New comics-based shows go rogue
‘Riverdale,’ ‘Powerless’ and ‘Legion’ offer an alternative to the usual superhero fare
It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s a different kind of comic-book TV show.
With DC and Marvel superheroes filling the small screen on CW, Fox, ABC and Netflix, and AMC’s graphic-novel-based The
Walking Dead still a ratings monster, a new wave of comics-inspired series are staking out their own TV turf with sharp differences in tone (FX’s surrealistic
Legion), characters (CW’s nonsuperhero, non-supernatural drama Riverdale) and format (NBC comedy Powerless).
Genre shows are evolving to avoid sameness and widen their appeal beyond hard-core comics fans.
“We’ve had this onslaught of superhero movies and TV shows,” says Patrick Schumacker, executive producer of Powerless (NBC, Thursdays, 8:30 ET/PT), set at a firm whose products protect mortals from the collateral damage caused by DC superheroes. Schumacker describes Powerless, starring Vanessa Hudgens, as a “fresh take” in a trend that mirrors movies. “You’re seeing films like Deadpool and Suicide Squad that are more meta-takes of the genre.”
The new series connect to established comic books, films or TV series, which helps them gain attention in a world of 400-plus TV shows, says Riverdale executive producer Roberto AguirreSacasa. Riverdale (Thursdays, 9 ET/PT) takes a contemporary look at Archie Comics characters (think Gossip Girl) immersed in a small-town murder plot.
“This is the first time Archie has come to prime time in a real way,” says Aguirre-Sacasa, who has presided over a contempo- rary, more subversive turn in the comic books as Archie Comics’ chief creative officer. “You get the benefits of being associated with a huge brand but you get to tell a different kind of story.” (Initial ratings for Riverdale and Powerless are modest.) FX’s Legion (Wednesdays, 10 ET/PT) focuses on an established X-Men character, David Haller (Dan Stevens), but executive producer Noah Hawley ( Fargo) has created an original story, new supporting characters and a surreal look that stands apart from the traditional superhero depiction. Hawley’s exploration of Haller, who may have schizophrenia, telepathic and telekinetic powers, fits FX’s desire to find new ways of looking at established formats, says FX Networks president Eric Schrier. “We’ve done that for a long time. You’d never seen a cop show like The Shield. You’d never seen a medical show like Nip/Tuck. When it came to the superhero genre, that was the litmus test. How does FX do something distinctive in the genre?” he says. “Legion is a big swing. It’s not what the traditional superhero fan would expect to see.” Hawley, who created his own
Fargo characters while honoring the 1996 Coen brothers’ film, says he has long been attracted to the X-Men universe’s moral underpinnings, which are murkier than those of a more traditional superhero story.
X-Men comics were “concerned with outsiders and how people treat people who aren’t like them,” he says. “It’s not mythical good vs. evil. … It’s clear the franchise is concerned with the real nature of evil, the darkness in all of us and that potential that you can become a hero or a villain.”