Year-End Meta 2022: “Escaping Total Nullification”

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

Songs in Conversation: Prince & Peter Gabriel Making It Big

Putting two songs on aspirational success released a decade apart into conversation 26 years later.

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.

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

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.

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.

“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.

“There’d Be a Hanging!” – Spontaneous Authenticity and the Fluctuative Quality of Comic Art in Gilbert Hernandez’s “Human Diastrophism”

Exploring how NYC grafitti and Gilbert Hernandez seek to DESTROY ALL LINES.

WAUGH and On and On #7: Can’t Win For Losing

Steve Gerber’s final work on the first volume of Howard the Duck (for real this time!) feels like a losing gamble.

The (re)Collection Agency #12: A Conversation with Rebecca Wanzo

In the 12th installment of our series of talks with comics scholars and teachers, we talk with Dr. Rebecca Wanzo, about her new book, the difference between caricature and stereotype, and not remembering a beginning of a political consciousness.

WAUGH and On and On #6: It’s the Bomb that Will Bring Us Together

Examining Howard the Duck #28 – when a Wolfman writes a duck man and ends up with a bomb.

WAUGH and On and On #5: It’s the End of the WAUGH as We Know It (and I Feel Fine)

“Slash and burn, return, listen to yourself churn. . ” as we come to the final arc of the first volume of Howard the Duck to be penned by Steve Gerber.

All-Female Fanfare: Examining Marvel Fanfare #38

When it is a surprise to the editor that both stories in a comic are written and drawn by women, it takes an engaged reader to consider the actual significance.

WAUGH and On and On #4: Synecducky

Ten ways to look at Howard the Duck #24 – the part that reflects the whole, the whole that is just a part.

Brief Comic Book Reviews (January 1 to 15, 2020)

Brief reviews of comics released between January 1st and 15th, 2020 (like Miles Morales: Spider-Man #14 and Second Coming #6), plus a couple of outliers I picked up (like Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #3).