Day Seventy-One: Madam, I'm A Madman
2006 heading into 2007 seems like it's a time for big things to happen to major indy comics. First Castle Waiting comes back, after a hiatus imposed by that most pitiless of circumstances, the lack of funds. Then we get word that Strangers in Paradise is ending this May, although I think there are few people who even remember that it's being published these days, let alone read it. Now we've also got one of the grooviest superheroes in all of comicdom on the comeback trail, in the form of Mike Allred's supercool Madman.
Here's the odd thing about Madman. He's not a superhero. He wears a costume with a flashy logo, yes. He fights evil mutant creatures and aliens from space, yes. He's honestly not a superhero. Madman, or Frank Einstein to give him his "real" name (it is, you will be unsurprised to learn, an adopted moniker) is a guy who had the awful misfortune to have his car go off a cliff and kill him stone dead. He was returned to life by two mad scientists by the names of Doctors Flem and Boiffard, but in the process lost all memory of his former life, bar a few flashes. He remembers he liked a comic book character by the name of Mister Excitement, and it's that costume that Frank wears now. He was left horribly scarred by the procedure which brought him back from the grave, and that's why he rocks the mask ensemble - it's not to keep his identity secret, but rather to hide the pasty, grey ick-ness of his natural looks.
Frank lives in Snap City, the hippest burg in the US, where mutated street beatniks hide in the sewers and devilish CIA G-Men ply their cursed courses. He's not on a quest to save the universe or foil villainy in whatever dark corner it lurks. He just wants to hang out with his girlfriend Joe and enjoy his new lease of life. Naturally, if that were all the strip were about, it would be in danger of disappearing up its own backside, although I'm sure Adrian Tomine is sharpening his pencils as I write. Of course there are bad guys, and of course there's excitement and adventure - Frank's had to fight such evildoers as Cthuloid monsters from beyond the universe as we know it, an evil genius by the name of Monstadt who may have more information about Frank's previous life than Frank does, and an army of renegade robots. It's all incredibly exciting.
The point remains, though, that that's not why Madman exists. Madman is there to give us a hero who isn't just someone we could aspire to be, but who could be us. He's not a super-genius; in fact, he's a little too naive and trusting sometimes. His girlfriend isn't a supermodel or a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist; she's just a secretary who happens to be quite pretty. He may know an intergalactic space traveller named Mott, but he's not some kind of noble visitor with whom Frank teams up; he's Frank's best friend, and they goof around and have misunderstandings and laugh at each other's jokes and hurt each other's feelings like ordinary people. It's the balance between this side of the book and the 1950s B-movie monsters and mad scientists and creatures from the ooze that make this strip what it is.
Mike Allred is the driving force behind Madman, writing and drawing it singlehandedly, with first-rate colours being provided by his wife Laura (one of the few colourists working in modern comics who seems to realise what a "palette" is). His linework is thicker than most, but is deft and assured, with next to none of the crosshatching which seems to have infected so many of his peers since the advent of Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld. If Allred owes a debt to any artist, it's Jack Kirby, whose relentless energy and invention he has drawn so much inspiration from, mixing it up with a healthy dose of Roy Lichtenstein's pop art strangeness. His writing works perfectly in step with his art, putting Frank in situations where derring-do, chase scenes and fights against impossible odds are just part of the everyday world of the Madman of Snap City.
There's an 862-page compendium of most of the Madman comics published to date on sale this month. It's not cheap, and it's not complete (the crossover stories with Nexus, Superman and the Jam aren't represented), but it's worth it if you've yet to get with the skinny of Madman. Even better, the man himself returns in a new ongoing series, Madman's Atomic Comics, this April. If you're looking for a superhero who lacks superpowers but has heroism to spare, not to mention a refreshing lack of grimness and pretention, you'd better get wise to Frank Einstein. Dig?
