as a collection of short stories acting as preludes to the film instead of a literal adaptation. As described by Mark Sexton in his introduction:
"[...]And so these four stories -- prequels of some of the key characters of Fury Road -- are finally realized. These are not just ephemera -- not just cynically produced stories that have been hacked out to tie into a summer movie. These are legitimately authentic tales that were dreamed up by George during the production of the film and told to the actors themselves -- tales that gave the characters they played depth and history[...]"[1]
Each story followed one of the main characters - Nux, Immortan Joe, Imperator Furiosa and Max Rockatansky. The stories of the main characters were told from the perspective of the History Men, a group of oral traditionalists who live in the distant future of Max's post-apocalyptic world.
Comic artist Lee Bermejo acted as series editor alongside the writing talents of George Miller (director, writer), Nico Lathouris (co-writer) and Mark Sexton (storyboard and concept artist). Interior artists worked on the project to include Riccardo Burchielli, Leandro Fernandez, and Tristan Jones. Covers were illustrated by Tommy Lee Edwards.
The entire series was collected in a trade paperback which was released on September 8th, 2015. It includes a new eight page origin story for The War Rig with art by Peter Pound.
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD - Nux & Immortan Joe[]
| Nux & Immortan Joe | #1 | Like Furiosa, Nux and Immortan Joe's story was told in a one issue, one-shot format. | |
| Nux & Immortan Joe | #1 | This one-shot received a second printing and, also like Furiosa, had a sepia-tone color denoting the 2nd print. |
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD - Furiosa[]
| Furiosa | #1 | The Furiosa perspective was contained in a one-shot format with 1 variant cover. | |
| Furiosa | #1 | This was the "blank" cover variant of Issue #1. | |
| Furiosa | #1 | This was the second printing of Issue #1, which was more of a sepia-tone to differentiate from the 1st printing. |
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD - Max[]
| Max: Part One | #1 | This Max-centric version of the adaptation was contained in two issues, the first of which included two variant covers. Issue #1 featured the same Tommy Lee Edwards cover art used on the Target Exclusive, mini trade paperback. | |
| Max: Part One | #1 | Like Furiosa, the first variant was a "blank" cover. | |
| Max: Part One | #1 | The second cover variant featured artwork by Nathan Fairbairn and was a NerdBlock Exclusive. | |
| Max: Part One | #1 | The comic adaptation was successful enough to warrant a second printing. The 2nd printing cover was the same Tommy Lee Edwards artwork, sans color. | |
| Max: Part Two | #2 | Issue #2 was the conclusion to the short, but sweet, movie adaptation. |
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