MIKE ALLRED: POP YOUR LIFE!

Michael D. Allred, better known as Mike Allred, is a comic book artist, writer, and inker who has been active in the American comic book industry for over 30 years. He is recognized for his exhilarating style reminiscent of 1970s pop art, as well as for his magnum opus: iZombie, X-Statix, and Madman. He is considered one of the most influential comic book artists of the 20th century, with his pronounced cartoonish style and minimalist, yet complex composition.

Allred was born in a Mormon community in Oregon in 1969. During his youth, he was passionate about science fiction stories and was obsessed with drawings that featured an omnipresence of bold colors. He began his professional career as a radio animator at a small station in the town of Roseburg but left his position to work as a reporter in Europe. The abundance of comic books in European territory pushed him to also start writing comics. In 1989, Allred published Dead Air with Slave Labor Graphics, his first work, freely inspired by his life. However, the artist had not yet developed his signature style that we all know. It was only a year later, in 1990, that he created Madman (then known as Frank Einstein) between the pages of Grafik Musik, a limited series of 4 issues published by Caliber Comics. The crowd's enthusiasm was palpable, and the character received his first miniseries in 1992, and was renamed Madman. First under the ownership of Tundra Publishing, a now-defunct publishing house owned by Kevin Eastman, Madman moved to Dark Horse Comics in 1994, where he would achieve popular recognition through his inclusion in the mainstream. Between its publication at Dark Horse and Image, Madman was nominated for several Harvey Awards over the years. Not only that, but Allred's white character would also encounter several other well-known heroes, such as Superman, Hellboy, Vampirella, and Savage Dragon.

Now established in the industry, Allred worked with several great creators such as Neil Gaiman and Peter Milligan. He created with Milligan, X-Statix, one of the best Marvel comics of the last 25 years, in which the X-Force team is now composed of mutants led mainly by money, drugs, and sex. In addition to that, these extravagant characters are part of a reality show watched by thousands of viewers and act according to what is best for their image, not what is just or heroic. It is also the first Marvel series not to receive the "Comics Code Authority" seal. With his wife Laura, who is also his main colorist in most of his projects, he wrote The Golden Plates, a free adaptation of the Book of Mormon, for which he won an Association for Mormon Letters award in 2005. Under the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics, iZombie was born in 2010, a 28-issue series acclaimed by critics. The success of the comic book led to a television series of the same name ordered by The CW in 2013. In addition to drawing several individual issues over the years, he later teamed up with Matt Fraction for FF, a completely exhilarating interpretation of the Fantastic Four, which received critical acclaim upon its release. Still at Marvel, the renowned Dan Slott sought his services in inking his new series Silver Surfer, published between 2014 and 2017. The beaver state native is currently completing the X-Statix sequel, X-Cellent, and has just published an exciting story about the Man of Steel, Superman: Space Age, with American Mark Russell.

Throughout his career, Allred has won numerous awards, including 2 Eisner Awards for Best Artist and Best Comic Book respectively. Regardless, the talent of the man from Roseburg is undeniable. Not only does he inspire thousands of individuals to pursue drawing, but he also has a legacy that will live on as long as our Earth spins!