Allred, Michael D.

(Michael Dalton Allred)

PERSONAL: Born in OR; married June 22, 1981; wife's name Laura (an artist); children: three. Hobbies and other interests: Film, rock-and-roll music.

ADDRESSES: Office—c/o Dark Horse Comics, 10956 SE Main St., Milwaukie, OR 97222.

CAREER: Comic-book artist and writer. Worked as a television journalist in Europe. Member of rock band Gear. Writer, director, and producer of film Astroesque, 1998; producer, with Shane Hawks, of film Eyes to Heaven, 1999.

WRITINGS:

COMICS

The Complete Madman Comics, Volume 2, Dark Horse Comics (Milwaukie, OR), 1996.

The Superman/Madman Hullabaloo! (originally published as issues 1-3 of Superman/Madman Hullabaloo! comic-book series), Dark Horse Comics/DC Comics, (Milwaukie, OR), 1998.

Red Rocket 7 (originally published as issues 1-7 of Red Rocket 7 comic-book series), Dark Horse Comics (Milwaukie, OR), 1998.

Madman Boogaloo! (originally published as Nexus Meets Madman and Madman/The Jam comic-book series), Dark Horse Comics/DC Comics, (Milwaukie, OR), 1999.

(Illustrator) Shane Hawks, Feeders, Dark Horse Comics (Milwaukie, OR), 1999.

The Complete Madman Comics, Volume 3, Dark Horse Comics (Milwaukie, OR), 2000.

(Illustrator, with others) Green Lantern/Superman: Legend of the Green Flame, DC Comics (New York, NY), 2000.

The Complete Madman Comics, Volume 4, Dark Horse Comics (Milwaukie, OR), 2001.

Author of other comics series, including Graphique Musique (later titled Graphik Muzik and Tales of Ordinary Madness. Author of screenplay Astroesque.

ADAPTATIONS: Graphik Muzik was adapted by Robert Cooper, Richard L. Albert, and Nicholas Johnson as the film G-Men from Hell, directed by Christopher Coppola, Sawmill Entertainment, 2001.

SIDELIGHTS: Michael D. Allred has written and illustrated a variety of comic-book series, creating such characters as amnesiac superhero Frank Einstein of Madman and space alien Red Rocket 7 of the series of the same name and also drawing characters originated by others, such as Superman. Allred has described himself as a "frustrated filmmaker," and his work displays the influence of science-fiction movies and film noir, as well as showcasing his love of rock-and-roll music. Allred had been a broadcast journalist and was trying to develop a career in movie-making when he began working on comics. "It's storytelling in a very visual medium much like film," he told Washington Times reporter Joseph Szadkowski, adding: "I realized that if I honed my artistic skills, I could draw my own movies."

One of Allred's early projects, Graphique Musique (later Graphik Muzik), was "kind of an umbrella title that allowed me to do anything I wanted," he remarked in an interview with Shawna Ervin for the Dark Horse Comics Web site. One of the characters he developed in this series is Einstein, who is driven to discover the truth about himself and his past, as he can remember nothing. Einstein was one of Allred's favorite creations, and he proved popular with readers too. Wanting to go further with the character, Allred made Einstein the costumed protagonist of Madman. "Rather than creating a character from scratch, I liked this Frank Einstein character so much that I saw his backstory was really the genesis of this new character," he told Ervin. Writing about Einstein gives Allred the opportunity of "rediscovering the world through his eyes," the author continued, adding that "Frank Einstein used to be the crazy, unpredictable character, and as the series progresses and more crazy characters are introduced, he's becoming the sane, stable one."

One of the characters who has appeared in Madman, Mott from the planet Hoople, is an homage to the rock group Mott the Hoople, reflecting Allred's interest in rock and roll music. Another title, Red Rocket 7, explores the music world further. In this series, a space alien known as Red Rocket lands in the northwestern United States and is cloned six times, with each clone, numbered two through seven, gaining an intensified version of one of the original Red Rocket's talents. Red Rocket 7 has a gift for music, and he "integrates himself and takes part in Rock 'n' Roll history," Allred told Tom Fassbender in an interview for the Dark Horse Comics Web site. "He's there at the beginning and finds himself at all these key events as this musical art form changes and grows and progresses." The character encounters Elvis Presley, Little Richard, and the Beatles, among others. Szadkowski called Red Rocket 7 "a very inspired work" and "an intriguing tale." Allred's band, the Gear, released a concept CD, Son of Red Rocket 7, in conjunction with a collection of the comics.

Son of Red Rocket 7 is "not a soundtrack per se," Allred told Fassbender; he explained, "When I would listen to music I would often read comics—when I think of certain comic books I think of the music that I was listening to at the time. I wanted to have that kind of experience for this." Allred allowed that the project is "unconventional," but told Fassbender: "I feel very strongly about expanding comics. Comics is the untapped art medium. Music has been done so many ways, as have films and novels … comic books are so untapped when you compare them to other art forms. There's so much to be done."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Washington Times, July 8, 1995, Joseph Szadkowski, "Michael Allred's 'Madness' Helped Hone His Artistic Talents," p. B4; November 22, 1997, Joseph Szadkowski, "Rocket Is Blast of Sci-fi, Rock," p. B4.

ONLINE

Dark Horse Comics Web site, http://www.darkhorse.com/ (February 1, 1999), Shawna Ervin, interview with Michael D. Allred; (December 30, 2003) Tom Fassbender, interview with Allred.

Michael D. Allred Home Page, http://www.aaapop.com (November 26, 2003).