Set in a surreal, historically grounded seaborne universe of pirates and buccaneers, "Maakies" follows the disturbingly unhappy adventures of Drinky Crow, a cute lil' alcoholic consistently bent on consuming his fix, and Uncle Gabby, a monkey with a penchant for rum and battle.

Many episodes are gleefully, savagely violent.

Quite a few make some sort of reference to sex, or sexual dysfunction.

Suicide, (typically by gunshot) is ever-present — Uncle Gabby and Drinky Crow repeatedly die bloody deaths.