Middlewest #1
Publisher: Image Comics
Story: Skottie Young
Art: Jorge Corona
Colors: Jean-Francois Beaulieu
Letters: Nate Piekos
Covers: Mike Huddleston/Jorge Corona/Skottie Young
Middlewest straight up duped me with Jorge Corona’s rather unassuming cover. I expected a modern day fantasy yarn with goofy characters that didn’t take itself too seriously. I guess those dark clouds and that somber expression on Abel’s face went right over my head. Even with those less than subtle cues, Middlewest #1 is the kind of supersonic left hook you don’t see coming. One I leaned all the way into thinking I had a clue and, with Skottie Young in the driver’s seat as writer, I’m glad I did. In this review I will do my best to avoid spoilers, thought there is quite a bit to talk about. I would hate to ruin anyone’s discovery of this stunning fable.
From the outset, protagonist Abel seems like a pretty good kid. He’s only missed his paper route twice in five years. He’s hesitant to go along with his friend’s delinquent tendencies. He seems like a perfectly normal Midwestern teen, albeit with an overbearing parent who flies off into angry fits at the drop of a hat. Abel’s father may have a reason to resent him, but the tension between them is not only palpable; focused by Corona’s art and Beaulieu’s excellent color work, it is immutable. When the silence between two characters on a page is so uncomfortable I want to physically leave the room, I’d consider that narrative craft exceptionally well executed. As he is thrust into rather extraordinary circumstances, my burgeoning curiosity only intensified.
In totality, Middelwest possesses an uncommon tangibility; a grit in it’s presentation that penetrates and animates the fiction. It is grounded and fantastical simultaneously, drawing the kind of morbid fascination one might have to a train wreck. However, this is only possible because the characterization is so vivid and the art so captivating. In my mind it exemplifies the power of the comic medium, because of how intrinsically dialogue and visuals have been intertwined. The team manages to attenuate the reader’s attention with panels composed so deliberately, and yet imperceptibly, because we yearn for the exposition conferred. Each bit of narrative revealed only elicits a deepening thirst for exploration of and elaboration on this world.
Honestly, the draw isn’t that so much happens in this first issue of Middlewest. To most, the occurrences depicted would a be normal childhood Saturday. In reading it one might reminisce of adolescence past, of ill-fated recalcitrance and futile indignance. Eventually, we all grew up and, in too many cases, into Abel’s embittered father. And so we seek the transposition. Upon the young protagonist we can foist our desperate hopes of a vicarious gratification. Young Abel has only just embarked on his saga, undoubtedly fraught with perilous misadventures. We will observe his journey, transfixed with wide eyed yearning. We will applaud his triumphs and contemplate his misfortunes, all the while coveting a youthful exuberance that flies in the face of our every acquiescence to the ephemeral wardens of this so called life: economy, acrimony, and mortality. In its accessibility and sincerity, Middlewest #1 is a great start.
Christian Davenport
cable201@comicattack.net
