ALLRED, MIKE 17
Edited by Sheldon Mayer, All-American Comics focused primarily on superhero
stories. Other publishers, particularly those operating on low overhead, tended to hire
out the creative duties to shops, such as ones operated by Will Eisner and Jerry Iger,
where large numbers of pages of print-ready art would be generated in a clean house
style quickly and effi ciently. Mayer instead preferred to work on an individual basis with
freelance creators. Th is editorial approach allowed All-American Publications to nurture
its creative roster, which included such writers as Gardner Fox and Robert Kanigher,
and artists such as Alex Toth , Joe Kubert, Sheldon Moldoff , and Ross Andru.
Despite eventually shifting to a primary focus on superhero stories, All-American
Comics did feature non-superhero content prominently, primarily by the urging of
Max Gaines. Gaines was skeptical of superhero characters, and considered them a
passing fad (it should be noted that Gaines’s misgivings about superhero stories would
largely prove true, as superhero comics were signifi cantly less popular in the 1950s
than in previous years). Gaines brought in Mutt and Jeff comic strips by Bud Fisher, a
mainstay of his legendary Eastern Color Printing title Famous Funnies , to fi ll in addi-
tional space in various All-American titles. Other non-superhero characters to appear
in the pages of All-American Comics include Hop Harrigan, perhaps the earliest avia-
tion pilot hero character, and Johnny Th under, a Western character unrelated to the
superhero character of the same name.
After being bought out by National in 1946, All-American Comics remained in
print under the same title with largely the same content until 1948, despite the lack of
involvement by Gaines. Th e title was subsequently changed to All-American Western ,
and then All-American Men of War in 1952, which included similar changes in the
book’s content. All-American Men of War was ultimately canceled by DC. Many of
the characters on the All-American roster were given solo titles as characters of DC
comics. Many of the creators for All-American Comics continued to have distinguished
careers in comics for Marvel , DC, and EC comics. For many fans, the books pub-
lished by All-American Publications, including All-American Comics , were must-read
examples of superhero comics, starring some of the most beloved superheroes of all
time.
Robert O’Nale
ALLRED, MIKE (1962–). Michael “Mike” Dalton Allred is one of the more uncompro-
mising writers and artists to come out of the independent comics community of the
1990s, a context that also fostered creators like Jeff Smith, Peter Milligan and Garth
Ennis. A self-proclaimed child of the 1960s and 1970s, Allred has said that he sees his
medium as the perfect way to combine his love of visual art with his interest in music
and fi lm, which arose out of growing up in an age that saw similar serious subject mat-
ters fi nally fi nding expression in popular culture. He realized that comics provided
this avenue after reading the Hernandez brothers’ series Love and Rockets , and Jaime
Hernandez’s work on Mister X. More than anything, Allred has found comics to be
the perfect means to explore his existential leanings, fostered by his father’s work as a
