The Middleman

Unlike the previous comics, this volume was based on an unpublished script for the ABC Family TV series and serves as the show's finale.

[3] There are no written records of the Middlemen throughout history; only Ida holds the answers to the present day Middleman's predecessors.

The series follows hero-by-day, artist-by-night Wendy Watson as she tries to balance her normal life of boyfriends, mothers, and roommates with her more surreal adventures with the Middleman.

All of the historic Middlemen (with the exception of Victorian Middleman) have female sidekicks who bear a peculiar resemblance to Wendy.

She is a conceptual artist who specializes in confrontational spoken-word performance art and works small jobs to pay off her student loans.

In the ABC Family series she also has demonstrated an apparent crush on the Middleman, as shown by her often referring to him as "sexy boss-man" or "pillow lips".

He is a member of the Clan of the Pointed Stick, the greatest warrior in the world, and the only man alive to master the Wu-Han Thumb of Death.

He wears a Mexican wrestling mask as a tribute to the only man he could not technically beat: El Sapo Dorado, who suffered a fatal heart attack on their twenty-sixth day of fighting.

He is a film student who is in touch with his sensitive side but can be a total jerk due to poor social skills.

He later publishes the footage of his breakup with Wendy on the Internet, which became an overnight hit and he was whisked off to stardom as a genius movie director.

She is on the phone with her mother when something goes horribly wrong – a giant tentacled ass monster escapes the labs.

Due to Wendy's response to her life-threatening situation, The Middleman recruits her under the guise of the Jolly Fats Wehawkin Temp Agency.

The Middleman and Wendy fight with the army and in the process destroy the computer that controls the higher brain functions of the simians.

The story ends with Dr. Gibbs in jail, with apes having a safe level of intelligence, and with Wendy more inspired artistically than she has been in a while.

On their way back to Jolly Fats Wehawkin Temp Agency, Sensei Ping is kidnapped and Wendy is knocked out by a group of Mexican Wrestlers.

Using the diamond in concert with a high-powered laser, the wrestlers create a cage of light which they use to imprison Sensei Ping, and the most lethal man alive is finally trapped without hope of escape.

The Mexican wrestlers take Sensei Ping and the Middleman to the Dread Pyramid of Itzilichlitlichlitzl to charge them for past crimes.

They accuse Sensei Ping of killing the greatest masked wrestler to ever slap the canvas – the legendary El Sapo Dorado.

Hoping to mount a rescue, Wendy flies the Middlejet to the wrestlers' stronghold, the Dread Pyramid of Itzilichlitlichlitzl – but not before the Middleman enters his trial by combat against Cien Mascaras.

After putting up a brave struggle and taking out dozens of Cien Mascarases, the Middleman is overcome and his leg is broken.

As the remaining Cien Mascarases set upon for the kill, Wendy arrives and short circuits the laser cage holding Sensei Ping.

In a display of unspeakable violence, Sensei Ping proceeds to slaughter every last one of the wrestlers – saving his signature finishing move, the Wu-Han Thumb of Death, for El Maestro De Ceremonias, leader of the wrestling troupe and architect of the blood feud.

[2] In 2014, Grillo-Marxuach launched a successful Indiegogo campaign for a fifth print volume, crossing over the previous comic and TV continuities.