Mike Allred

Michael Dalton "Mike" Allred (born 1962) 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 (May 20, 1926 – October 5, 2007), 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 (née Bird; July 19, 1934 – February 17, 2014), 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 (KY95) 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 (Slave Labor Graphics). 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 (1990) and Grafik Muzik (Caliber Comics 1990–1991), 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. 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 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 (Dark Horse, 1997) 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. 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 (June 2018).

His wife, Laura, frequently works as his colorist. Allred worked with Mark Russell on the Superman: Space Age (2022) and Batman: Dark Age (2024) 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. 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 (Silver Surfer #11) 2021 The Eisner Award for Best Penciller/Inker (Bowie: Stardust, Rayguns and Moonage Daydreams)