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Among Madmen
When people around the world inexplicably begin changing into vegetables or violent psychopaths, Tom Laker and his wife, Maria, leave New York in hopes of finding safety in the rural community of Shandaken
268 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
2 people are currently reading
82 people want to read
About the author
Jim Starlin
967 books444 followersJames P. "Jim" Starlin is an American comic book writer and artist. With a career dating back to the early 1970s, he is best known for "cosmic" tales and space opera; for revamping the Marvel Comics characters Captain Marvel and Adam Warlock; and for creating or co-creating the Marvel characters Thanos and Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu. Death and suicide are recurring themes in Starlin's work: Personifications of Death appeared in his Captain Marvel series and in a fill-in story for Ghost Rider; Warlock commits suicide by killing his future self; and suicide is a theme in a story he plotted and drew for The Rampaging Hulk magazine.
In the mid-1970s, Starlin contributed a cache of stories to the independently published science-fiction anthology Star Reach. Here he developed his ideas of God, death, and infinity, free of the restrictions of mainstream comics publishers' self-censorship arm, the Comics Code Authority. Starlin also drew "The Secret of Skull River", inked by frequent collaborator Al Milgrom, for Savage Tales #5 (July 1974).
When Marvel Comics wished to use the name of Captain Marvel for a new, different character,[citation needed] Starlin was given the rare opportunity to produce a one-shot story in which to kill off a main character. The Death of Captain Marvel became the first graphic novel published by the company itself. (
In the late 1980s, Starlin began working more for DC Comics, writing a number of Batman stories, including the four-issue miniseries Batman: The Cult (Aug.-Nov. 1988), and the storyline "Batman: A Death in the Family", in Batman #426-429 (Dec. 1988 – Jan. 1989), in which Jason Todd, the second of Batman's Robin sidekicks, was killed. The death was decided by fans, as DC Comics set up a hotline for readers to vote on as to whether or not Jason Todd should survive a potentially fatal situation. For DC he created Hardcore Station.
In the mid-1970s, Starlin contributed a cache of stories to the independently published science-fiction anthology Star Reach. Here he developed his ideas of God, death, and infinity, free of the restrictions of mainstream comics publishers' self-censorship arm, the Comics Code Authority. Starlin also drew "The Secret of Skull River", inked by frequent collaborator Al Milgrom, for Savage Tales #5 (July 1974).
When Marvel Comics wished to use the name of Captain Marvel for a new, different character,[citation needed] Starlin was given the rare opportunity to produce a one-shot story in which to kill off a main character. The Death of Captain Marvel became the first graphic novel published by the company itself. (
In the late 1980s, Starlin began working more for DC Comics, writing a number of Batman stories, including the four-issue miniseries Batman: The Cult (Aug.-Nov. 1988), and the storyline "Batman: A Death in the Family", in Batman #426-429 (Dec. 1988 – Jan. 1989), in which Jason Todd, the second of Batman's Robin sidekicks, was killed. The death was decided by fans, as DC Comics set up a hotline for readers to vote on as to whether or not Jason Todd should survive a potentially fatal situation. For DC he created Hardcore Station.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 16, 2009
First published back in 1990, ‘Among Madmen’ was the joint accomplishment of the married couple Jim Starlin and Daina Graziunas. Both Starlin and Graziunas have a background in creating the writing and artwork stages for graphic novels, making a move literary based novel a slight change from their usual creative output.
‘Among Madmen’ is set in the not too distant future, when a disease outbreak spreads throughout the earth turning it’s victims into mindless vegetables. The vast majority of the world’s population is as good as wiped out, leaving only a handful of fully functioning survivors. All of a sudden a change in the zombie-like victims begins to take place. From the mindless, incapable and totally defenceless vegetables they start to transform into uber-violent, rage filled psychopaths inherent on slaughtering as many survivors as possible.
The tale is centred around the character of Tom Laker, an ex-Vietnam veteran turned New York City cop. Laker departs from the city with his wife Maria, to take up residence in the small town of Shandaken where the builds up a protective home for him and the newly formed community there. But the madness spreads and it turns out that nowhere is safe forever from these blood crazed berserkers.
Very much a Mad Max esque post-apocalyptic novel, ‘Among Madmen’ draws heavily from James Herbert’s 1975 novel ‘The Fog’ as well as Richard Laymon’s 1990 novel ‘One Rainy Night’. Since the publication of ‘Among Madmen’ the once original idea of a rage filled post-apocalyptic world due to some outbreak or another has seen itself re-used on a few occasions since. Indeed, you can easily draw further similarities from David Moody’s dark and ultra violent novel first published in 2006 ‘Hater’, Stephen King’s 2006 novel ‘Cell’ or Danny Boyle’s 2002 movie ’28 days later’.
With a similar concept to that of the majority of modern day zombie novels, ‘Among Madmen’ delivers a refreshing spin on the idea, creating an intriguing and engrossing opening to the book as the scene is slowly set for this violent and dangerous new world.
With the writers roots within graphic novels, the characterization is very clichéd with over the top and exaggerated personalities playing out their predictable and simplistic character roles. There is a clear attempt at injecting emotion into the principal characters on numerous occasions, by this unfortunately falls flat on its face due to the lack of adding any hint of depth in to the characters in the first place.
The novel follows a simplistic and dare I say slightly predictable storyline, building itself up until the grand finale where Laker takes on a whole army of these berserkers. The climax is action packed and thoroughly entertaining with tension that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
However shallow and clichéd the characters are, or however simplistic and predictable the storyline is, ‘Among Madmen’ still delivers an exciting and violence fuelled post-apocalyptic tale that keeps up page after page of non-stop fast paced action. For sheer enjoyment value alone this novel is a complete success. So as long as you expect nothing more than that, you won’t be disappointed with ‘Among Madmen’.
The novel runs for a total of 268 pages and includes black and white illustrations throughout by Jim Starlin. The book also includes a very short page about the authors.
‘Among Madmen’ is set in the not too distant future, when a disease outbreak spreads throughout the earth turning it’s victims into mindless vegetables. The vast majority of the world’s population is as good as wiped out, leaving only a handful of fully functioning survivors. All of a sudden a change in the zombie-like victims begins to take place. From the mindless, incapable and totally defenceless vegetables they start to transform into uber-violent, rage filled psychopaths inherent on slaughtering as many survivors as possible.
The tale is centred around the character of Tom Laker, an ex-Vietnam veteran turned New York City cop. Laker departs from the city with his wife Maria, to take up residence in the small town of Shandaken where the builds up a protective home for him and the newly formed community there. But the madness spreads and it turns out that nowhere is safe forever from these blood crazed berserkers.
Very much a Mad Max esque post-apocalyptic novel, ‘Among Madmen’ draws heavily from James Herbert’s 1975 novel ‘The Fog’ as well as Richard Laymon’s 1990 novel ‘One Rainy Night’. Since the publication of ‘Among Madmen’ the once original idea of a rage filled post-apocalyptic world due to some outbreak or another has seen itself re-used on a few occasions since. Indeed, you can easily draw further similarities from David Moody’s dark and ultra violent novel first published in 2006 ‘Hater’, Stephen King’s 2006 novel ‘Cell’ or Danny Boyle’s 2002 movie ’28 days later’.
With a similar concept to that of the majority of modern day zombie novels, ‘Among Madmen’ delivers a refreshing spin on the idea, creating an intriguing and engrossing opening to the book as the scene is slowly set for this violent and dangerous new world.
With the writers roots within graphic novels, the characterization is very clichéd with over the top and exaggerated personalities playing out their predictable and simplistic character roles. There is a clear attempt at injecting emotion into the principal characters on numerous occasions, by this unfortunately falls flat on its face due to the lack of adding any hint of depth in to the characters in the first place.
The novel follows a simplistic and dare I say slightly predictable storyline, building itself up until the grand finale where Laker takes on a whole army of these berserkers. The climax is action packed and thoroughly entertaining with tension that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
However shallow and clichéd the characters are, or however simplistic and predictable the storyline is, ‘Among Madmen’ still delivers an exciting and violence fuelled post-apocalyptic tale that keeps up page after page of non-stop fast paced action. For sheer enjoyment value alone this novel is a complete success. So as long as you expect nothing more than that, you won’t be disappointed with ‘Among Madmen’.
The novel runs for a total of 268 pages and includes black and white illustrations throughout by Jim Starlin. The book also includes a very short page about the authors.
September 5, 2013
REVIEWED: Among Madmen
WRITTEN BY: Jim Starlin and illustrated by Daina Graziunas
PUBLISHED: April, 1990
Easy read, fast-paced, violent, and gripping = highly recommended for fans of pulp action stories. Consider this similar to a zombie plague, only instead of fighting off the undead, the protagonists must battle “Berserkers” which are people who have contracted an incurable mental condition that drives them to sadistically murder anyone they can (consider a similarity in this to the movie, “28 Days Later”). Another level to this story, which makes the plot successful, is that anyone may contract the illness at anytime. So survivors are constantly suspicious of their friends, wondering if they’re about to turn berserker. The main character, Tom Laker, is an ex-vet and sheriff of a town of survivors. He’s a well-rounded hero with flaws and tragic circumstances. Most of the other characters are rather flat, however, and represent bland stereotypes. The author forces a great deal of emotion into the book, some of which is advantageous and some which is not. He cares for a wounded dog, which then runs away, leaving the audience to wonder at its purpose, or if it was an analogous device for Tom himself. Overall, if you’re not expecting too much, this is a great “read-something-fun” book. Also illustrated by the author’s wife, Daina, although I question the placement of the images, as they always came before a plot point, thus giving away what was going to happen.
Four-and-a-half out of Five stars
WRITTEN BY: Jim Starlin and illustrated by Daina Graziunas
PUBLISHED: April, 1990
Easy read, fast-paced, violent, and gripping = highly recommended for fans of pulp action stories. Consider this similar to a zombie plague, only instead of fighting off the undead, the protagonists must battle “Berserkers” which are people who have contracted an incurable mental condition that drives them to sadistically murder anyone they can (consider a similarity in this to the movie, “28 Days Later”). Another level to this story, which makes the plot successful, is that anyone may contract the illness at anytime. So survivors are constantly suspicious of their friends, wondering if they’re about to turn berserker. The main character, Tom Laker, is an ex-vet and sheriff of a town of survivors. He’s a well-rounded hero with flaws and tragic circumstances. Most of the other characters are rather flat, however, and represent bland stereotypes. The author forces a great deal of emotion into the book, some of which is advantageous and some which is not. He cares for a wounded dog, which then runs away, leaving the audience to wonder at its purpose, or if it was an analogous device for Tom himself. Overall, if you’re not expecting too much, this is a great “read-something-fun” book. Also illustrated by the author’s wife, Daina, although I question the placement of the images, as they always came before a plot point, thus giving away what was going to happen.
Four-and-a-half out of Five stars
November 24, 2012
It started off a little slow but really picked up and I ended up liking it a lot. It's kind of a post-apocalyptic story but without any of the fantasy or SF elements usually associated with such tales. More along the line of a survivalist tale. A pretty quick read with quite a few illustrations.
March 5, 2025
Tom, head of the police force of a small Catskills town, tries to survive in a world where people go Beserk and slaughter those around them.
March 6, 2017
Wow, really good short novel, brutal end of the world with fast berzerkers 28 days later style zombies but written in 1990. Full review coming. Thanks Brian Keene and Desmond Reddick for talking this one up it is why I read it.
February 11, 2009
I read this awhile back and just came across the name in another book I was reading. I figured I'd chuck in a quick review.
The basic premise is something along the line of zombies or infected, more in tune with George Romero's The Crazies.
One pathogen spreads, turning people into walking vegetables for the must part. They must be cared for by loved ones and/or the state.
But wait! That's not all! We've got a second pathogen with a different affect. This one turns people into murderous lunatics, thus the book's title.
The hero of the story is married to a homicidal wife who regains normalcy most of the time. He keeps hoping for her eventual cure or complete return to sanity while acting as the law for his community and some of the surrounding areas.
Fans of zombie-type literature should check this out if they get a chance.
The basic premise is something along the line of zombies or infected, more in tune with George Romero's The Crazies.
One pathogen spreads, turning people into walking vegetables for the must part. They must be cared for by loved ones and/or the state.
But wait! That's not all! We've got a second pathogen with a different affect. This one turns people into murderous lunatics, thus the book's title.
The hero of the story is married to a homicidal wife who regains normalcy most of the time. He keeps hoping for her eventual cure or complete return to sanity while acting as the law for his community and some of the surrounding areas.
Fans of zombie-type literature should check this out if they get a chance.
January 11, 2018
Jim Starlin has always been one of my favorite comic book writers, so I was looking forward to reading a novel with his name on it. A good "zombie apocalypse" type post-apocalyptic with a twist that some of the infected are turned into catatonic vegetables, and another small portion become violent psychopaths who try to murder everyone.
The protagonist of the story's wife falls into the latter category, and the story revolves around his efforts to find a cure. Overall a fun and easy sci-fi survivalist adventure.
The protagonist of the story's wife falls into the latter category, and the story revolves around his efforts to find a cure. Overall a fun and easy sci-fi survivalist adventure.
May 2, 2022
Recommend by my spouse, I read this dystopian story and was like... huh. For me it was a bit dry. The premise is good. The character building was lackluster for me. Generated zero emotion for me. I guess I'm not surprised because I tend to shy away from male writers.
October 19, 2013
Like Jim Starlin. He is not afraid to put his characters through the emotional wringer. Take an honest man living in a world that has gone to hell in an insane way. Then have him watch the one person he loves the most slowly deteriorate into this abyss. And see how far he goes.
August 13, 2016
A twist on the 'zombie apocalypse' genre. The end of the world comes, but in men succumbing to madness, but remaining able to use tools and tactics. A cop from NYC retreats to a small town to find some sanity in preserving what order he can.
October 11, 2007
If this is the book I believe it to be it a a wonder of fiction on the end of the world as we know it.
Benny still gives me nightmares.
Benny still gives me nightmares.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews