Max Normal - A Man of the Present

Do you want to be a real rebel? Then be normal. That was the premise for the character of Max Normal, a minor yet significant character from 2000AD's Judge Dredd comic strip.

Judgement is coming

2000AD is a British science-fiction comic magazine that was launched in 1977 and is now an imprint of Rebellion Publishing. Max was introduced to a Judge Dredd story-line in the same year. If you aren't familiar with Judge Dredd, he's a law enforcer in no uncertain terms: judge, juror and executioner in one snarling package. That's him on the motorcycle in the top picture.

The pinstripe freak

Sometimes referred to as the 'pinstripe freak', Max is a flâneur who mixes in all the wrong circles and drinks only shampagne (real champagne being illegal). Through the company he keeps, Max is one of Judge Dredd's most valuable informants. Like all comic book characters, Max has recognisable accouterment: a trusty umbrella and gold cufflinks bearing his initials. He does things the 'normal way'.

The Normals

Max is part of the Normals sub-culture, — people who dress in conventional clothes and use outmoded speech as a form of rebellion against a mass culture that has taken everything to excess and scorns old-time conformity (by conforming to a different set of values).

I'll leave it to you to draw any parallels with the present.