Latest Articles
The Middle Ground #137 | I'd like to teach the world to sing
In the light of a (mistaken) news report about the relaunched Extreme line, a question arises: What if creators gave away their creator-owned characters when they were finished with them?
The Middle Ground #136 | Wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you
The cost of comics - Like, the actual monetary expense of making and distributing these damn things - is a source of constant curiosity/wonder/horror to me. I am arguably the furthest thing from business minded in some ways (Read: Most ways), and I admit to looking at sales figures and shaking my head at times, wondering how publishers managed to break even on certain titles, or even if they actually did.
The Middle Ground #135 | Standing on the shoulders of Titans
Sometimes, you see the announcement of a project that, although you are quasi-convinced that it's likely to end in tears, you can't help yourself but be grateful for it happening in the first place, and also hoping against hope that it succeeds against the odds. To wit: The news that Titan Publishing is launching a new line of creator-owned comics aimed at the American Direct Market but created by British creators.
The Middle Ground #134 | The promise of things to come
As December (and 2012 in general) draws to a close, the holiday season is now officially in full swing, and that means that it's time to think about the next year about to begin, and also maybe get a little greedy in the process. With all that in mind, here are five random things that I'd like to see from 2013's comic books.
The Middle Ground #133 | Built on shifting sands
The first time I read Ales Kot and Morgan Jeske's Change, I was distracted by all the things I didn't like about it; the similarities to the stories that influenced it, the use of language at certain places, a knowing tone that seemed smug on first read-through. I'd read - and disliked far more than I'd expected - Kot's earlier Wild Children, and that had made me suspicious of Change even before I got to the first page, I think. And then I re-read it.
The Middle Ground #132 | At knockdown prices
Ah, the joys of comic book sales. With everything that appears in your local store on a weekly basis, you could be forgiven for overlooking some treasures waiting for you in the back issue bins or the graphic novel back stock shelves, but when the sales come along, it can be a gift: Not only a reason to dive into the back pages of things you might've missed, but also a chance to get them for less money than you would've paid the first time around.
The Middle Ground #131 | The numbers game
For some reason, I keep reading and re-reading Jim Zubkavich's breakdown of indie comic economics over and over, as if at some point it's actually going to make sense to me. It's not that I don't understand the math as he presents it, but more than my brain refuses to comprehend the scale of the unfairness of distribution of wealth when it comes to comic books.
The Middle Ground #130 | Thank you, friends
This isn't a "Best of 2012" list, because (a) 2012 isn't finished yet, and (b) every time I attempt to put "Best of" lists together, I inevitably end up forgetting something that I utterly adore and feel guilty about it afterwards. Instead, inspired by Thursday's upcoming holiday and the fact that you might be thinking about buying things on Friday for some reason, here are five things in comics from this year that I'm thankful for.
The Middle Ground #129 | The benefits of try before you buy
Ladies and gentlemen, my favorite page on ComiXology's website: Free Digital Comics. Yes, I'm that cheap. No, wait. That's not what I meant to say at all.
The Middle Ground #128 | Redrawing the ground beneath your feet
This week sees the release of Rogue Trooper: Tales of Nu Earth Vol. 3 in the UK, a collection of the final days of the original run of 2000AD's cloned science fiction soldier. Re-reading the book this weekend, it struck me how little the kid who read these strips at the time they were published appreciated some of the greatness they offered, how oddly ahead of its time Rogue Trooper was during the period these strips came from, and how surprisingly educational this book is for wonks like me who like to see how the comics sausage is made.
The Middle Ground #127 | A galaxy far, far away
You know that it's possibly time to abandon all hope when one of the first thoughts you have when reading the news that Lucasfilm has been purchased by Disney is "But what will that mean for Brian Wood's new Star Wars series from Dark Horse?"
The Middle Ground #126 | Introduction to Recommendations 101
The other day, a friend was visiting and asked for something to read in a somewhat half-hearted manner; I gave her The Nao of Brown, fairly confident that it'd be her kind of thing in terms of tone and theme (and entirely confident that the art would bowl her over), and then started thinking about gateway comics. What makes a good introduction for newcomers to the entire comic medium?
The Middle Ground #125 | Everything old is new again, again
Whether it's re-released previous print work with all-new material included, or using digital to release work that never even made it to the print stage in the first place, this past week has been one that has suggested that, yet again, old indie comics could find themselves resurrected by digital.
The Middle Ground #117 | Everybody dies
Robert Kirkman and Image Comics have spent the last week sending out teasers for the upcoming 100th issue of the superhero series Invincible, teasing "The Death Of" for days before, today, promising "The Death of Everyone." Wouldn't it be great if it actually delivered on that promise?
The Middle Ground #104 | All of this has happened before
I spent a chunk of this weekend celebrating (memorializing?) this week's end of Mark Waid's Superman-Gone-So-Very-Bad series Irredeemable, re-reading the whole thing (and catching up, too; I'd gone to trades somewhere along the line, and had then managed to lose track somewhere around Vol. 7, so there were ten or so issues that were brand new for me), and realized towards the end something that, in retrospect, I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed before. Namely, Irredeemable was Battlestar Galactica for superheroes.
The Middle Ground #87 | Because you (I) demanded it!
As it turns out, April will see the release of one of those collections that I've always wanted, but had pretty much given up all hope of ever seeing, as Nick Abadzis' Hugo Tate gets a complete collection and - hopefully - the comic world will realize what an amazing, important comic it's been missing out on for so long. But the fact that this series is finally getting re-released and just might get the attention and treatment it deserves has me thinking: What other long-vanished projects need this kind of return?
The Middle Ground #77 | Boom goes the ...
Quick, pop quiz: Who is the only publisher to be releasing monthly material from both Garth Ennis and Kurt Busiek right now? Clue: It's also the only publisher to be putting out regular work from Alex Ross, Scott Beatty and Phil Hester. So why aren't more people paying attention to Dynamite?
The Middle Ground #71 | Holy Terrible
There's no way to get around it: Even in its reworked form, Holy Terror is a goddamn Batman story. Frank Miller's long-awaited superhero vs. terrorist graphic novel finally emerges this week, and it's everything you'd think it would be... including "visually impressive", "disturbingly simplistic" and, to be honest, proof that terrorism seems to have worked in Miller's case.