Mike Allred

Michael Dalton Allred started his career as a TV reporter in Europe. He started drawing comics in 1989 with a 104-page comic one-shot, 'Dead Air'. The comics of Mike Allred are a mixture of the 1950s science fiction pulp films and superhero comics in the tradition of Jack Kirby. His early publications 'Grafique Musique' (Slave Labor 1990) and 'Grafik Musik' (Caliber 1990/91) paved the way for his most popular character, Madman.

'Madman' started in 1992 as a three-part mini-series, published by Tundra. He soon became one of the most beloved superheroes in the field. In 1994, when Allred took the comic to Dark Horse, and changed the name to 'Madman Comics', the series really took off. The character became tremendously popular with the public and the other comic creators. It is no surprise that every once in a while, the pages of 'Madman Comics' are shared with guest appearances of other comic artists.

Besides 'Madman', Allred also published the 'Red Rocket 7' series, a space opera where space-alien Red Rocket and six of his clones wander through the history of Rock 'n' Roll - from Elvis and Little Richard to the Beatles and the Stones, Bowie and onward till now. In 1998, a collection of the seven-part series, 'Son of Red Rocket 7', appeared along with the CD, 'The Gear'.

Text (c) Lambiek

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