When The Middleman was abruptly canceled by ABC Family after 12 episodes in 2008, fans were left without closure. Numerous plot-threads were left dangling, and the fates of Wendy Watson, Lacey Thornfield, Tyler, Noser, Ida and the Middleman himself were left unresolved; will Fatboy Industries take over the world? Will Manservant Neville turn out to be as evil as his mirror-world doppelganger? The unfilmed 14th episode was eventually turned into a comic, The Doomsday Armageddon Apocalypse, which was published by Viper Comics in 2009 (and performed by the TV cast at a reading during that year’s San Diego Comic-Con), but it, like Serenity, was a compromise, an attempt to wrap up the story in less time than it needed, leaving fans wanting more.
Now, Middleman creator Javier Grillo-Marxuach has launched a fundraiser campaign on Indiegogo with three goals in mind: to reissue all of the Middleman comics in new large-format editions and set them up on a print-on-demand service to keep them available; to produce a new graphic novel in which the TV and comic book continuities merge; and to stage a cast reunion and reading of the script of the new comic (titled The Pan-Universal Parental Reconciliation) for a live audience in May 2014.
The Middleman, which made the Young Adult Library Services Association’s list of “Great Graphic Novels For Teens,” is a veritable garden of obscure pop culture references and geeky in-jokes. What other recent TV series has included shoutouts to Usagi Yojimbo, Powers, Astro City, The Spirit, X-Men, Mouse Guard, Planet of the Apes, Scarface, the Godfather, Shaft, James Bond, Duran Duran, Rick James, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Yoda, The Jetsons and Gomer Pyle? And that’s just in the pilot episode! If you’re paying attention, you may notice that every episode includes the famous Wilhelm Scream. What else can you expect of a show that traffics in ninja luchadores, mobster gorillas, alien overlords disguised as a boy band, a ghostly sorority, salmon-craving zombies, a haunted tuba from the Titanic, and Dracula’s ventriloquist dummy?
In other words, this is the only appropriate response to The Middleman‘s Indiegogo campaign:
Support The Middleman on Indiegogo.
