Ken Maxwell

Ken Maxwell (March 1973 – ), born Kenneth Earl Maxwell, was an American comic book writer and editor. Growing up in Orange, Maxwell entered the comics industry in the 1980s. In 1984, Maxwell and writers Robert E. Wronski, Jr. and Phil Sheridan created the highly successful supervillain character Krusher for Super Comics. During the 1980s, Maxwell would create a number of stories for various publishers, often teaming with Wronski.

After high school, Maxwell returned to comics and worked in a variety of genres. He contributed to a number of publishers, including Super Comics. In the 1990s, Maxwell co-created many of Super Comics' major characters, including the Dragon, and the New Power Organization, along with writer-editor Robert E. Wronski, Jr. Despite the success of the Wronski-Maxwell titles, Maxwell left the company in 1995.

Ken Maxwell
Born	Kenneth Earl Maxwell March 1973 Massachusetts, United States
Nationality	American
Area(s)	Writer, Editor
Pseudonym(s)	Mad Dog Maxwell
Notable works	Powerman, Justice, Heroes of Earth, Powerkid, Powerkid Police

Krusher I

Krusher I

Created by Robert E. Wronski, Jr, Phil Sheridan, and Ken Maxwell

Real Name:  Ken Madison

Alias:  Mad Dog Madison (his high school nick name)

Current Occupation:  Mercenary

Parents:  Unnamed

Siblings:  None

Spouse:  None

Children:  Olive Madison

Group Affiliation:  Powerkid Haters, Seven Deadly Sins, Bad Guys

Place of Birth:  Orange City

Current Place of Residence:  Orange City

First Appearance:  Powerkid # 25, September 1984

Biography:

Ken Madison enlisted into the Marines in 1984 at the age of 18 immediately after graduation.  After Boot Camp, he ended up being assigned to an installation in Greenfield, where he had the misfortune of walking in on Colonel Peterson murdering a man.  Peterson arranged for Private Madison to be framed for the murder, but then offered his charges to be erased if he took part in an experiment.  The experiment was part of Project:  Franklin, which was a super-soldier program.

Madison was irradiated with some mysterious energy (which may have been of alien origin).  The result was that Madison gained the ability to absorb power and energy, making him stronger and invulnerable.  In some cases, he could even absorb super-powers, draining the super-powered being and being able to temporarily use those powers himself. Unfortunately, the more power Madison contained, the more his mind degraded to a savage state of being.

Madison broke free and began rampaging through Greenfield on his way back to Orange City. It was in Orange City where it took the combination of Powerkid, Zap, and Speed Demon to stop Krusher, as Madison was calling himself.

However, the Super-Trio didn't use their physical powers to stop him, as that was impossible.  Any powers they used were just absorbed and used against them.  Powerkid, Zap, and Speed Demon had to combine their mental powers to give Madison amnesia.  The government, wishing to not be linked to this, left the amnesiac alone, and Madison got a job working as a janitor at Mahar High School, where Powerkid could keep an eye on him.

A few months later, however, Ken's memories were restored by Doctor Deadly, who was putting a team together of Powerkid's greatest foes, in a plot to destroy Powerkid.  The team was defeated, and Madison's mental blocks were put back in place.

In 1991, the blocks wore off, and Powerman (formerly Powerkid), Zap, and Volt-Man attempted to stop Krusher again, now rampaging in the Nevada desert.  The three knew that their power wasn't effective, and even hypnotism wouldn't work any longer.  Scientific genius John Barstaman devised the only solution, by creating a portal to some unknown other dimension, in which the three heroes lured the crazed villain and trapped him in.

What the heroes didn't know was this unknown dimension was actually the dark dimension of Doctor Deadly.  Deadly once again recruited Krusher for a new team to capture Powerman for him.

A year later, it appeared that Krusher had been killed by Powerman, after he and his former teammates completely destroyed Orange City, killing the millions of inhabitants.  However, in 2001, it was revealed the Krusher had indeed survived, due to his power, and even though in 1998 Allorin Vonski had taken away his powers and memories, they came back over time.

But in 2001, Madison had somehow managed to control his power, and his sanity, and retired.  A few years later, he had a daughter, whose mother died shortly after a very slow and painful death.

In 2009, Krusher was recruited by Michael Bossman to join a team of reformed villains called the Bad Guys to perform missions around the globe where governments are unable to.

Even though Bossman himself turned out to be less than reformed, the team continued on without him.

In the year 2019, Ken's daughter Olive Madison will have inherited her father's powers to become Krusher II, a founding member of the Power Police.

Comments:

Krusher was a character co-created by myself, Phil Sheridan, and Ken Madison (who is also the inspiration) in 1984 on the playground of Butterfield School.

Despite the fact that he was considered one of Powerkid's greatest foes, he only appeared in two story arcs in 1984 then only appeared briefly in cameo in scenes at Mahar where he was an amnesiac janitor.  Occasionally Chris Kowalski would worry about what would happen if Madison's memories were restored.

And indeed in 1991 when I made a major revision of the Super Universe, one of the first things I did was see what would happen if his memories returned.  But again he only appeared in three major story arcs from 1991 - 1992.

He resurfaced for one story arc in 2001 which was about Chris' class reunion, bringing back many characters from the high school era including Krusher, and showing that Orange City was being rebuilt.

Since 2009, Krusher has appeared monthly as a member of the Bad Guys.

His daughter Olive Madison was first introduced in 1991 in Justice League 2019 and again in Power Police 2020 the next year.

And Kenny has been very upset that I turned his villain into a good guy.  All I can say is to be patient.  The future isn't what it used to be.  I have plans in the works.  There are alternate realities and not all of them turned out the same way.  Somewhere out there, there's a really, really, really scary version of Krusher whose story has yet to be told, but is coming soon.

The Bad Guys

The Bad Guys

Created by Robert E. Wronski, Jr.

Members:

Michael Bossman

The Trapster

Karate Spears

Krusher

Man-Killer

Kitten Girl

First Appearance:  The Bad Guys # 1 (May 2009)

During the Crisis of 2008 - 2009, many super-villains were resurrected by the New Power, though in the end, the New Power was defeated.  But the many villains were free on Earth.

Michael Bossman, a former enemy of his son Chris Kowalski aka Powerman, recruited a team of Powerman's former foes, all of whom like him had reformed.  This team became a covert team secretly funded by Bossman Enterprises, travelling the world helping people in need.

Recently, the Bad Guys found that their leader, Michael Bossman, was really a member of the inner council of the New Power, and had formed the Bad Guys in a ploy to make them his mind controlled minions, a plot that failed.  Bossman went into hiding, and the team was left in a situation where they head to decide where to go now, with their formation a ruse, their leader a villain, and their funding in question.

The team decided that regardless of how they got together, the work they do is what matters, as they continue on the road to redemption.  The Trapster, who had already been the field leader, took leadership of the team.  Shortly after, their funding was resolved as Michelle Wrigley took control of Bossman Enterprises, learned of the Bad Guys, and decided to continue funding their missions.

Comments:

The Bad Guys was one of the Super Explosion titles following Crisis.  All the members were former Powerkid/Powerman rogues who had previously reformed.

Michael Bossman first appeared in Super Bob stories in 1979 as a supporting character/sidekick.  He became an enemy of the Unknown and Detective Lebane starting in 1982, then became a Powerkid foe starting in 1984.  He reformed in 2007, though as I've mentioned, it was just a ruse.

The Trapster was an enemy of Powerkid, the Unknown, Detective Lebane, and Doctor Mystery starting in 1982.  He reformed as revealed in 2008, and was given the job of head of security for Bossman Enterprises.

Karate Spears first appeared as a foe of Powerkid in 1982.  However, when Powerkid saved his home world in 1985, the villain turned over a new leaf.  This caused the people of his world to overthrow him, now that he was considered weak, and he was imprisoned for years, until 1994 when he escaped and came to Earth, operating as a super hero under the new identity of the Interstellar Ninja.  But in 2008, he (and I) realized how stupid that name was and he returned to his original one (given to him by his creator, Chuck Spears).

The Krusher first became an enemy of Powerkid and the Powerkid Police in 1984.  For years, the heroes would stop him by giving him amnesia, but eventually that stopped working.  In 2001, though, Krusher finally gained power over his power madness, and reformed.

Man-Killer was the quickest to reform.  She first became a foe of Powerkid in 1982, but a few months later, she repented and joined the Powerkid Police.  She actually died in 1990, but was resurrected by the New Power during the Crisis.

Finally, Kitten Girl first became a foe of Super Bob in 1980, later becoming a foe of the Unknown and Detective Lebane.  Eventually, she repented and joined the Powerkid Police.  She was vaporized along with all of Orange City in 1992 by a team of villains.  She was resurrected by the New Power during the Crisis as well.

The team's adventures are sort of inspired by the Suicide Squad and the A-Team.  And it's fun to write because all of these characters bring me back to my childhood.