Predictable. Normal. Boring. Most days in Farmington are like any day in any small town in the heartland, but Abel is used to it. He runs his paper route, tries to keep up with schoolwork, and aims to stay on the good side of a volatile single parent. One fateful day, however, Abel's ideas of normalcy, safety, and security are blown away as a storm levels Farmington just as quickly as it appears. What's more, the storm is chasing Abel — and it knows his name.
Middlewest is an adult Fantasy Comic Book series written by Skottie Young, illustrated by Jorge Corona, and published by Image Comics. The series follows Abel, a young boy living in a small town, and his ally, an unnamed fox, as he journeys across the farthest unknown reaches of the Middlewest. After his father infects him with the Heart of a Storm, Abel must seek help from several mystical people and creatures to find answers as to how to remove the Heart of a Storm from his body before it causes damage to those he's grown close to.
Middlewest is an 18 issue miniseries, which have been compiled into three collections and one omnibus.
The covers of the first six issues were drawn by Mike Huddleston.
This comic provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: A core theme. Abel's father is abusive and his grandfather abused him in turn. The story deals about how to recover from this and break the cycle.
- Atomic F-Bomb: In the first issue, eventually shouted by Abel, after Dale tells him that he was the reason his mother left. Made even cooler with the fact that the winds are picking up.
- Blow You Away: Abel, his father and grandfather all turn into storm elementals when they're angry. The grandfather in particular also extends this to ice manipulation.
- Bittersweet Ending: Abel ends up politely disowning his father despite his pleas, but now has a massive new Family of Choice in the form of the carnies and freed slave children, who consider him a hero and a leader, and he parts with his father on good terms, forgiving him despite cutting him out of his life. Dale accepts Abel’s choice with the hope they can eventually rebuild their relationship and he plans to work on healing himself.
- Classical Tongue: A language spoken only by Magdalena in issues five and six, and Homji Billo in issue nine. It appears to have a symbol-for-symbol translation.Homji Billo: *speaks in strange language*
Abel: *whispered* Do you know what he's saying?
Fox: *whispered* I think so. "You will need to ready your mind to see what needs seeing." - Elemental Shapeshifter: Anyone with the Heart of a Storm has the power to turn into a very destructive storm. Most of them are fueled by extreme anger or fear.Sheriff Fricky: That storm came out of nowhere. You and I have been around our fair share of them in the Middlewest, but this one... it was different. Something much worse than we've ever seen. As if it was, I don't know...
Dale: ...Angry?
Sheriff Fricky: Yes! It was the damnedest thing. - Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Farmington, Abel's home town, as explained and lampshaded by Abel himself in issue 2:Abel: I've never been outside of Farmington. It's a small town in the center of the land. Lots of farms if you couldn't tell from the name.
- Fantasy Americana: It's chock-full of fantastical elements that go unnoticed for the most part. For example, people are taken aback whenever Abel or his father transform, but nobody ever bats an eyelash at the talking fox Abel travels with.
- Incompatible Orientation: Its implied Abel had a crush on Bobby, who is a lesbian. After the conversation below, however, he quickly gets over it and just sees her as a close friend.
- Magic Realism: It's set in an America where animals can talk, fantastic creatures like trolls exist, autonomous robots are a common thing, and it's all treated like it's a regular part of day-to-day life.
- Magical Native American: A tribe analogous to them venerates animal spirits and sends them as guides.
- Missing Mom: Abel’s mother walked out on the family some years prior. Abel’s memories show that Dale was a somewhat better parent to Abel when she was around.
- Patchwork Map: The Winter Woods is located through a tree line on the other side of a dead Ethol field. It has a very... obvious border.
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: In issue six, Abel denies having feelings for Bobby.Magdalena: You and Bobby seem to be getting pretty close. You're not, you know, falling in—
Abel: WHAT?! No! She's a girl friend! I mean I know she's a girl, but she's just my friend. She's a girl and my friend so...
Magdalena: Ha, ha, ha. Slow down there, Abel. I'm just making sure you don't go breaking your own heart. You're not really her type. - The Nameless: Abel's fox companion. Possibly because his mother was just lazy.
- Resentful Guardian: Dale. It’s deconstructed in the end when he tells Abel that it was wrong of him to blame his son for what he did.
- Would Hurt a Child:
- Nicolas Raider and his employees have no qualms about using lethal child labour, personally killing rebellious workers.
- Abel's grandfather is more than happy to beat the crap out of him for not being "tough".
