With Arrow, The Flash, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Walking Dead, iZombie and the upcoming Supergirl and Daredevil, is this the most comic-bookish period television has ever seen, even if we include animated shows?
And did I miss any in the above listing?
I think Gotham counts.
Yes, of course.
The mid-90’s seem to have a bunch of shows based on more obscure characters: Sabrina the Teenage Witch, The Tick, Tales from the Crypt, Timecop, Duckman, NightMan the live-action TMNT and The Crow. Plus the not at all obscure Lois and Clark.
I’m not sure why there was so many such shows, as they didn’t seem to be vary successful.
(also, Constantine should be on your list, though the Conventional Wisdom seems to be that it’s headed for cancellation).
GRIMM is apparently getting a comic-book adaptation, like SUPERNATURAL before it.
I’m pretty sure the OP is looking for shows inspired by comic-books, rather than vice-versa. The number of shows with spin-off comic books is huge.
Netflix isn’t just doing Daredevil. Luke Cage, Jessica Jones and Iron Fist are also getting limited run series, which supposedly will tie together. And I recently read that next season Ray Palmer, Firestorm, Black Canary, Hawkgirl and Rip Hunter will form a superhero team in a spinoff series from Arrow and Flash.
Yes, it’s massive viewing for comic book fans. I can’t imagine it will last.
It will last just as long as the money keeps pouring in. Well, a bit longer than that, until they figure out the money has stopped. I wouldn’t bet on it ending before 2019 with Infinity Wars 2. Those movies will get made.
Agent Carter.
I was a fan of Captain Nice, Mister Terrific, Batman, and Underdog
There was a Mister Terrific show? Did it have any connection to its source other than the name, or was it one of those “Thing Ring, do your thing!” things?
In fact, it had even less than that to do with the source: with “Thing Ring” you at least get a guy named Ben Grimm who has an orange-rock-humanoid thing going on; here, it’s Stanley Beamish as a gas-station attendant who plays government operative by donning a silver wingsuit and popping a pill that grants him superstrength.
I just found another one, a webseries called Powers, starring Sharlto Copley. I’ve seen the first episode. It looks… well… potentially awesome. A more profane, less annoying version of Heroes.
Yes, well, even for some of us long-term comic book fans (purchasing and reading since the late 1960’s in my case, I even worked in the industry for a brief stint) it’s getting exhausting.
I think it’s great - as long as the work produced has some quality. I do expect after awhile the fad will move to something else.
Superheroes are now what spies were in the 60s and cowboys in the 50s. (I am certain there were entertainment fads in the 70s, 80s, 90s and 00s but I will be damned if I can remember any given trends - cop/ detective/ private investigator shows remain popular as do medical shows.)
In a few years they will be burned out, then the object of nothing more than parody.
In the '80s, it was definitely ninjas.
Wasn’t the Duckman comic just one issue (at least before the re-release following the TV series)?
And I wouldn’t call Sabrina “obscure” - there was a Sabrina animated series on CBS Saturday mornings at one point (at first, she was on the Groovie Ghoulies show, then they split into separate shows) - although the live-action version did retcon a few things (in the comics, Hilda had red hair, Zelda had green hair and was shorter and fatter, and Salem had red fur and couldn’t speak).