Westfield: For those who've never read Madman before, what should they know before picking up the new series?

Mike Allred: I've designed the new storyline so that it can be accessible to anyone. For the sake of being open, on the surface, it's merely the story of a person that finds himself reborn after dying. Actually brought back to life by a couple of scientists who found him as a John Doe from the morgue. They reanimate him and, through this process, he has slightly enhanced abilities. He's just a little bit faster or a little bit stronger and also has keen senses. He can sense things that most people can't. He can actually, at times, touch people and know what they're thinking and feeling. He has an inner eye that reveals things to him; just kind of opens him up to the universe. It has some existential aspects to it, but generally it's an adventure series about this reanimated corpse.

He has a girlfriend, a former lab assistant, who can see something special in him that he can't. He sees himself as ugly, and beyond his self-esteem problem, he's quite childlike as he's re-experiencing things in life. One of the few memories he originally had of his former life was this childhood hero, a comic book character named Mr. Excitement. His girlfriend ends up taking one of the lab suits that the scientists have put him in and puts an exclamation bolt, this mixture of a lightning bolt and an exclamation mark which Mr. Excitement wore, turning it into an almost traditional superhero costume. He has a mask which is explained to help with the healing of the scars. He was in an accident beforehand.

In the original series, one of the elements that I dragged out was who he was beforehand. This would be the final element that I think new readers would need to know. He finds out that he wasn't necessarily a good person. He was an agent for an organization, kind of a shadow agency, that trained him to be an assassin. He has skills, like enhanced martial arts skills, that are explained by the training. One of the main themes in the series is, if you're a bad person, are you meant to be a bad person? Is there nothing you can do about it or do you have a choice to be a good person if you want to be? Inspired by his girlfriend Josephine, he realizes that he can be whatever he wants to be. In this case, he does want to be a good person and isn't locked into be a bad person. He can be whatever he wants to be.

Westfield: Since you mentioned Joe, will the supporting cast be returning in the new series as well?

Allred: Yeah. As well as a whole new cast of characters that'll be introduced over the first few issues. Also, you'll see The Atomics as well, which was a spin-off series that came off of Madman, about a bunch of beatniks that were contaminated by some alien spore that mutated them and gave them super powers. What the title will ultimately be is a catchall for me. Kind of an umbrella title that anything I want to do I'll be able to do in this series. Madman will be the main storyline but then, at times, I'm going to experiment and play with other ideas with some backup stories. This'll be my creator owned place to go. I'll continue to do projects with Marvel and DC and collaborate with other creators elsewhere, but for everything that I do myself, the idea is to have this series be the place for one stop shopping to launch any creator owned ideas that I want.

Westfield: Who are some of the supporting cast?

Allred: There's Dr. Boiffard and Dr. Flem, who are the scientists that developed this technology to restore life. The doctor's are big fans of Frank Sinatra and Albert Einstein, so they've named him Frank Einstein. There's Mott, an alien from a planet called Hoople, who's as close to a best buddy as Madman has. Over the course of the series, we found out that Frank's previous identity was Zane Townsend. At the Tri-Eye Agency, there's another agent who associated with him named Chow Skip Wang, who's kind of my nod to the early John Woo Chinese gangster movies. There's It Girl, who's arguably my second most popular character. She is one of The Atomics. There's Metal Man, and Mr. Gum, who is your standard stretchy character. Had to have one of those! [laughter] A character named The Slug. She is able to ooze through things. Not too attractive when she's the Slug character. The Black Crystal. Lava Girl. There's a new character named Foo Foo that is a girl that, at one point, kind of rescues Frank and ends up giving his girlfriend, Joe, a run for her money. Although Frank's heart is always devoted to Joe. Mr. Monstatd, who is Frank's Dr. Doom, is the main villain of the series, who, although he has been killed and cast into hell, is still able to find his way back to cause some problems. There's a whole bunch of characters, [laughter] but there's a few.

Westfield: What can you tell us about the new series?

Allred: The first story arc is easily the scariest story I've ever written. The past series have kind of been disguised as simple chapter adventures. Frank Einstein has always had this optimistic attitude. No matter what kind of danger he found himself in, he always had this optimistic, even goofy, attitude that kept the series light. That's an aspect of his character which I think is a constant and will remain, but in this first story arc, all existence is opened up to him in a very terrifying way that questions all reality. He's taken on a trip that challenges everything that he's come to rely on. There's always been an element of existentialism in the former stories, but I really bring that to the surface this time. This first story arc really takes him on a journey that's challenged him unlike anything before and really tests him, challenges his courage, and forces him to figure out exactly what he's able to overcome.

Westfield: Is there anything you want to clue people in on to what they can look forward to in future issues?

Allred: Not at this point. There's some stuff that I'm really excited about. I can honestly say I've never been more inspired. My art is clicking at a level where I'm just really enjoying drawing more than I have. The story ideas that are coming together have got me more excited than I've ever been. I don't really want to give anything up at this point. I think there's some really excellent surprises in store and want to keep as many surprises up my sleeve as possible.

Westfield: Are there any other projects you're working on that you'd like to mention?

Allred: I'm wrapping up a 2-issue story for Fables, which I have a lot of affection for. I'm doing a short story for the Fantastic Four 45th Anniversary issue written by Stan "The Man" Lee, which I'm really excited about. The Fantastic Four issues that he did with Jack Kirby I personally think are the best superhero stories that have ever been written. So it is really exciting to be a part of that. There's a few other projects that I've been talking about with folks like Paul Chadwick and Joe Casey, but nothing that I can really talk about yet. So there's a lot of stuff that is germinating. At this point, Madman Atomic Comics is going to be my main priority. Then I'm going to try to get a volume of The Golden Plates out at least once a year. Try. [laughter] I'm not wanting for projects. [laughter] That's why I love this medium so much. There's just not enough time in the day to do everything I want to do.

Westfield: Any closing comments?

Allred: I love comic books. To this day, I don't care how many books get turned into movies or video games or whatever. It's still a vastly underrated medium and may always be that. I just wish the general populace would recognize that. As someone who's a big fan of all pop culture, movies and music, there's, to me, no more fertile medium for creativity than comic books. It's the most exciting medium for an artist and I'm just really thrilled to be a part of it.