Madman Comics Volume 4: Heaven and Hell

Madman Comics

by Mike Allred, Laura Allred

Frank Einstein has never led a normal life - as far as he knows - but lately his topsy-turvy times have been undeniably loony. This fourth collection chronicling the life of Frank as he makes amends with a beatnik ghoul, meets Santa Claus, gets his house fixed up, and goes on an unexpected adventure.

Contains: Madman Comics #16-20

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Comic Book

136 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1997

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

[Devero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Con la sequenza sui datori di lavoro di Joe (Josephine) Lombard, la fidanzata di Frank Einstein, si giunge alla fine di questa prima serie regolare di Madman.
Certo, le idee non mancano ad Allred, e la realizzazione è comunque buona e sempre straniante, per via dei numerosi cambi di ritmo della narrazione. A pagine abbastanza verbali susseguono pagine frenetiche, poi di nuovo un rallentamento, poi accelerazione dell'azione.
3 stelle e mezza.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. i would have liked it a lot more if i hadn't already read these stories in a different collection. still, they're some real fun ones.

[Aerin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as the prior Madman volume, but good enough. Interesting backstory, seems like mostly retelling of previous work that is now hard to find, wish there was a stronger ending though

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was somewhat disappointed in this volume in the usually excellent and extremely odd Madman series, primarily since there isn't much Madman in it. It is mostly a sort of diversion featring two minor characters, a couple of corrupt g-men who think that by being only a tiny bit nicer they can ascend from hell to heaven. There are some bits of humor that work here, but mostly Allred goes for sly irony rather than gags here. His art is stellar as always, but the story was less interesting than usual.

[D.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a return to his original style for Allred, both narratively (this is a dark, concise and mostly complete tale) and tonally (there is some creepy crap happening herein). The story follows Frank Einstein's occasional foils Crept & Mattress on their own adventure, only slightly involving Madman himself. A great story, and sadly the last of the series I own.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though Madman takes a back seat in this story, it's still a great read...

[Russell Mark Olson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic Madman.