StC Post-Mortems: Max Gamble
Right, let’s get this over with! All of the main Sonic comics have a kingpin character who rules the- …well, it’s usually the Casino Night Zone they rule - with a bit of swindling here and a dash of “You can’t pin anything on me” there. Max Gamble was StC’s take on this character trope and, honestly, he saw a lot more appearance than I remembered before finally bowing out after just managing to out-last the Chaotix in terms of appearance
If you think Max looks different here to his last appearance that’s because he looks different almost every time that he appears. My guess would be that the artists were just told to draw a lizard guy in a suit and whatever happened happened. Maybe that could be a new art challenge: draw a lizard guy in a suit and, there you go, it’s Max Gamble
He does look particularly like he’s just wandered out of a Batman comic here though, doesn’t he? Mike Hadley was definitely one of the less Sonic-y style artists who they had on the book and he handled the art during Max’s first appearance
While Max wasn’t specifically a Tails villain, he did appear first in a Tails solo story, seeing Tails ruin Max’s name when, after Tails saves the Casino Night Zone, the people turn on Max for only caring about money over their safety. Max ends the story by saying that it won’t be the last that Tails sees of him and he sure was right about that
This feels more like the design that I’m used to seeing for Max. Anyway, while Tails would come up against him again, it was actually Shortfuse who took the next shot at Max Gamble. Once again, Max was trying to con people in the Casino Night Zone, this time by tricking them into going on a rollercoaster that took them into a badnik processing plant and it ended…
…Like this. Also, go to SEGAWorld! Except that you can’t now, because it’s closed
After that, it’s back to Tails again, who overthrows another one of his schemes. It’s actually very easy to do this section for Max Gamble, because he basically just appears for the odd oneshot story every now and again, almost always being dealt with in a single issue before disappearing into the shadows once more
Fourth appearance? Tails again. This time was notable because it was set after Robotnik had been taken down as ruler of Mobius, but confirmed that Max was still working with Robotnik. Not that it mattered, because he was still defeated just as easily and I don’t think Robotnik plays a big part in any of his appearances after this, since Robotnik remains pretty wrapped up in other stuff
Sonic and Charmy, of all characters, get a shot at Max after this, with the guy agreeing to go to jail just to get away from how annoying Charmy is
He must get out of jail sometime after this, because next time he turns up is for a Sonic & Tails story, where they find out he’s selling dodgy holidays to Robotnik’s old base, which is brimming with death traps. I’m using these panels for the image specifically to show that Tekno knows he exists, since she’ll be tackling him for his last appearance. This time around, as you’ve probably guessed, Sonic & Tails manage to defeat him without much trouble
There are three issues leading up to the final appearance of Max Gamble, which starts with the final place that Amy & Tekno visit on their journey through time and space to save worlds on behalf of the Ring of Eternity. It starts in what seems to be a gangster world, but is actually a world of imagination fuelled specifically by Max’s desires for a gangster world. Once Amy & Tekno figure this out, they’re easily able to overpower him by turning the imagination world against him with their own imaginations and, after defeating him, they drag Max back to Mobius
Once back on Mobius, the three get caught up in a plot by Fabian Vane’s haters to use the Ring of Eternity to shove Fabian off to another dimension. Max tries to sneak away in the confusion, but isn’t able to and accidentally causes the Ring of Eternity to get smashed in the scuffle
The Fabian haters disperse after this, but Max sticks around, if not by his own choice, then because helping to fix the Ring of Eternity might help reduce his prison sentence. We get a textbox after this stating that the police came to take him away and then that’s that. The end of a pretty mid villain on the list of StC supporting villains
Were there any unused future plans from the StC writers?
None that I could find! Guess he just went to jail and stayed there this time around. So much for that shortened sentence lol
What would I personally have liked to see next for him if StC continued?
I wouldn’t, honestly. Look, it’s not that I hate the guy or anything, I just don’t find him all that engaging. When it comes to the kingpin characters of the Sonic comics, I’d much rather see more of Breezie the Hedgehog or Clutch the Opossum than I would Max Gamble, even if his name fits the brief the most out of all of them. I guess if they needed this kind of character for another oneshot story further down the line if StC had continued, then I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing him again. They’d always have him on hand if they did need him. Max just isn’t the sort of character I have ideas for wanting to see again personally
What if he was in other Sonic media?
The only way I’d see this working would literally be if you did a big crossover event with all the kingpin characters from the different Sonic comics. But again, I feel like Max would bring the least to the table out of all of them. He’d just be overshadowed by the bigger personalities of Breezie, Clutch and certainly of Mammoth Mogul, who wouldn’t let him get a word in edgeways. That could even be the joke. Maybe Max is more on par with Downtown Ebony Hare? They could team up to get back at the other kingpins for overlooking them, only to be easily defeated, perhaps without anyone even realising they’ve defeated them or even been threatened by them in the first place
