Mike Allred


Michael Dalton "Mike" Allred is an American comic book artist and writer. He is most well known for his independent comics creation Madman and for co-creating and drawing the comic book series iZombie. His work often draws upon pop art, as well as commercial and comic art of the 1950s and 1960s.

Early life

Michael Dalton Allred was born in 1962 in Roseburg, Oregon. His father, Dale Leroy Allred, was born in Portland, Oregon. He was a psychologist and professor at Umpqua Community College and the University of Oregon, and received a Doctor of Philosophy in 1959 at Purdue University. Allred's mother, RaeBell Jenkins, was born in Bluebell, Utah. The two married in December 1951 in Salt Lake City, Utah. In 1973, Allred's parents divorced, and he stayed with his father in Eugene, Oregon, while his brothers and mother moved to Utah. In 1980, he attended Ricks College as an art major but switched to broadcasting fearing that he could not make a living as an artist.

Career

Mike Allred began his career as a radio host on KYES AM 950 in Roseburg, Oregon. He later became a television reporter in Europe, and started drawing comics in 1989 with the 104-page graphic novel Dead Air. The story loosely followed his stint in radio as a sidebar to the true focus of the novel, the effects of post-nuclear war over a small Oregon town. He followed this up with his similarly titled works Graphique Musique and Grafik Muzik, in which he set out the style that he was to become known for with his most famous character, Madman.
Madman first appeared as Frank Einstein in Creatures of the Id and Grafik Muzik published in 1990, but it was not until March 1992 that the first Madman miniseries debuted from Tundra Publishing in March 1992. The series gained further recognition with its move to Dark Horse Comics in April 1994, where it was relaunched as Madman Comics and went on to be nominated for several Harvey Awards. Madman Comics ran for 20 issues and ended in 2000. From 2007 to 2009, Image Comics published Madman: Atomic Comics for 17 issues.
Allred drew part of the 1993 "Worlds' End" story arc in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman series.
Allred appeared as himself in the 1997 feature film Chasing Amy as part of the opening scene at a comic book convention, signing copies of his comic Madman. He also provides the artwork for the fictional comic book Bluntman and Chronic.
Allred himself gained further mainstream attention with the science-fiction/rock-and-roll comic Red Rocket 7 and his art for writer Peter Milligan's series X-Force, which he began drawing in July 2001, and subsequently became X-Statix. In 2000, AAA Pop published Allred's The Atomics, featuring a group of beatniks with superpowers. Issue #116 of X-Force, the first collaboration between Allred and Milligan, was the first Marvel comic book to not have the Comics Code Authority stamp of approval since 1971.
In 2004 and 2005, Allred wrote and drew The Golden Plates, an adaptation of the Book of Mormon. Allred is a Latter-Day Saint, and completed much of the work on this project in collaboration with his wife Laura Allred.
Allred worked again with Neil Gaiman in 2009 on the Metamorpho feature in Wednesday Comics. The Madman All-New Giant-Size Super-Ginchy Special! was published in April 2011. Allred and writer Matt Fraction crafted a Fantastic Four spinoff series, FF, in 2013. The following year, Allred and writer Dan Slott launched a new Silver Surfer series at Marvel. His comic book series iZombie, which ran from 2010 to 2012, was adapted into a 2015 television series of the same name. Allred drew the 1960s variant cover for Action Comics #1000.
His wife, Laura, frequently works as his colorist. Allred worked with Mark Russell on the Superman: Space Age and Batman: Dark Age series.

Personal life

Allred was raised as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He considers himself a Mormon, though a liberal-leaning one, and has stated that he still identifies with the beliefs. Allred considers the Book of Mormon to be a phenomenal and fascinating story, irrespective of its factual accuracy.

Awards

Allred's retro-styled artwork is a frequent nominee for comics awards such as the Harveys, the Eisners, and the Eagles. In his career, he has received:
  • 2005 Special AML Award for The Golden Plates
  • 2009 Inkpot Award
  • 2011 AML Award in the category of "Special Award in Graphical Narrative" for a lifetime of comic art
  • 2015 The television adaptation of his Vertigo comic book series iZombie was the recipient of the Best New Fandom award at the 2015 MTV Fandom Awards
  • 2016 The Eisner Award for Best Single Issue/One Shot
  • 2021 The Eisner Award for Best Penciller/Inker

    Covers only

  • Caliber Presents #15
  • Cheval Noir #39
  • The Comics Journal #164
  • Hero Illustrated Special Edition #2
  • Classic Star Wars: The Early Adventures #1
  • Dark Horse Presents #100–0, 100–5
  • Heartbreakers #3
  • Jay & Silent Bob #2
  • Vertigo: Winter's Edge #2
  • Empty Love Stories #2
  • Oni Press Summer Vacation Supercolor Fun Special #1
  • Comicology #2
  • Oni Press Color Special #1–2
  • Madman Picture Exhibition #4
  • X-Statix #20
  • Spider-Man Unlimited vol. 2 #6
  • Marvel Knights 4 #23–24
  • X-Statix Presents: Dead Girl #1–5
  • Kabuki #9
  • Spider-Man Fairy Tales #4
  • Popgun Volume 1
  • The Perhapanauts Annual #1
  • Jersey Gods #1, 4, 6–10, 12
  • Rapture #3
  • Fractured Fables gn
  • Captain Action Season 2 #1
  • Teen Titans #86
  • glamourpuss #19
  • iZombie #12, 18, 21, 24
  • The Next Issue Project #3
  • Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes #5
  • It Girl! and the Atomics #1–12
  • Before Watchmen: Silk Spectre #3
  • Happy! #1
  • Mars Attacks The Real Ghostbusters #1
  • Batman '66 #1–3, 5, 7
  • All New Doop #1
  • Batman '66 Meets Steed And Mrs Peel #1-6
  • Booster Gold/The Flintstones Special #1
  • Action Comics #1000 variant
  • Dick Tracy: Dead or Alive #1-4

    Other work

As artist

  • Mallrats
  • Chasing Amy
  • The Faculty
  • Ingredients the Band – Bears Driving Trains
  • Skyscape – Zetacarnosa
  • iZombie
  • Christmas Party

    As writer

  • Astroesque
  • ''G-Men from Hell''

    As musician

  • The Gear – Son of Red Rocket Seven
  • The Gear – ''Left Of Center Of The Universe''

    Works cited

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