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John Wagner, Creator of Hallmark's Maxine

© Susanna McLeod

With her drooping, grayish exterior and sour spirit to match, one particular cartoon character has made a big impression. She seems to peer through dark glasses directly at readers, scrutinizing and examining. Then the scrawny old woman utters a humdinger of a crabby comment from, of all places, the inside of a greeting card. That's Maxine, speaking out for the older generation and making a lot of smiles in the process.

As an artist with Hallmark™ since 1970, John Wagner created Maxine in 1986 as a new character line for the Shoebox Greetings™ card division. He created a brazen older woman with a stooped back, a mop of curly gray hair and abrasive personality. Wagner's mom, grandmother and unmarried aunts provided inspiration for the comic creation. Maxine took on an individuality of her own, taking sheer delight in making high-spirited, crabby remarks about almost everything. Though she was truly funny, the character had the staff at Hallmark™ concerned.

Spokeswoman for Hallmark™, Rachel Bolton noted in a 1997 article on the "my.com" website that, "When she first came out, we were so worried that older people might be offended. It turns out to be just the opposite. People loved her."

Maxine takes on any issue fearlessly, from family and aging, to work and driving. "I can't use a cell phone in the car. I have to keep my hands free for making gestures," and, "I'm willing to put in longer hours at work. As long as they're lunch hours," and "Caffeine is for people who feel they aren't irritable enough on their own," are a few examples of John Wagner's clever sense of humour through Maxine.

Of course, such an outspoken character is bound to have her detractors. "I think that she feeds into both negative stereotypes about aging and about women," said Elizabeth W. Markson, associate director of the Gerontology Center of Boston University. Ms. Markson seems to be in the minority.

The petulant character was so popular with card-buying customers and recipients that Maxine bounded from greeting cards into comics syndication in the 1990s through Universal Press Syndicate, a first in cartooning. It's usually the other way around, the comic first and then the greeting card. Entitled "Crabby Road," the strip was published in over 100 newspapers across the United States. It was withdrawn sometime in 2002 and is no longer under syndication, but fans can still chuckle at the character's acerbic wit: five books of cartoons are available through Hallmark™ stores.