Year-End Meta 2022: “Escaping Total Nullification”

Thanks and reflections after nearly 10 years of The Middle Spaces, and what happens next.

George O. Frink: A Pioneer in Queer Cartooning (part two)

In Part Two, Dr. Kevin Cooley examines Frink’s life and other comic strips to provide evidence and context for Lucy and Sophie Say Goodbye queer imagination.

George O. Frink: A Pioneer in Queer Cartooning (part one)

The forgotten cartoonist George O. Frink (1874-1932) laid the groundwork for over a century of queer cartooning, created the comics’ first lesbian couple in 1905, and shared their tragic fate of death in an asylum 27 years later.

“Don’t Call Me Xombi” – Milestone’s Representation of Korean American Characters after the L.A. Uprising

In his fourth guest post for The Middle Spaces in two years, Dr. Vincent Haddad explores a less-examined series where issues of Asian-American representation exist at the margins of the Dakotaverse.

Year-End Meta 2021: The End Spaces. . .

As 2021 comes to an end and the site’s 10-year anniversary approaches, it is time to think of a closing strategy for The Middle Spaces.

One Moment in Time: Designer Willi Smith and Mary Jane’s Wedding Dress

In this guest post, Monica Gerrafo examines the designing of Mary Jane Watson’s dress for her 1987 wedding to Spider-Man and the implications of both’s live-action and on-the-page presence.

“The Question” of Revision; Or the Difficult Case of Renee Montoya

Dr. Vincent Haddad examines both an issue of the brilliant new The Other History of the DC Universe series and O’Neil and Cowyn’s classic 1980s run on The Question, considering both the limits and promise of revision.

“I Think They Know Me Too Well:” Growing Against Expectation in Journey into Mystery: The Manchester Gods

In this essay, guest writer, Tiffany Babb uses the changeable figure of Loki in 2011’s Journey into Mystery to consider the liminality of identity and how it is shaped by expectations

“Beaten By the Wind: The Forgotten Mystery Movie at the Heart of Bob Seger’s ‘American Storm’”

In a guest essay, Ty Matejowsky examines the once ubiquitous and now mostly forgotten movie tie-in music video format through the example of one for a movie that never existed.

The Other 80s: A Q&A with Editors Brian Cremins & Brannon Costello

Drs. Brian Cremins and Brannon Costello sit down to discuss their recent edited comics studies collection, The Other 80s: Reframing Comics’ Crucial Decade

Retuning Nostalgia: Anti-Black Racism and the Cultural Politics of Country Music

Nicholas Miller returns with an essay on whiteness, country music nostalgia, and charting a new course to re-imagine the past and the future.

Blue Becomings: Revisiting Excalibur #4

Dr. Anna Peppard re-examines a favorite scene from Excalibur #4 a decade after first reading it to consider how its meanings may have changed for her.

“That Wingnut is Insane”: Reality vs. Fictionality in Conspiracy Comics

Guest writer, Vincent Haddad examines three different comics exploring conspiracies to consider how they represent the hybridity of truth and fiction.

Autonecrohomoeroticism: Revisiting Richie Rich & Casper #31

The first in our new “Critical Nostalgia” series, revisiting single issue faves from younger days, considers Richie Rich’s desire for his own future ghost self.

Not So Fast! The Case for Revisiting the Costume Designs of 1990’s The Flash TV Show

Considering how 1990’s The Flash on CBS was a pivotal development to the television superhero genre through fashion.

Year-End Meta 2020: Additions, Corrections, Updates & Announcements

Cleaning up loose ends from the last year and making some announcements about the next.

The (re)Collection Agency #13: A Conversation with Anna Peppard

Discussing the intersection of collecting and desire, superhero sex, and avoiding spoiler aversion with Dr. Anna Peppard.

“On the Edge of Greatness”: First Ones’ Tech and the Non-Binary Politics of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Looking beyond representation in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power and towards the contexts that inform it to consider the narrative structures used to build queer storyworlds.

“Say It Loud!” Tyroc and the Trajectory of the Black Superhero (part 2)

Part Two of using DC’s Tyroc to consider the arc of the Black superhero.

“Say It Loud!” Tyroc and the Trajectory of the Black Superhero (part 1)

Part one in an exploration of how the trajectory of Tyroc’s character provides a blueprint for thinking about the arc of other black superheroes.

WAUGH and On and On #8: The Duck is Dead. Long Live the Duck!

In the final (for now) installment of the Howard the Duck reading series, we examine the duck’s shift from social satire to Marvel Comics parody.