Serialised Storytelling January

Best of Comicbook TV 2015

Tripwire’s TV columnist, Hugh David, writes his latest monthly column

As debated elsewhere in the media in 2015, if you watched only U.S.-produced television series, then you could not physically have watched all the hour-long dramas and half-hour comedies produced in that year alone. For those of us watching shows from other countries around the world, this problem becomes compounded. However, we already reached TV saturation two years ago; this author didn’t even finish watching the shows he wanted to (in addition to the ones he had to for work) from 2014 until halfway through 2015! As such, a bog-standard Best-Of-2015 is both difficult to do and, these days when we all watch on our own individual time frames, actually somewhat irrelevant, so here at Tripwire we’re offering you a different kind of guide to last year, and we’ll follow it up with a second part looking at what’s to come in 2016.

LOOKING BACK

Favourite Comic-book adaptation of 2015: Powers S01 (PSN US; some other territories but with 3^rd party apps; U.S. blu-ray & DVD)

If we’re talking actual adaptations rather than shows that look, feel and move like a comic, then for this writer the first season of Powers wins out over both the Marvel and DC TV universe individual entries. The third attempt by Sony to make a version of Brian Michael Bendis & Michael Avon Oeming superlative police procedural comic and the first to make it to full series is actually a million times better than the weirdly cut trailer and terrible IMDB reviews would have you believe. The MVPs here are crime writer Charlie Huston, whose take on how to make the show work in live-action got him promoted out of the previous incarnation’s Writers’ Room to lead writer on this one, and British director/producer David Slade, the man responsible for 30 Days of Night and much of the look of Hannibal, from where he’s brought over fellow Brit Eddie Izzard to be Wolf. Rather than a slavish adap we get a show built out of pieces of and nods to the original, tackling similar issues but within a more believable context: celebrity culture and a post-Watchmen-esque look at superpowers in the context of crime, policing and modern-day Los Angeles. Replace Hollywood with superpowers in something like Southland or Bosch and you begin to get the idea, but you need to add in Oeming’s own contributions; the sparing SFX look like his wonderfully cartoony style, as does the graphic violence – there is no shortage of gore throughout, especially once Izzard’s Wolf begins to flex his abilities. Sharlto Copley’s unsteady American accent as Detective Christian Powers in the trailer is rock-sure throughout after a wobble or two in the pilot, while Susan Heyward’s Deena Pilgrim is a smartly played blend of the comics’ Pilgrim & Enki Sunrise

Most Impressive Pilot of 2015: Mr. Robot S01E01 (USA Network; Amazon UK Prime Instant Video)

Danish director Niels Arden Oplev may have cut his teeth in television, but most English-language audiences first encountered his work with the fine Swedish film adaptation of Män Som Hatar Kvinnor aka The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Here he brings all of that talent to bear on indie writer-director Sam Esmail’s first TV show, a film project that has become part of USA’s changing identity for its original productions. Even if you have no interest in seeing a cynical counterculture show about a mentally ill law-breaking hacker, the pilot is so well put together as a feature in every sense it’s absolutely worth seeing, but chances are high that you’ll want to watch the rest of the show afterwards, even though it’s never as good again as this hugely impressive, all-guns-blazing opener.

Most Consistently Riveting & Entertaining Comic-book-like U.S. hour-long drama of 2015: Person Of Interest S04 (CBS; U.S. blu-ray; still to air in the U.K.)

There is no other piece of SF in any format that has been quite as relevant to the real world as Jonathan Nolan’s superlative, described by this writer elsewhere as the greatest 80s DC Mature Readers comic never made. Nolan’s previous facility with working comic-book elements into film scripts developed here, with his original take on the TV amateur investigator/knowledgeable support partner formula basically splitting Batman into two characters and using that to explore the War on Terror and artificial intelligence. This year has been the most science-fictional, bringing key elements of cyberpunk front and centre while ramping up the stakes for our heroes before the bullet-riddled finale. With this year’s 5^th season due highly likely to be the final one, get on board now via Netflix or disc and catch up with one of the best shows of the 21^st century from anywhere.

Best “Single Issue” aka Episode of an Ongoing Comic-book Show: 4,722 Hours – Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. S03E05 (ABC; still to air on Channel 4 in the U.K. in 2016)

Although its U.S. ratings are solid particularly in younger demos, the show remains as divisive amongst comic-book fans as ever. This writer has loved it from the start, given it’s very much a Mutant Enemy show first and Marvel show second, but the move to a later U.S. timeslot from Season 2 onwards allowed the makers to darken the show in keeping with the fall-out from S01 and The Winter Soldier. Still, even if one wasn’t interested in the set-up of the Inhumans or this season’s development into Secret Warriors, this single format-breaking episode is worthy of viewing, especially as most of the relevant backstory is neatly encapsulated inside the “Previously On”. The story of what happened to Agent Jemma Simmons after being sucked into the alien monolith and dumped out on another planet somewhere, as told in flashback by her to best friend Fitz, is allowed to be its own complete story, and is all the better for it, a riveting tale of survival in hostile territory by a qualified scientist and trained S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that offers thrills, spills and fresh emotional beats for a character too often left to fend with the ongoing will-they/won’t-they/why-don’t-they relationship set up from the start. Just the sort of thing comics are great at doing but TV rarely does.

Most Enjoyable Comic-book TV Universe of 2015: Arrow, The Flash, Constantine, Supergirl, Gotham (The CW, NBC, CBS, Fox; Sky, Channel Five, Amazon Prime Instant Video U.K., U.K. DVD & Blu-ray)

Sorry Marvel fans. Y’all may be all over yer super-dark Netflix universe, and Agent Carter was heaps of fun, but for this writer’s money there’s no more perfect on-screen rendition of the DC Multiverse than what Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg and Geoff Johns are doing right now. All the thrills of different eras and styles are cherry-picked and delivered in a refinement of what U.S. network The CW achieved back in the day with Smallville and Birds of Prey. CBS’s Supergirl may not be crossing over any time soon with Arrow and The Flash, but there is no doubt that they’re all clearly set in the same universe and it’s produced with the same panache. The inclusion of NBC’s short-lived attempt at Constantine from David S. Goyer is because (a) it started to really nail the right tone and stories by the end, and (b) now that Matt Ryan’s wonderful version of John has guest-starred on Arrow that show is officially part of the same ‘verse. Even Gotham, this author’s least favourite amongst these shows, has originality and variety on its side, feeling like a wonderful blend of possible back-stories to every previous film or TV version of Batman, and that’s quite an achievement for a Fox show. Netflix may have got the tone of Frank Miller and Brian Michael Bendis at their darkest just right for Marvel, but the DC TV Universe has the breadth and willingness to embrace everything that’s great about comics from darkness to light and back again via silly and serious. That we’ll be getting Rip Hunter and basically Time Masters this year in the ace-looking Legends of Tomorrow is the icing on the cake.

2015 Mini-Series Most Deserving of a Comic-book Continuation if it doesn’t get a 2^nd Season: Into the Badlands S01 (AMC; Amazon Prime Instant Video UK)

This six-parter from AMC comes from Smallville and Shanghai Noon/Knights creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, as well as Shanghai director David Dobkins on the first three. It’s the most perfectly-realised screen comic book, combining a brightly-coloured post-apocalyptic American South full of warlords and personal fiefdoms with proper Hong Kong kung fu, courtesy of director Stephen Tung (here taking on action director duties throughout) and lead Daniel Wu. A fine blend of experienced acting talent from both the U.S. (Stephen Lang, Lance Henriksen) and abroad (Orla Brady, Emily Beecham, Martin Csokas) mix with up-and-comers (Aramis Knight and Ally Ioanniddes from the U.S., Sarah Bolger from Ireland, Oliver Stark and Madeleine Mantock from the U.K.) to create a naturally diverse feel to this future. The hint of magic and the intended adaptation of elements of the famous Monkey King legend are sparsely doled out, leaving so much more for future seasons, while the gore flows frequently and copiously amidst the stylish wire work. If AMC don’t renew it then please someone turn this into a comic, it would be the most natural possible evolution.

Serialised Storytelling images tripwiremagazine.co.uk