"The comic book audience is expanding in a major way for the first time in 30 years," Mike Baron tells contributing writer Tom Kinney. Baron, himself an Isthmus contributing writer, is riding the boom as a comic-book writer and, with Madison artist Steve Rude, co-creator of Nexus, one of the hottest titles of the moment. Baron - who also created the popular Badger series set in Madison - credits "the increasing pollination between comics and movies" as one of the reasons for the resurgence, citing the Superman, Conan and forthcoming Batman films, but also the recent publication of the Dark Knight version of Batman. Now living in Colorado, Baron's writing credits include such comics as The Flash, The Punisher and Spyke, along with graphic novels, novels and other projects. Rude, too, goes on to enjoy success as an award-winning comic-book artist, and has announced plans to reunite with Baron for a new series of Nexus issues to be published later this year.