Matt Madden

He has also taught comics at the School of Visual Arts and Yale University.

• Born — 8 May 1968 • Birthplace — New York City, U.S. • Nationality — American • Cartoonist — y • Write — y • Color — y • Notable Works — 99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style • Awards — Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (2013) • Website — http: www.MattMadden.com • Spouse — Jessica Abel

Madden was born in New York City. He grew up primarily in Greenwich, Connecticut, though his family also spent about five years living in Paris, which gave him a deep connection to French language and culture. Madden first attended Hamilton College, transferring to the University of Michigan after his sophomore year; he graduated from Michigan in 1990 with a B.A. in Comparative Literature (English and German). He later earned a Master of Foreign Language Education degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

Madden began his career self-publishing minicomics in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in the early 1990s. He was co-editor with Matt Feazell and Sean Bieri of the anthology 5 O'Clock Shadow. After several of his short pieces appeared in established publications, Madden's first graphic novel, Black Candy, was published by Black Eye Books in 1998. His graphic novel Odds Off was published by Highwater Books (2001), and two issues of his periodical series of short works, A Fine Mess, were published by Alternative Comics (2002–2004). Madden's work from the early 2000s often dealt with themes in settings in Mexico (where he lived for a time in the late 1990s), or that were rooted in Mexican culture. For a time, he was a consulting editor for the minicomic Le Sketch, published out of Portugal. During this period, Madden also worked as an editorial illustrator.

In 2002, Madden was named the "U.S. correspondent" of OuBaPo, a French comics movement which believes in the use of formal constraints to push the boundaries of the medium. Madden's 99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style, published in 2005, is an inventive comics homage to Raymond Queneau's 1947 book Exercises in Style. 99 Ways to Tell a Story retells a single, mundane one-page anecdote in 99 radically different visual and narrative variations. Both playful and analytical, the book serves as a living demonstration of the formal possibilities of comics — exploring how changes in style, structure, and design transform meaning while foregrounding the very language of the medium. Madden's Ex Libris, published in 2021, is a playful, metafictional locked-room mystery in which a nameless narrator searches an endless, imaginary library for clues to his predicament. Mixing genres and visual styles — from superhero parody to indie romance to EC Comics horror — the book is both a puzzle and a celebration of comics themselves. Other works expressing Madden's interests as a comics theorist/formalist include Bridge (2013/2016/2021) and Drawn Onward (2015). Six Treasures of the Spiral: Comics Formed Under Pressure, a collection of Madden's experiments in comics formalism, was released in 2024 by Uncivilized Books. Stories take the form of a visual palindrome, align their structures with the letters of the alphabet, or adhere to strict poetic formats such as the villanelle and haiku.

From 2001 to 2006, Madden worked as a comics colorist for DC and Marvel Comics, coloring such titles and series as Bizarro Comics, Bizarro World, Captain America: Dead Men Running, Soldier X, and The Thing: Night Falls on Yancy Street.

Madden currently lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with his wife, fellow comics creator Jessica Abel, and their two children. They took a sabbatical in France in August 2012.

• Black Candy (Black Eye Books, 1998) • Odds off, or, L'amour foutu (Highwater Books, 2001) • A Fine Mess, 2 issues (Alternative Comics, 2002–2004) • 99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style (Chamberlain Bros., 2005) • Bridge (Kuš!, 2013/2016/2021) • Drawn Onward (Retrofit Comics, 2015) — originally created for One Story • Ex Libris: A Comic (Uncivilized Books, 2021) • Six Treasures of the Spiral: Comics Formed Under Pressure (Uncivilized Books, 2024)

• Madden, with Jessica Abel, Drawing Words and Writing Pictures, (First Second, 2008) • Madden, with Jessica Abel, Mastering Comics: Drawing Words & Writing Pictures Continued, (First Second, 2012)

• Aristophane, The Zabime Sisters (First Second, 2010) • Edmond Baudoin, Piero (New York Review Comics, 2018) • Blutch, Mitchum (New York Review Comics, 2020)