18 ALL-STAR COMICS
psychologist, and to establish works that are character driven, not profi t driven. Allred,
however, thinks that comics themselves still have to be perceived diff erently in order
for a character driven narrative to shine through. “I don’t think comic books are the
gutter so many people think they are.”
In 1989, Allred started his own superhero title, Madman , the story of Frank
Einstein, a possible paid assassin who becomes, through the miracles of science, the
superhero (or anti-hero) Madman after dying in a car accident. Besides its surreal
sense of humor, Madman is an outlet for Allred’s elastic artistic style, which is infl u-
enced by Charles M. Schultz, Maurice Sendak, and (most importantly) pop artist Roy
Lichtenstein. Th e Lichtenstein eff ect is achieved mostly through the work of Allred’s
wife, Laura, who has been acting as his colorist since he started working in comics
professionally, and has often incorporated pointillist elements into his covers. In addi-
tion to Madman , Allred is best known for his work on Red Rocket 7 (begun in 1997),
the story of an alien clone with super heightened musical ability who goes on to infl u-
ence the past 50 years of popular music; and X-Statix , his 2001 relaunch of the X-Man
title, X-Force , with Irish scripter Peter Mulligan, which features a group of anti-heroes
more worried about fame than they are about saving the world.
Recently, Allred has returned to Dark Horse Comics and has a new 13-issue run
of Madman , which evolved into a series of one shots that continued Madman’s dedica-
tion to artistic and narrative experimentation. As he has been throughout his career,
Allred is not afraid to cover material that seems either controversial, unfi t for the com-
ics medium, or both. He derived his current project, Th e Golden Plates , from his faith
in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It is a full graphic adaptation of
the Book of Mormon. Allred has also been working since the late 1990s with writer/
director Robert Rodriguez on a fi lm adaptation of Madman.
Selected Bibliography: Fanboy Interview with Mike Allred (November 19, 2008).
Available at http://revision3.com/ifanboy/allred.
Jason Gallagher
ALL-STAR COMICS was originally an anthology comic book series. It was published fi rst
by All-American Publications, in cooperation with Detective Comics, initially featur-
ing heroes from both companies. It was published by National Periodical Publications
(the future DC Comics , formed by the merger of All-American and Detective Comics )
beginning with #26 (Fall 1945). Th e fi rst two issues featured a variety of short stories.
With issue #3 (winter 1941), it became the home of the Justice Society of America ,
which remained until the series ended with #57 (February–March 1951). Th e series
was briefl y revived in the 1970s.
All-Star #3 marked the fi rst time a group of superheroes teamed up. Th e original
lineup included Dr. Fate, Green Lantern , Hawkman, Hourman, Th e Atom, Th e Flash ,
Th e Sandman , and Th e Spectre. Additionally, Johnny Th under and his magic Th un-
derbolt served as the team’s mascot.
