The Complete Madman Comics Volume 1: Yearbook '95

Madman Comics

by Mike Allred, Laura Allred

After three years, Madman Comics: Yearbook '95 (Volume 1) returns to print Witness Madman framed for a murder on the high seas Follow him as he tracks down Dr. Flem's runaway robots Watch and be amazed as he battles mutant street beatniks.

Contains: Madman Comics #1-5

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Fiction, Humor

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Michael 'Doc' Allred (Also Credited as M. Dalton Allred) grew up in the 60's and 70's and was surrounded with the best in pop culture and a steady diet of music, movies and comic books including the three B's: Beatles, Bond and Batman to the point of obsession.

So it should come as no surprise that he keeps a hand in film and music (He's the lead singer and guitarist for The Gear), but comic books have always been a seminal source of joy for Mike and that joy remains the main ingredient in most of his work.

Allred first tasted success in the comics field with his wildly popular MADMAN series, which is currently being developed for a live action film with filmmaker Robert Rodriguez. His earlier work from GRAFIK MUZIK was turned into the cult hit movie G-Men from Hell directed by Christopher Coppola (featuring Robert Goulet as the Devil). Other work includes Red Rocket 7, his history of Rock and Roll told in the context of a sci-fi adventure storyl the Madman spin-off THE ATOMICS and his magnum opus, THE GOLDEN PLATES, where he's illustrating the entire Book of Mormon.

Mike counts the secret to his success to be his wife, and creative partner, Laura Allred, who is is considered to be one of the best colorists in the business.

Reviews

[Russell Mark Olson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Madman is one of my all-time favorite superheroes and Allred one of my all-time favorite comic artists. I hadn't read the books in this collection since they were in print the first time, and man are they a lot of fun. I love all the work Allred has done with X-Statix and now FF, but I would be just as pleased if not more so if he just wrote and drew Madman day in and day out. It really is the perfect comic for my sensibilities.

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I kind of feel that everything before this was just set up. Allred was figuring out what he wanted to do previously, and slowly but surely started to flesh it out, but this is where everything starts going with all cylinders firing. It embraces all of the kooky homages, but still delivers fun stories.

[Devero · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prima della pace con gli Atomics, Frank Einstein cercava di scoprire chi fosse prima che il dr. Boinfard lo riportasse in vita. In questo volume inizia una lunga serie di storie, non così strane e stranianti come le prime avventure di Madman, ma comunque sempre roba a cui i lettori italiani non erano abituati.
3 stelle

[Tim Field · Rating 5 out of 5]

Madman Comics Volume One (I read the Dark Horse TPB titled Crash Course For The Ravers!) was a nice slice of Madman ginchiness with plots that are ambling and shambolic with the real treat being Allred’s art, goofy characters and sensibility, plus wacky pop culture references. And robots!
Highly recommended for those with weird taste.

[Rory Toohey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of nostalgia colors my enjoyment of this book, which is admittedly a bit haphazard. However, it's nice to look back, especially after reading many more comics and spotting the influences.

[Aerin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Madman finally hitting its stride fully! Ginchy!

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure if this is the correct edition that I read. I couldn't find my edition which was a collection of issues 1-11 originally published by Dark Horse (although this collection is by Image Comics who had taken over publishing Madman). This is some pretty whack stuff and, if you choose to read it, it will not disappoint. Mike Allred's series really covers some far out themes. The Madman hero (Frank Einstein) ponders what it means to be alive while dealing with self-replicating robots; the nature of good and evil while fighting a skinless strongman; fate vs. self-determination manifested through prophetic dreams; and whether you need feelings to be human as Frank observes the apparent love between a robot containing the imprint of his memories/personality and a female robot (I kid you not). And that's not even the half of it. Bizarre technology, weird engrossing characters, and mystery (I get the feeling that all of the characters have some skeletons in the closet waiting to bust out). A recommended read.

[D.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I find the first-issue art strangely off-kilter (was the pen nib split or something?), this is more top-knotch ginchy adventure with the Madman of Snap City. Featured herein: renegade robots; more hot girls (whatever happened to the adorable Sadie Shelley? and am I imagining that Bonnie's getting more...bodacious as the story continues? and of course there's always Joe...aah, Joe...); a murder mystery; a celebrity guest-star; and one of the longest punch-ups I've ever seen in comics! All that, and cut-out dress-up dolls, too. All around, a fun and compelling bunch of story.

[Mike Serisier · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't understand it. Events were too fast paced, too random, contrasted with extremely slow and confusing character development. Got halfway through and gave up.

[Nat Thomson · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's ok.