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Frank Einstein Won't Let Me Go!

Published Sat, 08 Apr 2017 11:00:30 -0500

By Christopher Irving

I had no idea what I was getting into two years ago.

I've been a huge fan of Michael Allred's Madman since I first glimpsed a preview of Madman Adventures in the dearly departed Hero Illustrated magazine in the 1990s. The combination of Mike's quirky cartooning and Laura's distinctive View Master pop art coloring drew me in. Since then, I've been really lucky to know both Mike and Laura, and have followed them to every book they've done, from Madman to X-Force and so on, up to today's fantastic Silver Surfer run.

Then I got the bright idea to do a Madman trading card set in 2015 and Mike let me make a go at it. Through Kickstarter. And in 3D (courtesy of new pal Christian LeBlanc).

And it was fantastic, fun, awesome, and one of those projects I'm the most proud of. But thanks to Madman Comin' Atcha, I found myself becoming a bona fide indie trading card publisher, and I haven't been able to stop since!

Two years later, after 2015's Madman Comin' Atcha 3D trading cards and 2016's G-Men from Hell retro "movie" cards, I'm publishing Madman 25!, the ultimate twenty-fifth anniversary card set for Snap City's own hero. With full-bleed pop art designs on front, this is the first modern take I've published on Madman and company, and is a journey through Madman's publishing and creative history.

The gag was this: There would be a base goal to fund the cards on standard 16pt cardstock, then certain cards would get upgraded with each successive goal, leading up to a tuck box. I laid out and wrote 90% of the cards and got the Kickstarter laid out.

Then I met Tom Lichtman from SideKick Lab, who rediscovered (on his own) the lost art of the wax trading card wrapper. Plus, Tom prints on old school chipback stock! Tom came on board the project a week before launch and, when he sent me this prototype wrapper, I knew I couldn't NOT go the old school route.

Madman 25! Funded in hours for the basic goal of $1,500. In mere days, it broke past the $3,500 mark and all of the initial goals. Now I'm left with a dilemma (or two): I just placed another upgrade goal ($4,000 for metallic foil on a Bowie tribute card) and I'm running out of goals! So, this is the plan: