Since the 1970s very few comic book characters have been able to stand the test of time. Certainly Mike Mignolas Hellboy Mike Mignolas Hellboy and Paul Chadwicks Concrete are cases which prove the rule (though I am sure to get a few emails telling me about others). One of the best examples is Madman created by Mike Allred. In the first Madman miniseries back in 1990 Allred portrayed the character as a hitman who was killed in a car accident then sewn back together by two mad scientists, Madman was certainly an eccentric character, tossing away the guns of his past life and instead began a life of meeting weird characters and having wild adventures. Recently Mike Allred has moved Madman from Dark Horse Comics to Image Comics. In honor of that, every single Madman adventure (excluding his crossover with Superman) has been collected into one beautiful hardcover.
Buy Madman Gargantua
Daniel Robert Epstein: What are you up to today?
Mike Allred: Today Im working on the second part of this two part Fables story.
DRE: Youre still working on that?
Mike: The script came a little late if I can rat out Bill Willingham [laughs].
DRE: [laughs] You and Bill must have known one another for a long time.
Mike: The first company to pay me a page rate was Comico way back in 1990 and Bill was doing Elementals there. So we rubbed elbows back then.
DRE: Who asked you to work on Fables?
Mike: Shelly Bond and she was my very first editor on that same Comico project. It would have been a 12 issue series called Jaguar Stories, written by Steven T. Seagle but then Comico went Chapter 11. Shelly remains one of my very favorite people in the business. Shed been telling me about the series called Fables but I was busy and couldnt get to the comic book store as much as Id like. Finally she sent me some collections and she asked if I could ever do a fill-in issue. I told her Id let her know when my schedule opened up. I read the books and I did have an opening for one issue and then she said, Well, Bill wants you to do two issues. She told me the idea and it was with some of my favorite characters, the Big Bad Wolf and Snow White, so it has been very gratifying. I love these two issues. It is an amazing series. Its one of those concepts that is so brilliant in its simplicity that you kick yourself for not thinking of it yourself. James Jean, who does the covers, is one of my favorite artists and hes been a real help to me in helping me how to understand the organic qualities of pure illustration with computers. Thats something Ive always struggled against and he knocked down some of the barriers that Ive had with computers. In a very effective way he keeps the integrity of the original illustration without bringing in the cold stiffness computer coloring brings to illustration.
DRE: So in the past you havent used computers for your work?
Mike: Oh weve used them but Ive just never been completely satisfied. My wife, Laura, colors our work and shes been using a computer since around 1995. She would do the code and somebody else would then do the computer. Some people can do it well but a large percentage of computer coloring is just heavy rendering with airbrush tools and stuff that the original artist didnt intend. Laura will use mostly flat colors and some subtle modeling because I dont like that over-rendered computery look. Now Im able to make textures in the original illustration and enhance or manipulate them on the computer. It allows us to retain that impressionistic, organic quality of the original art. Thats largely due to advice and guidance from artists who have managed to break that barrier as well like James Jean and [Goon creator] Eric Powell.
DRE: When is your next issue of Fables coming out?
Mike: The first issue is out. This second issue is going to be a bit late, Im afraid. I should have it completely penciled by the end of this week and hopefully will be finished inking it in the next couple weeks after that. Laura colors it as Im inking so it wont be horribly late but later than anybody would like.
DRE: With the release of Madman Gargantua you have moved Madman from Dark Horse to Image comics, why is that?
Mike: It really has to do with access. Dark Horse was the perfect publisher for me at the time and it was largely because of Bob Schreck, who convinced me to go there. Hes one of my oldest and best friends in the business. He was at the first comic book show I ever went to and he championed Madman at Dark Horse. Madman was his first job as an editor after he was the marketing director there.
Im not stupid; I know there are a lot of creators with creations that are more deserving of success than mine. So I acknowledge that theres a lot of luck involved and right place, right time, right people. In this case Bob Schreck was the right guy to take me to the right company. Dark Horse really launched it in a way that nobody else could have at that time. Then Bob left Dark Horse and I watched him develop Oni Press with Joe Nozemack. From them I learned all the ins and outs of a comic book company from the ground up. After that I went a little eccentric with Dark Horse. On the one hand the company wants a commercial project and Madman was enjoying that kind of success. But at the same time I wanted to stretch and explore some other ideas I had and the most ambitious idea Ive ever had was the multimedia project of Red Rocket 7. I had really grandiose ideas about the comic book being shaped like a record album and making a feature film under the guidance and inspiration of Robert Rodriguez and combining them all. Dark Horse said Sure, whatever you want. But it was very expensive to do and I think that the powers that be at Dark Horse might have lost a little patience with me. Then I followed that up with a one shot, which was the idea of a friend of mine named Shane Hawks, who I couldnt have done my independent film, Astroesque, without. So I returned the favor by producing an independent feature Eyes to Heaven with a comic book tie in. That might have been the last straw as far as Dark Horse was concerned. It was also not the right decision for me. The project really wasnt what I was about so that might have been confusing to a lot of people.
Following that, I was very excited to get back to my Madman universe and launch a spin-off, The Atomics. At that point, it became very clear to me that [founder, president, and publisher of Dark Horse Comics] Mike Richardson would prefer that I stick with doing a Madman monthly book. When youve got that drive and somebodys telling you, Nah, dont do that. Its a struggle and you have to dig deep and figure out what you really want to do. I stuck with my plan and finished my commitment with Madman at Dark Horse and it became clear that the next real challenge for me would be self-publishing. So I did with launching The Atomics with our company AAAPop. I did probably 16 books in a year and Im extremely proud of the work I produced at that time. But Im also able to sit back and judge how successful it was artistically and I can see where I rushed some things.
As I wrapped up all my commitments, thats when Marvel came knocking and offered me the opportunity to work with Peter Milligan, one of my favorite writers and create all new mutants for X-Force. That is what I always dreamed about as a kid so it took me off on this wide detour. Peter was writing these terrific scripts with these characters wed created and I had the same creative freedom that I had doing my own work. That came to an abrupt halt when Peter came up with the idea of bringing Princess Diana back from the dead and making her a member of the team with her own mutant powers. That didnt go over well. Unfortunately it took three issues to really generate an echo back with a gigantic No, you cant do this. I was told that people at Buckingham Palace had a fit about it. To this day I dont know who put the kibosh on it, but we were told in no uncertain terms that our days of free-rolling creativity were over..
DRE: Have you tried to get into London since then?
Mike: No [laughs].
The storyline made me have even more respect and affection for Princess Diana and what she did and what she attempted in her lifetime. On the surface level I do understand how its offensive, but beyond that it was very respectful and affectionate. Its one of my great regrets that what we had hoped to do will never be seen. That was a giant learning experience for us.
That leads me back to the big decision. I was open to the idea of going back to Dark Horse after the Marvel experience. First and foremost I wanted to go back to Madman again. Its where Ive been happiest creatively. I was looking to do a relaunch of Madman and I wanted to do it up the best I could. I knew [Publisher of Image Comics] Erik Larsen because we did a crossover with his character, Savage Dragon, in my Atomics series and then he put my Atomics characters in Savage Dragon. I have great respect for him. We have similar sensibilities and influences. Ive been watching what hes done with the company since he took over as publisher. It was really one conversation with Erik that convinced me to publish AAAPop through them. With the way were set up with Image, its almost like self-publishing except we have the benefit of working with an amazing crew, which I couldnt afford as a publisher on my own. Just the commercial impact that theyve done with the marketing has really blown me away. Everything has been above and beyond what I would have asked for. At this point Im convinced I made the right decision.
DRE: Did you change or fix anything from the original books for Gargantua?
Mike: No. It is as is. If I had started, I probably wouldnt have stopped and wed be looking at it coming out in another year or two. I ultimately decided that it needed to be a record of the progression of the character. I think its interesting to look at almost 900 pages of comics and see this evolution take place in one big, fat book that you can kill somebody with.
When people see the new series that were launching now, it really is square one. Ive completely shaken everything up. Its almost like a total recreation yet, at the same time the characters consistent.
DRE: Madmans a lot different than he was in that first miniseries from Tundra. When did you realize that this was going to be a character you were going to be sticking with?
Mike: I would say with the second Tundra series. With the first series I was looking at an opportunity to create a graphic novel with this company that Kevin Eastman had created. When it was successful, they asked me if I wanted to continue. I was looking at a lot of European books and some classic stand-bys like Tintin. I really wanted that bright, colorful adventure vibe. Right off the top Madman Adventures was clearly the title and I wanted to do it in color on glossy paper stock. I originally wanted to do a series of 64 page self-contained adventures. But Tundra asked if I would mind if we put the first 64 page story into a 32 page traditional comic book and I agreed. This was something I loved doing. The sky was the limit. The characters were coming fast and furious and any genre that I wanted to introduce was an easy get. I could have giant robots, I could have a time travel story, I could have mutants, I could have an undersea adventure. Thats why Ive always stuck with it.
DRE: How far along are you with the adaptation of The Golden Plates?
Mike: Im about a fourth of the way through.
DRE: When do you think it will come out?
Mike: Im hoping to have a new volume out around Christmas time every year.
DRE: Before you announced the adaptation of The Golden Plates, it wasnt commonly known that you were part of The Church of Latter Day Saints. Did you realize that doing this book would reveal your religion and more of who you are or was that the point?
Mike: Yeah, definitely. On the one hand, Ive been asked questions all through my career about spiritual beliefs and a lot of that is in my work, even Madman. A lot of doctrine is subversively and subtly integrated into just about everything Ive ever done but there is nothing satirical about this adaptation. I had to steel myself up and prepare to answer those kinds of questions. It was a real eye-opener to me because there are many misperceptions of the faith and some people feel they have a license to be critical and even cruel about it. Knowing that, I was still surprised to see just how much confusion and hatred there is for it. There is anger from some people about it all based on misunderstandings, misperceptions or false rumors. Its amazing how simple the faith is, yet at the same time there are all these bizarre misconceptions. At first the responses were like getting kicked in the gut. Yet it was exciting and satisfying to have a forum to clear up these weird, bizarre ideas.
DRE: Has your church been happy with the book?
Mike: So far, very. The only person whos unhappy with it is me and thats just the way I approach my work. Im always looking to improve it and thats one of the reasons I slowed down production. I wanted to put more care into it. I feel I went a little too fast through the third volume and was starting to jam way too much in there and I needed to spread it out more and make it more accessible.
DRE: I read that you and [Swimming with Sharks director] George Huang are writing the Madman movie together, how many drafts have been written?
Mike: Ive done at least three drafts myself. Years ago, when it was at Tundra, I wrote my very first draft with my friend Kevin Welch. Then when Robert Rodriguez picked it up, I felt like I was too close to it and I needed to have fresh eyes. I was waiting for Robert to attack it and it would have been the next film that he had done right after the first Spy Kids movie. But that became a surprise phenomenon and they immediately went into doing the sequels before the kids werent kids anymore [laughs]. That took him in a whole other direction and one of the things he had always hoped to do was an adaptation of Sin City. I helped put that together by hooking him up with Bob Schreck, theres that name again. Bob is a great friend and confidant of Frank Miller. In the meantime, George Huang is somebody that Robert has known for his entire career. During Roberts first days in Hollywood, he actually slept on George Huangs floor. George threw a lot of different ideas out about the movie. Most of them I didnt like but it did help me rediscover what I wanted. Then Robert said, If you were to make Madman today, knowing everything you know, how would you approach it? So, forget what everybody knows. Forget what everyones expecting. At that point, George came up here and we locked ourselves up in my houseboat and we didnt stop until we came up with our treatment. Everybody loved it. Its like we cracked the code.
DRE: Have you ever seen a Mike Allred tattoo on anybody?
Mike: I have. Weve published pictures of some of them in the comics. Everything from an exclamation bolt on an ankle to an entire figure on somebodys back. Its crazy. I dont have any tattoos so its startling to me when somebody will take something that I created and permanently burn it into their bodies.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Buy Madman Gargantua
Daniel Robert Epstein: What are you up to today?
Mike Allred: Today Im working on the second part of this two part Fables story.
DRE: Youre still working on that?
Mike: The script came a little late if I can rat out Bill Willingham [laughs].
DRE: [laughs] You and Bill must have known one another for a long time.
Mike: The first company to pay me a page rate was Comico way back in 1990 and Bill was doing Elementals there. So we rubbed elbows back then.
DRE: Who asked you to work on Fables?
Mike: Shelly Bond and she was my very first editor on that same Comico project. It would have been a 12 issue series called Jaguar Stories, written by Steven T. Seagle but then Comico went Chapter 11. Shelly remains one of my very favorite people in the business. Shed been telling me about the series called Fables but I was busy and couldnt get to the comic book store as much as Id like. Finally she sent me some collections and she asked if I could ever do a fill-in issue. I told her Id let her know when my schedule opened up. I read the books and I did have an opening for one issue and then she said, Well, Bill wants you to do two issues. She told me the idea and it was with some of my favorite characters, the Big Bad Wolf and Snow White, so it has been very gratifying. I love these two issues. It is an amazing series. Its one of those concepts that is so brilliant in its simplicity that you kick yourself for not thinking of it yourself. James Jean, who does the covers, is one of my favorite artists and hes been a real help to me in helping me how to understand the organic qualities of pure illustration with computers. Thats something Ive always struggled against and he knocked down some of the barriers that Ive had with computers. In a very effective way he keeps the integrity of the original illustration without bringing in the cold stiffness computer coloring brings to illustration.
DRE: So in the past you havent used computers for your work?
Mike: Oh weve used them but Ive just never been completely satisfied. My wife, Laura, colors our work and shes been using a computer since around 1995. She would do the code and somebody else would then do the computer. Some people can do it well but a large percentage of computer coloring is just heavy rendering with airbrush tools and stuff that the original artist didnt intend. Laura will use mostly flat colors and some subtle modeling because I dont like that over-rendered computery look. Now Im able to make textures in the original illustration and enhance or manipulate them on the computer. It allows us to retain that impressionistic, organic quality of the original art. Thats largely due to advice and guidance from artists who have managed to break that barrier as well like James Jean and [Goon creator] Eric Powell.
DRE: When is your next issue of Fables coming out?
Mike: The first issue is out. This second issue is going to be a bit late, Im afraid. I should have it completely penciled by the end of this week and hopefully will be finished inking it in the next couple weeks after that. Laura colors it as Im inking so it wont be horribly late but later than anybody would like.
DRE: With the release of Madman Gargantua you have moved Madman from Dark Horse to Image comics, why is that?
Mike: It really has to do with access. Dark Horse was the perfect publisher for me at the time and it was largely because of Bob Schreck, who convinced me to go there. Hes one of my oldest and best friends in the business. He was at the first comic book show I ever went to and he championed Madman at Dark Horse. Madman was his first job as an editor after he was the marketing director there.
Im not stupid; I know there are a lot of creators with creations that are more deserving of success than mine. So I acknowledge that theres a lot of luck involved and right place, right time, right people. In this case Bob Schreck was the right guy to take me to the right company. Dark Horse really launched it in a way that nobody else could have at that time. Then Bob left Dark Horse and I watched him develop Oni Press with Joe Nozemack. From them I learned all the ins and outs of a comic book company from the ground up. After that I went a little eccentric with Dark Horse. On the one hand the company wants a commercial project and Madman was enjoying that kind of success. But at the same time I wanted to stretch and explore some other ideas I had and the most ambitious idea Ive ever had was the multimedia project of Red Rocket 7. I had really grandiose ideas about the comic book being shaped like a record album and making a feature film under the guidance and inspiration of Robert Rodriguez and combining them all. Dark Horse said Sure, whatever you want. But it was very expensive to do and I think that the powers that be at Dark Horse might have lost a little patience with me. Then I followed that up with a one shot, which was the idea of a friend of mine named Shane Hawks, who I couldnt have done my independent film, Astroesque, without. So I returned the favor by producing an independent feature Eyes to Heaven with a comic book tie in. That might have been the last straw as far as Dark Horse was concerned. It was also not the right decision for me. The project really wasnt what I was about so that might have been confusing to a lot of people.
Following that, I was very excited to get back to my Madman universe and launch a spin-off, The Atomics. At that point, it became very clear to me that [founder, president, and publisher of Dark Horse Comics] Mike Richardson would prefer that I stick with doing a Madman monthly book. When youve got that drive and somebodys telling you, Nah, dont do that. Its a struggle and you have to dig deep and figure out what you really want to do. I stuck with my plan and finished my commitment with Madman at Dark Horse and it became clear that the next real challenge for me would be self-publishing. So I did with launching The Atomics with our company AAAPop. I did probably 16 books in a year and Im extremely proud of the work I produced at that time. But Im also able to sit back and judge how successful it was artistically and I can see where I rushed some things.
As I wrapped up all my commitments, thats when Marvel came knocking and offered me the opportunity to work with Peter Milligan, one of my favorite writers and create all new mutants for X-Force. That is what I always dreamed about as a kid so it took me off on this wide detour. Peter was writing these terrific scripts with these characters wed created and I had the same creative freedom that I had doing my own work. That came to an abrupt halt when Peter came up with the idea of bringing Princess Diana back from the dead and making her a member of the team with her own mutant powers. That didnt go over well. Unfortunately it took three issues to really generate an echo back with a gigantic No, you cant do this. I was told that people at Buckingham Palace had a fit about it. To this day I dont know who put the kibosh on it, but we were told in no uncertain terms that our days of free-rolling creativity were over..
DRE: Have you tried to get into London since then?
Mike: No [laughs].
The storyline made me have even more respect and affection for Princess Diana and what she did and what she attempted in her lifetime. On the surface level I do understand how its offensive, but beyond that it was very respectful and affectionate. Its one of my great regrets that what we had hoped to do will never be seen. That was a giant learning experience for us.
That leads me back to the big decision. I was open to the idea of going back to Dark Horse after the Marvel experience. First and foremost I wanted to go back to Madman again. Its where Ive been happiest creatively. I was looking to do a relaunch of Madman and I wanted to do it up the best I could. I knew [Publisher of Image Comics] Erik Larsen because we did a crossover with his character, Savage Dragon, in my Atomics series and then he put my Atomics characters in Savage Dragon. I have great respect for him. We have similar sensibilities and influences. Ive been watching what hes done with the company since he took over as publisher. It was really one conversation with Erik that convinced me to publish AAAPop through them. With the way were set up with Image, its almost like self-publishing except we have the benefit of working with an amazing crew, which I couldnt afford as a publisher on my own. Just the commercial impact that theyve done with the marketing has really blown me away. Everything has been above and beyond what I would have asked for. At this point Im convinced I made the right decision.
DRE: Did you change or fix anything from the original books for Gargantua?
Mike: No. It is as is. If I had started, I probably wouldnt have stopped and wed be looking at it coming out in another year or two. I ultimately decided that it needed to be a record of the progression of the character. I think its interesting to look at almost 900 pages of comics and see this evolution take place in one big, fat book that you can kill somebody with.
When people see the new series that were launching now, it really is square one. Ive completely shaken everything up. Its almost like a total recreation yet, at the same time the characters consistent.
DRE: Madmans a lot different than he was in that first miniseries from Tundra. When did you realize that this was going to be a character you were going to be sticking with?
Mike: I would say with the second Tundra series. With the first series I was looking at an opportunity to create a graphic novel with this company that Kevin Eastman had created. When it was successful, they asked me if I wanted to continue. I was looking at a lot of European books and some classic stand-bys like Tintin. I really wanted that bright, colorful adventure vibe. Right off the top Madman Adventures was clearly the title and I wanted to do it in color on glossy paper stock. I originally wanted to do a series of 64 page self-contained adventures. But Tundra asked if I would mind if we put the first 64 page story into a 32 page traditional comic book and I agreed. This was something I loved doing. The sky was the limit. The characters were coming fast and furious and any genre that I wanted to introduce was an easy get. I could have giant robots, I could have a time travel story, I could have mutants, I could have an undersea adventure. Thats why Ive always stuck with it.
DRE: How far along are you with the adaptation of The Golden Plates?
Mike: Im about a fourth of the way through.
DRE: When do you think it will come out?
Mike: Im hoping to have a new volume out around Christmas time every year.
DRE: Before you announced the adaptation of The Golden Plates, it wasnt commonly known that you were part of The Church of Latter Day Saints. Did you realize that doing this book would reveal your religion and more of who you are or was that the point?
Mike: Yeah, definitely. On the one hand, Ive been asked questions all through my career about spiritual beliefs and a lot of that is in my work, even Madman. A lot of doctrine is subversively and subtly integrated into just about everything Ive ever done but there is nothing satirical about this adaptation. I had to steel myself up and prepare to answer those kinds of questions. It was a real eye-opener to me because there are many misperceptions of the faith and some people feel they have a license to be critical and even cruel about it. Knowing that, I was still surprised to see just how much confusion and hatred there is for it. There is anger from some people about it all based on misunderstandings, misperceptions or false rumors. Its amazing how simple the faith is, yet at the same time there are all these bizarre misconceptions. At first the responses were like getting kicked in the gut. Yet it was exciting and satisfying to have a forum to clear up these weird, bizarre ideas.
DRE: Has your church been happy with the book?
Mike: So far, very. The only person whos unhappy with it is me and thats just the way I approach my work. Im always looking to improve it and thats one of the reasons I slowed down production. I wanted to put more care into it. I feel I went a little too fast through the third volume and was starting to jam way too much in there and I needed to spread it out more and make it more accessible.
DRE: I read that you and [Swimming with Sharks director] George Huang are writing the Madman movie together, how many drafts have been written?
Mike: Ive done at least three drafts myself. Years ago, when it was at Tundra, I wrote my very first draft with my friend Kevin Welch. Then when Robert Rodriguez picked it up, I felt like I was too close to it and I needed to have fresh eyes. I was waiting for Robert to attack it and it would have been the next film that he had done right after the first Spy Kids movie. But that became a surprise phenomenon and they immediately went into doing the sequels before the kids werent kids anymore [laughs]. That took him in a whole other direction and one of the things he had always hoped to do was an adaptation of Sin City. I helped put that together by hooking him up with Bob Schreck, theres that name again. Bob is a great friend and confidant of Frank Miller. In the meantime, George Huang is somebody that Robert has known for his entire career. During Roberts first days in Hollywood, he actually slept on George Huangs floor. George threw a lot of different ideas out about the movie. Most of them I didnt like but it did help me rediscover what I wanted. Then Robert said, If you were to make Madman today, knowing everything you know, how would you approach it? So, forget what everybody knows. Forget what everyones expecting. At that point, George came up here and we locked ourselves up in my houseboat and we didnt stop until we came up with our treatment. Everybody loved it. Its like we cracked the code.
DRE: Have you ever seen a Mike Allred tattoo on anybody?
Mike: I have. Weve published pictures of some of them in the comics. Everything from an exclamation bolt on an ankle to an entire figure on somebodys back. Its crazy. I dont have any tattoos so its startling to me when somebody will take something that I created and permanently burn it into their bodies.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 8 of 8 COMMENTS
Drake said:
I would do anything for more X-STATIX.
I saw a few trades at a comic shop back home. I really wanted to buy them, but decided not to. I regret that. I had forgotten the name until now. X-Statix! yes