REVIEW: Middlewest #1 uses lonely Midwest magic to cast a captivating debut

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Middlewest #1 is out 11/21.

By Zack Quaintance — I’m from Chicago, but I spent a few years in rural Illinois, working as a reporter for small town newspapers in places like Carterville, Carbondale, and Peoria. Now, you probably don’t know where any of those towns are. Heck, I left Southern/Central Illinois 11 years ago, and I barely remember them. Writer Skottie Young and artist Jorge Corona’s Middlewest #1, however, brought me back. More than that, it made me see those rural Midwestern places I one knew well in a different sort of light.

Middlewest #1 is one of those comics that deals heavily in tone, doing so by burrowing deep into forlorn isolation that’s inherent to towns like Carterville, Illinois, towns that most folks only ever find themselves driving through if they take a wrong turn while coming off the highway for gas (and then another wrong turn, and then probably another one). What it finds when it does that burrowing is magic. Magic born from loneliness, from wind that never ceases, from the feeling that washes over you when you look alone to the horizon and see fields, infinite and vast and flatter than you ever thought possible.

What takes this comic from an interesting experiment in tone (one that resonates well with me personally) to a book I plan to follow through at least its first arc is the plot that the creators pair with the lonely Midwestern aesthetic. I don’t want to go into too many details, but Middlewest #1 is a story about a young boy with a callous and demanding father, all too ready to tip into cruelty when the opportunity presents itself. This in itself isn’t a particularly novel plot and it doesn’t have to be. Tropes become tropes because they work, because they’re such solid bricks to build a full house upon, and the house that Young and Corona build with their magic forged through introspection is an impressive one indeed. Also, there’s a talking fox that will probably continue to absolutely steal scenes (if not entire issues).

I heartily recommend this comic to all and any who have spent time in the rural Midwest, who have lived there or had family there, or really have ever just looked listlessly out the window as they drove through, wondering what life was like for the real people born into all that space. This comic might just have the answer.

Overall: Middlewest #1 is a story steeped in a lonely sort of magic born from writer Skottie Young’s deep familiarity with the rural Midwest. Artist Jorge Corona renders it with vast imagination, capturing a unique sort of forlorn tone that I never before realized was always present in those areas. 8.5/10

Middlewest #1
Writers: Skottie Young
Artist: Jorge Corona
Colorist: Jean-Francois Beaulieu
Letterer: Nate Piekos of Blambot
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99

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Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase. He also writes comics and is currently working hard to complete one.


ADVANCED REVIEW: Bully Wars #1 by Skottie Young & Aaron Conley, Jean-Francois Beaulieu, & Nate Piekos

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For Bully Wars, Skottie Young teams with Aaron Conley, a Skottie Young-esque artist.

By Zack Quaintance — I heard writer Skottie Young on the Word Balloon Podcast a few weeks ago talking about his new book, Bully Wars, saying the aim was to make an Image comic that was accessible for all ages but didn’t exactly feel like a story strictly for kids, a challenge for creatives in any field or medium. It’s that sweet spot that made Pixar films so vibrant in the studio’s early years. They hit the mark repeatedly then, and continue to do so with relatively high frequency to this day. Call it broadly safe but smart appeal.

Well, Young and his Bully Wars collaborators—artists Aaron Conley and Jean-Francois Beaulieu—however, have come pretty close to finding that sweet spot in this first issue. There’s not even close to anything in this book that would ring as inappropriate for young readers, and, despite my obvious disadvantage of being a kind of old guy (I will only ever admit to being somewhat older than 22), I’m fairly certain the bright colors, exaggerated and cartoony character designs, and classroom setting will be a big draw for all ages of kids, likely up through high school. I know I certainly would have dug this in my day of angsty (but improving!) late ‘90s comics.

When it comes to appeal for adults, Bully Wars #1 is slightly more of a mixed effort. The twists in how characters are perceived are interesting, but the book will likely need more substance to hold older readers’ interests long-term. There are, however, plenty of signs in this first issue that that substance is coming. This brings me to the other goal Young mentioned for Bully Wars on Word Balloon: incorporating more understanding into the standard school narrative of bully bad and mean. The book definitely has hints of an aspiration to humanize its bullies, although at this point those aspirations are still in nascent stages.

Young’s interests as a writer, though, are fairly subversive (see the recently-concluded I Hate Fairyland), and so I think it’s safe to assume he’ll get where he’s aiming for. I know that I’ll at least be following this book for the entirety of its first arc. Really, the background sight gags (an athletic apparel company called Sike got a little chuckle out of me) and excellent cartooning on par with some of my favorite animation is enough to seal its appeal for me.

Overall: Bully Wars #1 is a vibrant all ages comic with a lot of promise and potentially even an important lesson about labels. This comic does more than enough with its first issue to pique my interest in where it’s headed. 7.5/10

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Zack Quaintance is a journalist who also writes fiction and makes comics. Find him on Twitter at @zackquaintance. He lives in Sacramento, California.