You know, most folks don't know this: but years ago, there was a brief but sparkling love affair between Men in Black and Buckaroo Banzai. They met, they had a fling, a bit of a one night stand, and then little more was said of it. Then, in 2005, Viper Comics published The Middleman. It has been suggested that this creation from the mind of Javier Grillo-Marxuach and Les McClaine is indeed the previously unknown spawn of this union. How do we know this? Because this book contains ninjas in full-on kendo armor sporting six guns. Your honor, the prosecution rests.

In fact, between that, the time travelling bears and the killer giant shark man (plus, in previous volumes: the monkey legion, and kung fu vs. luchadores) I'm beginning to think that Javi and Les are, in reality, doing a psychiatric thesis on the id of Chris Sims.

The Chazzie-nominated series concerns the titular character, who goes out and protects the world from...well, a laundry list of every villainous whacked out thing you've ever imagined or seen in popular culture. Wendy is the newest trainee/sidekick for the Middleman, and by this point in the series, she's trying to balance her "real life" and her new job as world-saver. This time around they're dealing with the Middleman's arch-nemesis ("We have an arch-nemesis?"), a menace by the name of Kanimang Kang (which is now stuck in my head to the tune of "The Candyman Can...") who heads up F.A.T.B.O.Y. It's too much to explain here, just go with it.

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