Viper Comics » The Middleman

The Middleman meets Doctor Who in fanfic

Jessie — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:56:53 +0000

Check out the interview with The Middleman Creator Javier Grillo-Marxuach at CNN’s Geek Out.

‘The Middleman’ meets ‘Doctor Who’ in fanfic

It’s kind of a geek’s dream come true.

“The Middleman,” a comic book series and much-beloved, yet short-lived ABC Family TV series – now available on DVD – has been called “America’s ‘Doctor Who.’” In a new bit of dreamy time-travel sci-fi, the Middleman actually meets Doctor Who!

Needless to say, there was much rejoicing in the nerd community over this work of fan fiction, including “Middleman” star Natalie Morales’ response that the author “wrote her dreams.”

What is unusual about this particular fanfic, is the fact that the writer is Javier Grillo-Marxuach, the creator of “The Middleman.”

CNN Geek Out spoke with Grillo-Marxuach, a fanboy who is also known for his work on “Lost,” “Medium” and “Jake 2.0,” about this meeting of the Middleman and the Doctor.

CNN Geek Out: What inspired you to write this fanfic? Are you a big “Doctor Who” fan?

Grillo-Marxuach: I became a fan in the late ’70s. I grew up in Puerto Rico, where they ran the Tom Baker adventures as a strip at 7 on weekdays.

READ FULL INTERVIEW CLICK HERE!

The Middleman: Americas Dr. Who?

Jessie — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 18:23:32 +0000

I must admit I miss the Middleman and after reading an article that posted at Tor.com really made me think about what I loved so much about the series. Check out article article that posted on www.tor.com .

Full article is below.

The Middleman: America’s Doctor Who?

Alex Bledsoe

Everyone adores Doctor Who, even here in the colonies. We love its optimism, its adventurous spirit, the weird technology and the aliens that are often more human than the humans. We love the unabashedly positive hero and his succession of spunky companions. But we overlooked what could have been our own Who, a show that gave these same concepts a decidedly American spin: The Middleman.

The show ran for twelve episodes on the ABC Family Network back in 2008. The nameless Middleman is a straight-laced hero with a 1950s moral outlook (I mean that in a good way) who recruits Wendy Watson as his new assistant and Middleman-in-training. She’s an ultra-modern, post-ironic Bohemian artist whose crucial trait is that she never panics. As the Middleman says in the first episode:

“You know how in comic books there’s all kinds of mad scientists and aliens and androids and monsters and all of them want to either destroy or take over the world? Well, it really does work like that.”

So how is this like Doctor Who?

1.) Optimism. The show flirted with darkness, but the spirit was always upbeat. The world might mock the Middleman’s milk-drinking wholesomeness (His curses run to expressions like, “Guns of Navarone!”) but he’s unashamed of it. Like the Doctor, he’s a self-motivated compassionate do-gooder, always willing to help those in need. And like the Doctor, very little throws him off-stride.

2.) Advanced technology that really makes no sense. The Doctor has the TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimensions In Space), while the Middleman has the strange, disco-ball contraption known as the HEYDAR. (High Energy Yield DAta Resource). In both series, this technology is never adequately explained, and never functions in a consistent manner; its purpose is to speed through narrative spots that would otherwise bog down the show. And in both shows, the creators made sure the devices themselves are quirky and entertaining (the TARDIS is stuck in the shape of a British police call box, the HEYDAR’s mouthpiece robot Ida has the persona and appearance of a cranky librarian).

3.) A companion who functions as the audience surrogate. This figure shows up in a lot of great SF: s/he’s the normal person drawn into extraordinary events, and his/her reactions guide the audience. The Doctor has had a series of such companions, while the Middleman, alas, only had time for one. To me, Wendy’s relationship with the Middleman most resembles the Doctor’s relationship with his fellow Time Lord-in-training Romana: she challenges, teases and occasionally spars with our hero, but under it all she unabashedly admires him.

4.) Limitless possibility for adventures through time and space. Both shows are unbound by the constraints of a realistic universe. The Doctor can literally go anywhere and any time, regularly encountering aliens and advanced (or primitive) human societies. The Middleman encountered numerous aliens, and in one episode a parallel dimension; there’s no reason to think that, had it lasted, its scale would not have expanded to the entire universe.

5.) A hero who’s the latest in a long line of identically named heroes. The Doctor is on his eleventh incarnation; we meet the 1960s Middleman in one episode, and Wendy is explicitly being trained to become the next one. This sense of continuity and history gives weight to the shows’ central mythologies.

And finally:

6.) It’s a show that the whole family can enjoy, and I mean that in the best possible, literal way.

I love The Middleman,and I’m truly sorry it didn’t catch on. Would it have matched Dr. Who’s forty-years-and-counting run? Probably not. But it could have countered the omnipresent dystopia and nihilism in science fiction television, and provided American kids with the kind of hero that could help them combat nightmares (as the Doctor does for my son). And the loss, my friends, is all ours.

Alex Bledsoe, author of the Eddie LaCrosse novels (The Sword-Edged Blonde, Burn Me Deadly, and the forthcoming Dark Jenny), the novels of the Memphis vampires (Blood Groove and The Girls with Games of Blood) and the first Tufa novel, the forthcoming The Hum and the Shiver.

The Middleman makes an A.V. Club’s Best of the Decade List

the viperbot — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:27:29 +0000

The pilot episode of The Middleman made the A.V Club’s “The best TV episodes of the decade (from shows not on any of our other lists)” list.

For a time, it seemed like all TV genre shows were cursed to be dark, brooding reflections on the cost of living in a society where death waits around every corner. While not perfect—or even the series’ best episode—the Middleman pilot got rid of those notions as quickly as possible, returning to the wacky tone of a ’50s serial, packed with shoddy special effects, stupid monsters, and pop-culture references galore. The series only lasted one season on a network (ABC Family) clearly wrong for it, but stars Matt Keeslar and Natalie Morales gave all they had to characters who felt, respectively, like an average Joe from the ’50s and a modern, directionless college girl. The Middleman wasn’t particularly deep, but it was super-fun.

Read the entire post at The A.V. Club

Viper Comics now on the iPhone

the viperbot — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:52:30 +0000

Viper Comics titles are now on the iPhone via the free app Comics by Comixology. The first batch of Viper comics available include the original 4 issues of The Middleman which were collected in The Middleman: The Trade Paperback Imperative. The first issue is free and issues 2-4 are only $0.99 each.

Download the iPhone app here (iTunes Store link) .

Got a preference for what titles we release on the iPhone next? Lets us know in the comments.

Preview – The Middleman: The Collected Series Indispensability

the viperbot — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 04:42:35 +0000

Read the entire first chapter of Volume 1! We’re testing out this preview format.. like it? hate it? Let us know in the comments! Oh, and if you like what you see, buy it here

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ABC Family’s The Middleman Trailer

the viperbot — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 04:11:27 +0000

HOLLYWOOD INSIDER: Surprise! The Middleman’s Creator is a Fanboy!

the viperbot — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 03:47:24 +0000

The Middleman creator, Javier Grillo-Marxuach, recently interviewed with Eclipse Magazine, check out a snippet of the interview below:

I hear you’re already back at work on something genre.

Javi: Yes, I am. [laughs] Not quite back at work; we’re going to start work on Day One in August. The show doesn’t actually come out until mid-season. It’s actually going to be out after the Winter Olympics. So, we start work mid-August.

Have you seen the trailer?

I saw the leaked trailer. It looked interesting.

Javi: Pretty awesome, huh? Meteors, monoliths, people co-operating. Sounds good, right? [laughs]

Check out the rest of the interview here.

The Middleman: Doomsday Armageddon Apocalypse

the viperbot — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 03:04:29 +0000

The Middleman and Wendy return in a new adventure that completes the epic journey of their hit tv show! A betrayal by one of Wendy’s closest friends sets off a chain of events that threatens the very fabric of human existence. Alone and surrounded by the forces of FATBOY and their leader, the dreaded Manservant Neville, Wendy and The Middleman stare down the barrel of a sacrifice so ultimate it will shake the Middleman universe to its very foundation! Based on the lost series script by creator Javier Grillo-Marxuach and co-executive producer Hans Beimler.

By: (W) Javier Grillo-Marxuach, (A) Armando Mendoza
In stores: July 2009
Format: GRAPHIC NOVEL
Price: $7.95
ISBN: 978-0-9802385-8-7

Now Available in the Viper Shop

The Middleman: The Collected Series Indispensability

the viperbot — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 01:08:47 +0000

Together in one explosive tome, it’s all three volumes of “The Middleman,” the Viper Comics smash coming soon to ABC Family! It’s all here: the complete story of Wendy Watson – art student turned crime-fighter for the world’s most absurdly secretive organization – loaded with extras and ready for action!

(W) Javier Grillo-Marxuach (A) Les McClaine

In stores: First Edition sold out/Reprint available 12/2009
Format: Graphic Novel / 336 pages / $19.95
ISBN: 978-0-9802385-4-9

Diamond Item Code: MAY08 4177

Get the latest news on The Middleman Here. (including daily updates on the Middleman TV series!)