Dark Horse published Madman starting in 1994, and after eleven issues Allred decided to take a break from the Harvey-Award-winning series and pursue other projects, including a couple of great Madman cross-over projects with Superman and Bernie Mireault's odd-ball character The Jam. But mostly, Allred needed the time to concentrate on the seven-issue Red Rocket 7 series, which won him critical acclaim from both the comics industry and the hard-to-crack `outside world'.
Now, after a nearly three-year hiatus, Madman is back, and Allred is picking up right where he left off -- Frank Einstein is searching for his long-lost father-figure and grappling with his mysterious past, Joe is still his ever-lovin' girlpal, and Frank's world is still full of some of the strangest and most fun characters ever to grace the pages of a comic book. I spoke with Mike Allred about his return to Madman and what he's been doing with his time since that fateful eleventh issue, and to be honest, the interview went on far too long to repeat here. But we're printing the gist of the conversation for your enjoyment, and to remind you to reserve a copy of the long-awaited Madman #12 before its April 28 release.
SE: When did you first conceive of Madman, and what were your inspirations?
MA: Well, I'd been writing Graphic Music, which was kind of an umbrella title that allowed me to do anything I wanted and a character that I created called Frank Einstein was becoming a standout. Not only a favorite of readers, but a standout tot me as well, but I was a little frustrated that it didn't have any commercial appeal
SE: Who published that?
MA: It was originally published by Slave Labor graphics, and that was three 48-page issues, and then I moved to color with Caliber, and in between those I did a one-shot called Creatures of the Id with Bernie Mireault inking me, and Jeffery Lang wrote it. The third story that I wrote and drew and Bernie inked was called "For the Record," and that was the first Frank Einstein story. That was for Graphique Musique, which I started when we lived in Europe, and when it moved to Caliber, it became Graphic Music, phonetically spelled.
The real catalyst (for creating Madman) was that my oldest was becoming school aged and wanted to take my stuff to school, and everything I'd done was kind of esoteric and a bit out there. Watching my kids reminded me of what I liked when I was a kid, and I wanted to do something that not only appealed to kids, but appealed to me as well. And I thought that maybe if I just sold out and did a costumed character, maybe I'd have more commercial success -- and also I could have my cake and eat it too, and do something that my kids would like. And I might also be able to instill some more mature, philosophical type stories. That was my goal, and once that was decided, I also quickly decided that rather than creating a character from scratch, I liked this Frank Einstein character so much that I saw his backstory was really the genesis of this new character. It was a great thing for me to decide, too, because it also helped me recapture all the good feelings that made me love comics as a kid, and those feelings made me want to work on them in the first place.
Being less cynical, I remembered how much I loved reprints of Jack Cole's Plastic Man , and Alex Toth's work, specifically with a character named the Fox, which was a costumed character he had a done...
SE: It's almost like in letting go of your desires to do more mature characters, you almost got to a more intense depth with Madman.
MA: That was it. The stuff that I was loving from my contemporaries was work from the Hernandez brothers and Dan Clowes, and Dan Clowes' work, in particular, has a really dark, cynical tone to it. And I think I was trying too hard to appeal to that audience. I like that work so much that I was in danger of following that influence too closely.
SE: And if that's not coming from within you, and you don't really have those same kinds of experiences to share, then there's no reason you need to create things like that.
MA: Exactly. So I think the ultimate result was that Graphic Music -- both series -- just ended up being a giant experiment for me, and really rediscovering why I got into comics in the first place was a real epiphany for me. And being able to use color with Laura for the first time reminded me of those really classic colors I always liked as a kid, which appealed to Laura, too. When we first started Madman I still wanted to do this classic, at least through my eyes, costumed comic book character, but I still wanted that edgy, artsy fartsy feel.
SE: You really go all over the place in this comic. It's like you're so unrestrained by Frank as a character that you take every opportunity to throw things his way.
MA: It's rediscovering the world through his eyes, and I kind of see the world unintentionally that way anyway. I try to keep my environment almost innocent to the point of naivete, and I like living that way. Some people criticize me for that, and it's not like I ignore world events or anything. But I've lived my life with very doubting paranoid points of view before, and I've also tried to see things more optimistically, and using the optimistic lenses, in my view, has just really been more satisfying. It's not that I don't see things realistically, I just tend to look at the bright side of things more.
SE: Also, the world that you place Madman in is pretty screwy. It's a reflection of this world, but it's not very realistic, with all the gadgets and strange characters...
MA: Originally I wanted it to be the real world and simply have this character in a costume, which would be really strange, and I wanted to have that more alternative tone to the book -- especially since Tundra was the first publisher. That's also why that two-color look was attached to the first series. And I don't think they were willing or had the confidence to do a full-color series, so it was like a compromise. And really, I think the end result in retrospect is that the first series kind of feels like a dream -- it has this kind of flashback quality to it. Then with Madman Adventures and its burst of pop-art colors -- in my mind, that's the true birth of this character as I see him conceptually.
SE: Would you say that was his realization of everything that he is?
MA: Well, yeah. Then with the first Dark Horse issue, that's when I realized what I really wanted to do with the series. So the pre-Dark Horse issues -- those two trilogies -- would be my playing. But the first story is crucial, and I keep referring to these events, because that's really at the core of who Frank Einstein is. I use that as a parallel of the big questions I always ask myself: "Why are we here, what is this world really about?" You know all of these existential theories... maybe this world is a dream . .
SE: Do you think writing Madman has helped you explore this yourself?
MA: Absolutely, but at the same time it's like playing. It's just like being a kid and playing in the sandbox with your Major Matt Masons and your GI Joes, and with this, I control the toys. You know, like here comes this character and he throws a rock at this character, and this guy does this...
SE: It's a lot of work for play, though...
MA: I kind of fluctuate between all-out adventure and pulling back and regrouping and everybody sitting back and thinking about it for awhile, just so that I still try to keep it real. You know, Frank Einstein used to be the crazy, unpredictable character, and as the series progresses and more crazy characters are introduced, he's becoming the sane, stable one.
SE: Eventually, though, you took a break from working on Madman and began focusing on another project -- Red Rocket 7. Tell me about that.
MA: I've got all kinds of stories I want to tell, and when Superman/Madman Hullaballoo took place -- along with the countless distractions involving Hollywood and my music interest -- it seemed like that was the best opportunity it to pursue some other things I had been waiting on, including Red Rocket 7. So on the one hand, from a marketing standpoint, I thought, "Are people going to have patience, or am I going to lose my audience when I come back to this? And can I give them something else and build a whole new audience?" I would like to think that most of the Madman readers were happy to see that I was capable of doing something else. And it was very satisfying. The feedback I got right from the beginning -- from readers and from Dark Horse -- the support I got and enthusiasm I felt encouraged me that yes, I could take the time to do those seven issues. And it also centered around this my first no-budget independent film project, Astroesque, which Dark Horse released. And the concept album, my band's first... it was just something I had to do. The creative environment I was allowed to do it in couldn't have been better or more supportive, and because of that it's my favorite thing, because it's complete and it's all there.
*view Mike's bio, works created page, and a bunch of other fun stuff at his website (www.visiontone.com)