The Middleman

The Middleman is a comic book series written by Javier Grillo-Marxuach with art by Les McClaine and published by Viper Comics. The series was initially intended to be a television pilot. Grillo-Marxuach decided he wanted to write a series that represented all of the things he grew up loving (what he calls the "Javi-centric World View"). With a little coaching from Paul Dini, he realized his dream in the medium of comic books – for several reasons, not the least of which was how much it would cost to produce a "tentacled ass monster" for television. Despite this, a single season of a television adaptation was picked up for the 2008 season by ABC Family.

Publication history

The first issue hit the shelves in July, 2005. The mini-series was collected as a single trade paperback volume, entitled The Trade Paperback Imperative. The second trade volume, entitled The Second Volume Inevitability, was released on July 2006 and includes the supplement Legends of the Middlemen, three short stories chronicling the adventures of past Middlemen. The third "mini-series" was released straight to trade in 2007 as The Third Volume Inescapability.

Jana Aranya

Jana Aranya (English: The Middleman), is a 1976 Bengali film directed by Satyajit Ray, based on the novel of the same name by Mani Shankar Mukherjee. It is the last among Ray's Calcutta trilogy series, the previous two being, Pratidwandi (The Adversary, 1970) and Seemabaddha (Company Limited, 1971).

Plot

The film portrays the hopelessness of the middle-class, educated, urban youth in modern India.

After making numerous unsuccessful attempts to find a job Somnath (Pradip Mukherjee), the central protagonist, finally decides to start his own business as a middle-man—i.e. someone who supplies an order in exchange for a fixed commission.

In spite of his ambition, he soon however finds himself involved in petty dealings, which appear unsatisfactory to him. His friend Sukumar, having gone through similar ordeals but finally being unable to land a job, becomes a taxi-driver.

One day, Somnath finds that in order to land a big order, he must appease a client by supplying him with a prostitute. Despite his tremendous hesitation and after trying several brothels, Somnath finds a girl for the purpose. However, she turns out to be his friend Sukumar's younger sister. Embarrassed and at a complete loss, Somnath offers her money and requests her to leave, but the girl refuses. Her purpose is to earn money, not beg, she tells him. Somnath delivers her to his client and lands the contract but suffers internally.

The Middleman (TV series)

The Middleman is an American television series. The series, which was developed for television by Javier Grillo-Marxuach for ABC Family, is based on the Viper Comics series, The Middleman, created by Grillo-Marxuach and Les McClaine. The series ran for one season in 2008.

Originally confirmed for an initial 13 episodes, the order was reduced to a 12-episode season due to low ratings. In February 2009, a comic book based on the unproduced 13th episode was announced, confirming the series' cancellation. Billed as a "series finale", The Middleman – The Doomsday Armageddon Apocalypse was released in July 2009. The complete series DVD set was released by Shout! Factory on July 28, 2009.

Plot

Wendy Watson, a struggling artist, is recruited by a secret agency to fight against evil forces. The pilot episode features a super-intelligent ape who escapes captivity, murders several members of the Italian Mafia, spouts a half dozen catch phrases from American movies on the subject including Scarface, Goodfellas and The Godfather, before being revealed as the pawn of the true villain.