378 MANGA
sorts. Allred continued to chronicle the exploits of Frank and his friends in a second
three-issue Tundra series, Madman Adventures. Th is series, which cast its protagonist
adrift in time and had him meet a centuries-old alien in South America, saw Allred
moving away from his emphasis on Madman’s occasional fi ts of rage and focusing more
on the combination of graceful action, whimsical comedy, and metaphysical specula-
tion now commonly associated with Allred’s work. Th e next series, Madman Comics ,
ran for 20 issues at Dark Horse and includes Allred’s most sustained exploration of
the retro-futuristic Snap City and its inhabitants—including mutant street beatniks,
runaway robots, demonic detectives, and men with vomit for skin. Th is series also
developed Allred’s exploration of the nature of identity when the open-hearted and
heroic Frank discovered that in his previous life he had been a deadly assassin named
Zane Townsend.
After featuring Madman as an ensemble character in the spin-off title Th e Atomics ,
Allred launched a fourth series for the character through his own imprint, AAA Pop.
Madman Atomic Comics ran for 17 issues. Although he did not abandon the light-
hearted adventure characteristic of previous incarnations, Allred began to place a greater
emphasis on religious and philosophical questions and on formal experimentation—
including an issue in which each panel was drawn in the style of a diff erent artist from
comics history and an issue in which the action was superimposed upon a continuous
background. Th ough Allred ended the series in 2009, he has indicated that Madman
and his supporting cast will play a signifi cant role in future projects.
Brannon Costello
MANGA. Manga ( man , frivolous, ga , drawings) is a term that refers to the collective
comics traditions of Japan. Although manga is similar in many ways to American and
European comics — and the similarities have increased as manga has increased in
global popularity— it is distinctive in its content, creative style, and published for-
mat. Like much of Japanese pop culture, manga represents a synthesis of traditional,
indigenous art styles with Western infl uences, resulting in a uniquely Japanese end
product.
History
One of the traditional forms that infl uenced manga were the Ukiyo-e , woodblock
prints of daily life, landscapes, and legendary episodes. Other infl uences include the
Emakimono , a traditional narrative art painted on scrolls. From the Meiji Period
(1868–1912) until World War II, Japan became culturally and economically acces-
sible to the West. Early Japanese cartoonists were inspired by published cartoons in
American and French humor magazines and newspapers. Magazines were created
explicitly to imitate these infl uential Western magazines, which provided a popular
forum for creators to share their work with an increasingly affl uent and educated
public. A few popular and enduring characters were created in this period, including
Ryuichi Yokoyama’s Fuku-chan (1938) and Suiho Tagawa’s Norakuro (1931).
