Freakazoid and the Madman

Um, Freakazoid? I think someone wants to talk to you.

The history of these two characters is kind of interesting. Back during the heyday of the Animaniacs and Batman: The Animated Series, Bruce Timm and his team decided to make an original superhero series. The twist would be that the protagonist would be a little zanier than the normal superhero. The premise being along the lines of "What if the Joker was a superhero?" Stephen Spielberg got involved and suggested that the concept be treated as a straight up comedy instead. And thus the premise was reworked into the show people know as "Freakazoid." (Bruce Timm left the series after the change though, and you could probably see what the creators were planning to do with the episode featuring the Creeper on the New Batman Adventures.)

In regards to Madman, you can see the character designs are VERY similar. Conceptually, the characters couldn't be any more different. Madman is odd, but not in an off the wall zany sort of way. Weird stuff happens, but it's not always funny. Plus, his series is rooted in the pop culture of the 50's and 60's, and mixes comedy with superheroics, science fiction, and horror. Freakazoid is just off the wall zaniness, with the goal of pure comedy first and foremost on the mind of the creators. Even their origins are completely different- Madman is a reanimated corpse of a mob hitman with psychic powers and an arsenal of toys made into deadly weapons, while the Freakazoid is a young teen given superpowers via a virus he downloaded from the internet (And keep in mind, this was the 90's, before the Internet was really seen as a viable medium. The series was truly ahead of it's time in terms of concepts in a lot of ways).

But the real controversy just comes down to their designs. Both seem very similar, just reverse colors. They even both feature a lighting bolt on the head and an exclamation point on the chest. It seems that Bruce Timm DID approach Madman's creator Mike Allred for permission, and Mike did give it. However, since he didn't get any credit for the design the whole thing is a bit of a sore spot for him.

But aside from that, this image was a heck of a lot of fun to draw. It was interesting trying to draw Freakazoid in Timm's signature style, but still manage to make it work compared to the more conventional image of Madman. Plus, it was the first time I really tried to capture some sort of real emotion rather than anger or happiness on the characters faces, instead going for shock and irritation. Hopefully, I did a good job. I really think it looks kind of professional, in a "If you squint real hard, rub your eyes first and don't pay too much attention to the way the characters are normally drawn" sort of way.