TAGGED AS: Amazon, Comic Book, Comics on TV, DC Universe, FOX, Netflix, New York Comic Con, Starz, The CW
Thanks to its position just before the beginning of the fall television season, New York Comic Con is becoming the place to launch new shows based on comic books or make important announcements. This year was no exception with at least eight shows confirming new details or debuting impressive trailers.
And as the news and footage comes at a dizzying pace – particularly on Friday and Saturday – we thought a roundup of some of the key announcements would be helpful to those who still had to live their lives while the big TV show that is New York Comic Con pressed on. Here are the biggest stories to come from the convention.
In another moment of villainous confirmation, the Sunday Gotham panel confirmed Shane West’s Eduardo Dorrance is in fact the infamous Bane of DC Comics lore. The character’s name derives from another DC Comics character, Sir Edmund Dorrance — aka: King Snake, who later turned out to be Bane’s father. The misdirection never really worked as fans began guessing West’s true role as soon as he was announced this past summer. But executive producers also confirmed Bane most famous act — breaking Batman’s back — will come into play during the fifth and final season of the show. While this would seemingly bode ill for Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz), producers were quick to reveal Alfred (Sean Pertwee) will face Gotham’s recreation of the key “Knightfall” moment.
(Photo by Netflix)
Of course, Deadly Class may have some stiff competition for “best new comic book show of 2019” thanks to Umbrella Academy. Based on the graphic novels by My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way and artist Gabriel Ba, the first season of Netflix’s adaptation will takes its cues from the comic’s first storyline, “Apocalypse Suite,” in which six of the seven children adopted by Sir Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore) reunite to bury the man who trained them to be superheroes and solve the mystery of his death. And if the photos the streaming giant released on Friday are any indication, the show will be an exquisitely produced adaptation with a cast that includes Ellen Page, Mary J. Blige, and Tom Hopper. Sadly, Netflix chose not to release the footage screened at NYCC to the wide world. But considering the company also announced the program’s launch date, February 15, 2019, we expect a teaser will be along shortly.
(Photo by Mark Seliger/Courtesy of Warner Bros. Productions)
The often-mentioned Gladys Jones, Jughead’s (Cole Sprouse) mother, finally has a face. And Gina Gershon, announced during Riverdale‘s Sunday NYCC panel, seems a most fitting visage for the character. While said to be in Toledo during the first and second seasons of Riverdale, circumstances bring Gladys and Jug’s sister Jellybean (newcomer Trinity Likins) back to town. Based on Gladys’s description as a Serpent with a GED who acts as Fagin to a crew of teenage car thieves, her ties to the Serpents may dethrone Jughead, which means the family reunion, set for Decemeber 12, may not be a happy one.
If one were to take a look at a random page from Garth Ennis and Darrick Robertson’s The Boys comic book, the character of Wee Hughie would look mighty familiar. Both Ennis and Robertson freely admit the character’s physical appearance was based on actor and writer Simon Pegg, thanks in part to his roles in films like Shawn of the Dead and the television series Spaced. Pegg, in turn, always told interviewers who asked about the resemblance that he was flattered and would be thrilled to play Wee Hughie if The Boys ever became a film or TV show. Sadly, the wheels of development often move slowly and Pegg aged out of the part. Jack Quaid will play Hughie in Amazon’s adaptation of the comic book, but as the show’s producers announced at NYCC, Pegg will still grace the show with his presence as Wee Hughie’s father, a character currently known as “Hughie Sr.” It’s a fun acknowledgement of the program’s comic book past and sneak peek into the program’s warm, gooey center — a center which will not be on display all that often as wayward superheroes get their faces smashed in by The Boys.
(Photo by DC Universe)
While DC Universe’s first scripted fiction program, Titans, debuts this Friday, the new streaming service outlined a schedule for its original content during a NYCC presentation. The current plan sees its original and live-action shows staggered across the year, and as one reaches its finale, the next debuts. After Titans concludes its first season in December, the first half of the animated Young Justice: Outsiders will debut three episodes a week through February, when Doom Patrol will premiere. It will be followed by the second half of Outsiders, which will also run concurrently with the first season of Swamp Thing. Stargirl will follow Swamp Thing and, finally, the animated Harley Quinn series starring Kaley Cuoco will debut in October 2019. Which means there will always be new content on the service starting this week.
DC Universe also confirmed that Suits star Matt Bomer will voice Doom Patrol’s Negative Man, rounding out the core group of Robotman (voiced by Brendan Fraser), Elasti-Woman (April Bowlby), Niles Caulder (Timothy Dalton), and Crazy Jane (Diane Guerrero). Stars of Swamp Thing and Stargirl – which include Crystal Reed and Brec Bassinger, respectively – were announced in the weeks leading up to NYCC.
And while it may not be on DC Universe’s calendar yet, Titans will return for a second season, as producers of the show revealed during a Wednesday night screening of the pilot. According to various reports from the screening, the show is a substantially darker take on the Teen Titans characters, particularly in light of the jokier Teen Titans and Teen Titans GO! animated series. But a second season commitment ahead of the program’s debut suggests DC Universe believes in the show a great deal — as of this writing, season 1 is Fresh at 83% on the Tomatometer with 12 reviews. Or, at the very least, they learned the Netflix trick of producing two seasons for the cost of one. Either way, it’s good news for those anticipating the show and its edgier look at the Titans.
Though American Gods and Good Omens are not based on comic books, they both spring from the mind of one of comics’ favorite sons: Sandman writer Neil Gaiman. Both feature supernatural forces occupying more mundane realities, and as Gaiman would say, one is gentle, while the other is brutal — granted, he’d be hard-pressed to tell which is which. Both came to NYCC with new teaser trailers to unveil to appreciative fans at the convention and across the planet — granted, we’d be hard-pressed to say which is the most impressive. Good Omens will debut on Amazon sometime in 2019. American Gods is also expected to return to Starz within the next year.
