Superman / Madman Hullabaloo!

Madman Comics

by Mike Allred, Laura Allred (Artist)

The Man of Steel meets the Man of Madness as two of comics' most unique and revolutionary heroes cross over (and how!). In each of their respective universes, Superman and Madman are involved in scientific experiments, the results of which propel the unsuspecting superbeings into one another's worlds. The only thing is, each takes half of the other with him -- creating two confused heroes and one big Hullabaloo! Co-published with DC Comics.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Dc Comics, Superman, Fiction, Humor

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Michael 'Doc' Allred (Also Credited as M. Dalton Allred) grew up in the 60's and 70's and was surrounded with the best in pop culture and a steady diet of music, movies and comic books including the three B's: Beatles, Bond and Batman to the point of obsession.

So it should come as no surprise that he keeps a hand in film and music (He's the lead singer and guitarist for The Gear), but comic books have always been a seminal source of joy for Mike and that joy remains the main ingredient in most of his work.

Allred first tasted success in the comics field with his wildly popular MADMAN series, which is currently being developed for a live action film with filmmaker Robert Rodriguez. His earlier work from GRAFIK MUZIK was turned into the cult hit movie G-Men from Hell directed by Christopher Coppola (featuring Robert Goulet as the Devil). Other work includes Red Rocket 7, his history of Rock and Roll told in the context of a sci-fi adventure storyl the Madman spin-off THE ATOMICS and his magnum opus, THE GOLDEN PLATES, where he's illustrating the entire Book of Mormon.

Mike counts the secret to his success to be his wife, and creative partner, Laura Allred, who is is considered to be one of the best colorists in the business.

Reviews

[Chad]

Mike Allred provides one of his trademark, wacky Madman stories with his typical, fantastic artwork. I like how Superman and Madman get both their powers and bodies mixed up. Also love the new costume designs for the mix-up. Great stuff!

[Matt Shaqfan]

this is the only thing that wasn't in the 'madman gargantua' and it's probably not gonna be reprinted in the new trades that image is putting out (cause of superman being from DC).

whatever. what do you need to know about this? it's mike allred (with wife, laura's amazing-as-always colors) taking madman and putting him in a story with superman! superman? i know, who cares? no, but this book is just great. at somepoint madman and sups even merge their bodies together, so you get a half madman/superman and half superman/madman running around doing stuff. it's just really fun wacky stuff as only allred can do.

[Diz]

This is a bizarre little story. There are quite a few good jokes, and it's fun to see Superman and Madman out of their elements. However, the ending isn't very satisfactory. I would have preferred a different villain at the end.

[Jess]

I've only read a handful of Madman stories and they all sorta seemed like a weird twisted sort of version of a late silver age/early bronze age comic. So you'd think a late 90s Superman would be a prefect fit for... since Superman was doing a lot of retro-silver age stuff at that point as well. However Superman was trying to do a modern take on the silver age and Madman was unashamedly goofy.

So the blend is mildly jarring. Really, the only suggestion I could give would be to do the Superman bit as an Elseworld as if it really was the Silver Age Superman.

[John]

One of the strengths of mainstream superhero comics is their reliability and consistency. The notion there will be further adventures that end with "To Be Continued".

However, this results in most comics being ephemera. This is why this offeat comic is such a treat. Allred isn't much of a house style other than with the occssional Marvel book...

[Connor McKenna]

3.5 Stars

[Shaun Phelps]

Better than I expected.

[Brian Christian]

A fun story, great writing and art that captures both worlds and characters extremely well. Highly enjoyed

[Guido]

Crossover y fusiones raras entre el Madman de Allred y un Superman sujeto a su pluma.

[Aerin]

Ginchy! Not as great as standard madman, but wacky enough to make up for it! I wish there was more and it was more fleshed out!

[Desire Manara]

Crossovers y fusiones en un especial que une al Super y al Mad. En un momento era casi imposible de conseguir sin dejar un ojo.

[Emmett Spain]

Having never read Madman before, I didn't know what to expect here--but I'm a big Superman fan and I love Mike Allred's pencils (check out FF and the new Silver Surfer series for evidence of the awesome), so I picked it up.

It's wacky. It's silly. It's fun. And by times, it's a little bit deep.

The story is the height of conceit--some science thing goes wrong and blah blah they find themselves trading universes and splitting powers (and outfits). The story doesn't matter much here--it's the characters, and the dialogue, and the fun bursting off every page that really count. Buildings running away like in an old cartoon! Mutant Street Beatniks! Superman and Madman on a swing-set talking about whether they believe in God! It shouldn't work, but it does. That's all there is to say.

This is a little gem of a book, and a very quick read at less than 100 pages. Worth it alone for Allred's terrific art, and for Superman actually uttering the words: "It's been real."

[B]

There's kind of something too overt about this crossover. Like, msot of the time, it is saying, "This is a crossover. They're crossing over!"

The energies of Superman and Madman kind of work at cross-purposes (calm and square versus manic and fringe) and prevent the story from really building. Superman kind of feels like Alka-Seltzer.

The characterization of Lois Lane was a little strange (including the unusual choice of giving her red hair).

[Jason]

This is as much a Madman book as it is a Superman book, if not more. It's not often an indie character like Frank gets to eclipse the man of steel. I wish my library system had more Madman books--they are really something uniqie!

[Ned Leffingwell]

Mike Allred's art is bright and catchy, and this story is zany. His take on Superman feels like a cross between Max Fleischer's Superman and Adam West's Batman. I look forward to reading more of Allred's work.

[Stephanie]

I am not a huge superman fan - don't get me wrong. I did really like this twisty-crossover tale. Funny how well the two worlds work together.

[Printable Tire]

Nothing to write home about but good clean fun. I'll always like Mike Allred's art and his wife's coloring but his pop art prose can get dullsville after awhile.

[Russell Mark Olson]

Very fun.

[Matt Sabonis]

An enjoyable romp. Allred does a terrific job of comparing Frank's and Superman's worlds. Plus, there's the always fantastic art.

[Variaciones Enrojo]

Edición española. Tomo especial.

[Dony Grayman]

Gran team-up publicado ene l mismo formato que los tomitos de "El cómic más enrollado del mundo". Lo encontré barato en alguna librería que no recuerdo.

[Layla Madrox]

Bizarro cruce entre el Superhombre y el Locohombre.

[Kapitol Tank]

Traduce los tres especiales Hullabaloo!