Gee whiz! I completely forgot that this was coming out this week! Madman #14 has a back-up story written by me, Drawn by Darwyn and colored by Laura Allred. I poke gentle fun at the ever-in-development Madman movie! I truly hope Mike gets to see his creation hit the big screen one day.
Y'know, when I first got into comics I used to buy just Spider-Man titles. I branched out occasionally to other titles if there was something about the art that I liked, but mainly I stayed with Marvel. Then a friend gave me an ashcan of Madman that had come in his copy of Heroes magazine (Heroes was a Wizard clone that didn't last). I loved the art. The story was kooky, so I didn't even know what to make of that...but the art and colors had me poring over that ashcan. I used to carry it around so I could flip through regularly. I was still inking with a marker back then...but I remember trying to figure out how this guy, Allred, got such thick lovely lines. With no other artists in my family I had no one to tell me that you could ink with a brush! I was not art savvy!
Anyway, years later, still collecting Madman, get published by ONI press and find out that Jamie S. Rich is good friends with the Allreds. Boy, was I ever nervous sending out that first e-mail to Mike. I think I may have even addressed it to Laura as a coloring question rather than babble on about my love of Madman and the Allreds.
I'm glad I did strike up a friendship with Mike and Laura. We teamed up back then for a Mr. Gum one-shot, I drew a Madman pin-up (which is re-printed in the back of Madman #14...and is, thankfully, relatively embarassment free art-wise) and then finally this latest issue...which I got to work on with my other great pal in the world, Darwyn.
Blah, blah, blah...enough nonsense from me. Check out the book and see if you can find the super secret hidden Scientology message. I'll give you no hints!
best,
j.
p.s. Okay, one hint: it's in the dialogue.
4 comments:
Arf, the dilemna, you, Darwyn Coke...I just dropped the title. The graphic experimenting was nice but I couldn't care less for the stories/characters (if I understood it). My love story with Madman ended. Well, perhaps one more, so...:p
Xavier - J. and Darwyn are part of the new era of self-contained issues/adventures, so if you like their issue...?
J. - The amazing thing is that in #16, I wrote a story that Joëlle Jones is going to draw, so it really has come around full circle for me, too. The fact that one of my best friends and I get to contribute to Madman together...wow!
Xavier - One more couldn't hurt, could it? And maybe, just maybe, you'll find yourself re-connecting with your old favourites again.
Jamie - Mike Allred is the sun around which we orbit. Our own planets might pass, affected by each others' gravitational pull, before continuing on our universal journey. But ever and always sits the Allred Sun.
Looking forward to your story, Mr. Rich.
best,
j.
A curvy red head in a jet pack. Does life get any better than this? I think not.
Post a Comment