NERD NEWS:TV Series Discussion

Nerd News Report

Comics TV Series

        Although admittedly superhero movies are very big right now, with the advent of shows like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Arrow, some comics fans are beginning to think that perhaps television serials are the better medium for these stories, since they are adapted from serialized books.
            There are a ton of these shows in various stages of development or just on back burners, including some from DC like Amazon, a series that plans to show Wonder Woman in her life on Paradise Island. With some new shows in the works 

and Arrow moving into its second season, its a great time to discuss where these shows are going.

             Personally I believe that DC comics in particular may tend to work better in this format, since a lot of the mainstays of the DCU have more convoluted origin stories. Anyone who saw Man Of Steel would probably agree that even with all the time spent in flashbacks, there were points left untouched, and Superman's suit still materialized out of nothing with absolutely no explanation. Maybe that's fine with some people, but personally I feel like the more details you give the better. That just doesn't work in a movie though, where most people don't care to see an 2 hour origin story. In a series, however, if you want to spend the first 5 episodes working out the character's backstory, that's perfectly fine.  That said, I heard an interesting idea that could actually work, and bring these two styles together. One of the hosts of the DCR Podcast suggested a reversal of what Marvel Studios has done(i.e. establishing a franchise like Avengers, and spinning off a TV show) by creating a franchise through a TV series, like Arrow, and then once the character is established, introducing them to the movie universe, maybe in a crossover event. This would be a great way to introduce lesser known characters to the cinematic universe. Some of these interesting upcoming projects are addressed below.

              In recent Nerd News, Fox picked up a project called Gotham centered on Commissioner Jim Gordon. A few years back DC Comics debuted a series called Gotham Central, which basically followed this same idea. Sales couldn't support the book, but the idea is admittedly very good. As far as the show goes, its unclear whether Batman will be involved or not, or whether this series will serve to set up the upcoming Batman vs Superman movie slated for 2015. This sounds like an interesting project regardless, and could be a great way to introduce some of the lesser known Batman villains. No one ever thinks what a crappy job the Gotham PD has, dealing with psychopaths and super criminals. I'm always a fan of street level action, and think this would be a great foray into the gritty real world side of the DCU. Of course I would be disappointed if no one picked up on the opportunity to use this as a medium to build excitement for the new version of Batman (played by the Fleck). Tie-ins aren't difficult.

              Also recently announced, a Flash series is spinning off of Arrow. With the popularity of police procedurals in television, a Flash show could incorporate those elements, while still introducing a lesser known character. Not many details on this at the moment, but definitely an interesting prospect.

Just so everyone knows, the Flash Show has been attempted before

              The proposed Wonder Woman show Amazon is apparently still in development, but also presents an interesting opportunity to introduce a DC character with a rather convoluted origin, depending on whether they decide to go with the classic made-from-clay origin, or the updated daughter of Zeus origin by Brian Azzarello. 

               These two characters, Flash and Wonder Woman, are mainstays of the Justice League. Most of us have been keeping our eyes out for a Justice League movie since the Avengers, and it looks like the Man of Steel sequel featuring Batman may be the next step towards the League. My point is that if that's where these movies are going, they're going to need Flash and Wonder Woman. Hopefully whoever is in charge of these shows has the forethought to develop these shows in a way that they can tie them in to DC's floundering Cinematic Universe.

                On a side note, this is not to say that there aren't other shows out there just waiting to be picked up.  Doing my research for this article, I saw some really interesting prospects. Some of the better ones included Spectre, 100 Bullets, Deadman, AKA Jessica Jones, Booster Gold,  and Cloak and Dagger. Troll the net to find some of these projects.