Madman (comics)

AUTHOR: Allred, Mike

ARTIST: Mike Allred (illustrator); Nick Dragotta (penciller); Daniel Clowes (inker); Bernie Mireault (inker); Mark Schultz (inker); Han Allred (colorist); Laura Allred (colorist, letterer, and cover artist); Sean Konot (letterer); Nate Piekos (letterer); J. Bone (cover artist); Dave Cooper (cover artist); Geof Darrow (cover artist); Mitch O’Connell (cover artist); Alex Ross (cover artist); Steve Rude (cover artist); David Silverman (cover artist)

PUBLISHER: Tundra; Dark Horse Comics; Image Comics

FIRST SERIAL PUBLICATION: 1992-1993; 1994-1999; 2007-2009

FIRST BOOK PUBLICATION: 1996

Publication History

Mike Allred’s character, Frank Einstein, also known as Madman, made his first appearance in the story “For the Record,” which was part of the one-shot Creatures of the Id, published by Caliber Press in September, 1990. Almost simultaneously, he appeared in Caliber’s Grafik Muzik, issue 1, in November, 1990, leading to some confusion among fans regarding which was the first Madman story. Prior to this, Allred had worked on the books Dead Air (1989) and Graphique Musique, issues 1-3 (1989-1990), both published by Slave Labor Graphics.

The first series wholly devoted to the character was the black-and-white, eponymous three-issue Madman (1992) distributed by Tundra. This was followed by a full-color, three-issue limited series, Madman Adventures (1992-1993), published by Dark Horse Comics. Image Comics released a longer, twenty-issue run, entitled Madman Comics (1994-2000), and the later seventeen-issue run of Madman Atomic Comics (2007-2009). In the intervening years, Madman appeared in the one-shot Nexus Meets Madman (1996), the three-issue The Superman/Madman Hullabaloo! (1997) published by Dark Horse Comics, and the self-published spin-off book The Atomics (2000-2001) from AAAPop Comics.

The first trade paperback collection, Madman Comics: Yearbook ‘95 (1996) from Dark Horse Comics, assembled Madman Comics, issues 1-5, and was followed by The Complete Madman Comics, Volumes 2-4, which compiled the remaining fifteen issues of the run. In 2002, Oni Press published Madman, Volume 1: The Oddity Odyssey and Madman, Volume 2: Madman Adventures, which contained Madman, issues 1-3, and Madman Adventures, issues 1-3, respectively. In 2007, Image Comics published a three-volume set entitled Madman Gargantua! that collects the entire runs of Madman, Madman Adventures, and Madman Comics. They went on to release another three-volume set entitled Madman: Atomica! (2011), containing the entirety of Madman Atomic Comics.

Plot

The initial three-issue Madman is unique in its relatively dark tone. In one pivotal scene, Madman gouges out the eye of an assailant and eats it. Interestingly, much later in the series (Madman Atomic Comics, issue 1), it is suggested that this may be one of many “false memories” caused by Madman’s ability to project illusions.

Over the course of the first story arc, readers are introduced to Dr. Egon Udo Boiffard and Dr. Gillespie Flem, who serve as Madman’s two father figures after bringing him back to life, and Josephine “Joe” Lombard, Madman’s true love. At the story’s conclusion, Monstadt, a villain who once served as financier to the scientists’ research but now wants to steal their secrets of life and death, seems to die in a helicopter crash.

On a camping trip in the desert, Madman discovers that Dr. Boiffard has been injecting himself with a serum in the hopes of expanding his brain, which explains both his emotional distance and unconvincing toupee. While asleep, the protagonist suffers an intense, existential crisis marked by surreal images of eyeballs, ocean waves, and Joe, who transforms into a tree. Sensing something in the desert, he follows his intuition to a transmitter that instructs him to retrieve lost alien explorer Reddick the Elder. Taking Dr. Flem’s jet to a remote jungle, Madman discovers the alien, who has been mutilated and imprisoned by cult devotees. Madman asks the alien if he believes in God, and he replies, “Yes,” as he ascends into outer space.

Back in Dr. Flem’s lab, Madman undergoes treatment with a brain recorder, which allows him to not only relive his buried memories but also foresee his death. Later, Marie and Warren, two of Dr. Flem’s robot drones, build an android named Astroman, implanting him with Madman’s recorded thoughts and feelings. When Astroman sacrifices himself to save Madman’s life, Madman realizes that the vision of his death actually showed Astroman in disguise.

In part 1 of “The Exit of Dr. Boiffard,” Madman has a falling out with Dr. Flem, telling him he is tired of being treated like a guinea pig; he then flies off in search of Dr. Boiffard, whom he feels Dr. Flem has abandoned. When Madman finally reaches Dr. Boiffard, Madman sees that he has become an immense pink brain that dwarfs his tiny body. Not knowing what to do and surrounded by two mysterious superheroes and a gun-wielding Joe, Madman dives into the massive brain folds and a nearby dam suddenly bursts, carrying him and the doctor out to sea. Madman washes ashore on a small island and is taken in by a shipwrecked sailor and his changeling wife Avalon, who soon gives birth to a child, inspiring new hope in the hero for forgiveness and a second chance at life.

Shortly after this, Dr. Gale and Joe arrive on the island and bring Madman home, as he has inherited Dr. Boiffard’s estate. He is soon drawn into a vast conspiracy involving a psychotic murdering hand puppet, the shadowy Tri-Eye Agency (to which Madman belonged in his past life), and two G-men who have returned from Hell to attempt to redeem themselves. Eventually, Monstadt reveals himself as the villain behind the plot, and Madman and the G-men drive him back to Hell.

Madman Atomic Comics, issues 1-7, contain the most experimental artwork in the Madman series as well as the most dramatic narrative arc. It opens with Madman trapped within his own mind, first represented as a postapocalyptic landscape devoid of human life and then as a series of existential dialogues with his childhood hero Mr. Excitement. In the latter section, panels constantly morph from one style to another, referencing everything from Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts (1950-2000) and Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are (1963) to the artistic styles of comic book artists Jim Lee and Jack Kirby. Believing Madman to be dead, Dr. Flem and Joe make the difficult decision to launch his body (along with Astroman’s) into space. Madman wakes deep in outer space and is rescued by an alien, who urges the protagonist to relay a message to his friends that, without their help, the Crimson King will destroy the universe. Madman and his team defeat the villain before he can set his destructive plan into motion, but their joy quickly turns to horror, when in a freak accident, Joe is vaporized as she descends to the alien landscape.

Later, in the next (completely wordless) issue, Madman discovers that Joe’s essence has melded with his teammate Luna’s, a change that is subtly suggested by the addition of multicolored hair and freckles to Luna’s normal appearance. After returning to Earth, Madman pleads with Dr. Flem to return things to the way they had been before; eventually, the doctor is able to transfer Joe to her own body, and, in a whimsical mood, she dons a matching “Madgirl” costume. Almost immediately, the villain Monstadt appears in a new and frightening form, overpowers the group, and flings Madman and his friends into the incinerator. Just when it seems Monstadt will be victorious, Joe/Madgirl emerges from the flames and destroys him with a burst of energy, a remnant of her absorption by Luna.

The final volume of Madman Atomic Comics is a rather anticlimactic jumble of stories that includes a zany spoof of Hollywood superhero movies, penciled by Nick Dragotta. In the narrative arc “Tweenage Wasteland,” Madman replaces the son of Red Rocket 7 (from another Allred comic series) as the lead singer of Allred’s real-life band, the Gear. Overall, these last issues seem to indicate Allred’s growing interest in projects outside of Madman, concluding the second-longest sustained run of this on-again, off-again series.

Volumes

•Madman, Volume 1 (2007). Collects Madman, issues 1-3, and Madman Adventures, issues 1-3. Introduces the main characters and provides the first details of Madman’s origins.

•Madman, Volume 2 (2007). Collects Madman Comics, issues 1-11. Features the return of Monstadt and the departure of Dr. Boiffard.

•Madman, Volume 3 (2008). Collects Madman Comics, issues 12-20, and Madman King-Size Super Groovy Special. Includes “The Exit of Dr. Boiffard” and “G-Men from Hell” story arcs.

•Madman Atomic Comics, Volume 1: Existential Exits (2008). Collects Madman Atomic Comics, issues 1-7. Marks the most formally experimental and dramatic point in the series, in which Allred plays with various styles and Joe merges with Luna.

•Madman Atomic Comics, Volume 2: Paranormal Paradise! (2009). Collects Madman Atomic Comics, issues 8-13. Details the operation that separates Joe from Luna’s body.

•Madman Atomic Comics, Volume 3: Electric Allegories (2010). Collects Madman Atomic Comics, issues 14-17. Contains the “Tweenage Wasteland” story arc, in which Madman becomes lead singer of the Gear.

Characters

•Madman, a.k.a. Frank Einstein and Zane Townsend, the protagonist, has light blue skin and stitches from being resurrected by Dr. Boiffard and Dr. Flem, who named him after their heroes, Frank Sinatra and Albert Einstein. He wears an outfit with an “exclamation bolt” inspired by a comic book hero from childhood, Mr. Excitement, and has psychic abilities and superhuman balance.

•Dr. Egon Udo Boiffard is one of the scientists who brought Madman back from the dead. After being resurrected by Dr. Flem, he becomes obsessed with expanding his brain through self-administered injections, resulting in a grotesquely swollen head. He eventually transcends his body and communicates with Madman psychically.

•Josephine “Joe” Lombard, Madman’s girlfriend, has bright red hair and freckles. She constantly reassures Madman regarding his Frankenstein-like appearance and existential fear of death and eternity.

•Monstadt is the former sponsor of Dr. Boiffard and Dr. Flem’s research who becomes obsessed with obtaining their secrets of life and death. He reappears throughout the series in different forms, often using occult methods in his attempts to defeat Madman.

•Dr. Gail Gale, Dr. Flem’s assistant, covers herself in bandages to hide her appearance. The doctor’s evil clones tattooed her face with cosmic symbols; later, the medical bandages applied to remove these tattoos instead made her skin invisible.

•Dr. Gillespie Flem abandoned his research project with Dr. Boiffard once he realized how evil the project’s financer, Monstadt, was. He returns to Snap City to resurrect his former partner after Madman assists him in severing and reattaching his head to an uninfected body.

•Marie and Warren are two drone robots built by Dr. Flem to counter his loneliness. They look like metallic orbs with arms and hands.

•Astroman, created by Marie and Warren, is an android that contains Madman’s memories and feelings. He repeatedly sacrifices himself to help Madman and is continually rebuilt by Dr. Flem.

•Luna Romy, a member of the Atomics, saves Joe by absorbing the latter’s essence into her body, after which she has freckles and blond hair streaked with red. Dr. Flem later separates the two characters, and they return to normal.

Artistic Style

There is a major shift from the first Madman series, which uses a black-and-white palette with washes of gray, to Madman Adventures, in which Allred’s wife, Laura Allred, takes over the role of colorist in addition to her role as letterer. Her choice of color palettes is consistently vibrant throughout the series and complements her husband’s clean inked lines, giving everything a retro, pop-art feel.

Another of the most notable changes in the book’s artwork can be found in Madman Atomic Comics. In the appendix to the first collected volume, Allred explains his new focus on the penciling stage of his work, making sure the penciling was perfect before ink was applied. The result is a much softer feel than in his earlier artwork for the series, which tended toward cleaner, simplified lines and a more pronounced contrast between characters and the environment.

In Volume 2 of Madman Atomic Comics, the experimentation continues. In addition to using the softer art style, Allred employs several animation techniques adapted to the comic book form, such as expressing movement through multiple instances of Madman within a single frame (with some opaque and others semitransparent) and creating detailed backgrounds that could be reused by overlaying different characters. Once again, in the appendix, Allred explains his artistic process as well as his appreciation for Walt Disney cartoons and newer works in the medium, such as The Ren and Stimpy Show (1992-1996).

Almost every issue contains pinup art of Madman characters by a wide variety of guest artists, including Frank Miller, Chris Ware, Daniel Clowes, Mike Mignola, Jeff Smith, and Jim Lee. These pinups often take wide artistic liberties with the characters (most often Madman) and reflect the book’s congenial and collaborative spirit. This has extended to Madman issue cameos by Mignola’s Hellboy and Miller’s Big Guy as well as the debut of two Steve Rude characters, the Moth and the Silencer.

Themes

One of the major themes throughout the series is that life is essentially an existential dilemma. By using science fiction and B-movie tropes, the author repeatedly returns to the dual questions of what it means to be alive when surrounded by death and what it means to be good in the face of evil. The character Frank Einstein, a clear reference to Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s monster, is haunted by a violent past life as a professional killer for Tri-Eye as well as his current, undead form and how he might reconcile the two.

Joe acts as a foil to Madman’s crippling self-doubt, encouraging him to accept her love for him and to find self-acceptance despite his disfigured appearance and past deeds. Likewise, Astroman serves as Madman’s doppelgänger, allowing the Madman to uncover his original birth name, Zane Townsend, and to witness his own death when the disguised Astroman sacrifices himself to save his friend.

Another important, related theme is the mutability of individual identity. Madman becomes obsessed with discovering the truth of who he is and only finds resolution when he accepts that his many personas are merely aspects of his identity. This last point is most clearly dramatized in Madman Atomic Comics, issue 1, in which he speaks with his childhood hero, Mr. Excitement (who, in reality, is Astroman), while rapidly changing appearances from panel to panel.

The idea of transient identity is also reinforced through many of the other characters. Astroman is repeatedly destroyed, but his memory is moved from body to body. Joe and Luna are merged into a single body and eventually separated again. Dr. Boiffard changes from a normal human form to a grotesque, oversized brain, before completely transcending his body.

Impact

In Allred’s volume of the Modern Masters series, he lists his primary comic influences as Alex Toth, Bruno Premiani, Frank Frazetta, Barry Windsor-Smith, and Steve Ditko. Interestingly, despite clear references to these classic comics artists in Madman, the book and character are very much affiliated with the modern movement toward independent and creator-owned comic books.

One of the first publishers of Madman, Tundra Comics, was founded by Kevin Eastman (of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, 1984-1993, fame), and the book’s later publisher, Image Comics, was initially founded by artists and writers from Marvel Comics who wished to retain the copyrights to their characters. Critic Mila Bongco has remarked on the elegant way Madman seems to navigate the middle ground between nostalgia for the whimsical Golden Age of comic books and the brutal, modern world of superheroes by embracing an absurd world and imperfect protagonist.

Further Reading

Allred, Michael. The Atomics (2000-2001).

Moore, Terry. Echo (2008- )

Roberson, Chris, and Michael Allred. iZombie (2010- ).

Bibliography

Allred, Mike, and Eric Nolen-Weathington. Mike Allred. Modern Masters 16. Raleigh, N.C.: Two- Morrows, 2008.

Bongco, Mila. Reading Comics: Language, Culture, and the Concept of the Superhero in Comic Books. New York: Garland, 2000.

Wigler, Josh. “Mike Allred Closes Out Madman Atomic Comics.” Comic Book Resources, June 18, 2009.