Customer Reviews

Madman and the Atomics

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This picks up where one of the earlier Madman stories left off, namely the one where Madman is attacked by bitter, misanthropic beatniks who live in the sewers of Snap City, only to have one of them (Nana's boyfriend Sleek), kidnapped by Zenelle, an alien "black widow spider" creature out man-hunting for Mott from Hoople (or any male with a pulse); 'nuff said about that. The story explores the fate of the beatniks, basically showing how they were infected by alien spores that mutated them, each in different ways. They mold and intersect with each other, their fates now intertwined with Zenelle's and her time traveling son (the offspring of the original kidnapped beatnik Sleek) and other strange concoctions, including renegade beatnik Bert who got a raw deal - while most of the beatniks got desirable new bodies and powers (Luna Romy, for example, turned into the glamorous It Girl), he turned into... The Cadaver!

The stories are zany! First there's the Atomics' encounter with Shrek, the giant fly creature bodyguard of Boone Gehr, who goes berserk for a while before he's tamed, Zenelle's runaway son Boone Gehr (we learn more about him, his training, his friends, and the life and loves he left behind on a cruel man-eating world in another part of the galaxy), Adam and Luna's budding romance, Adam's insecurities, Dorrie and Phil's weird symbiotic relationship (especially Dorrie's slug-ness), Luna's recipe for meatloaf, brief appearances of Snap City superstar Cool Cat, the cute farmer-and-the-airplane joke, Adam's cool angel dreams, his future light-self helping save our heroes, crazy space-time tunnels appearing randomly (and with incredibly strange mechanics), The Skunk's attempt at bank robbery, Dr Flem's crazy head hijinx, Adam's band, Mr Gum's weird Jagger moves, Sleek's future self as The Laser, Boone's reunion with a vengeful Tarkus in a dimension of slavers, the "Sub-Atomics" as shrunken creatures, a second battle with the Cadaver, Boone and Tarkus' battle, crazy Kirbian two-page space-dimension-smash murals with bodies flying everywhere in confusion, every page full of beautiful action, battles with Savage Dragon in the forest, the weird Mook beast, battles with lamprey slug creatures in the mystic hills of the wizard, who turns out to be The Cadaver (a third battle with the crazy guy). Sweet, even though Madman himself hardly has anything to do with this book. Groovy!!

Naturally, the book is full of really groovy art, and incredibly weird non-sequitur storytelling, as well as silly, weird, touching superfluous scenes of touching humanity... and hip grooviness. Who is more hip and groovy in comic-dom than Michael Allred anyway?