COMICS MY WAY: Grayson Disgrayson And A CW Fix

On the upside it looks like the CW network is admitting that this will be the final year of Smallville, which is about 3 seasons too late if you ask me, so there IS some good here. On the bad side they are seriously considering replacing Smallville with yet another “revamp” of a superhero, this time being Robin and, like Smallville, it would focus on the years before becoming Robin, and on his home family life. Is this remotely something that comic book fans want to see? Smallville I could understand because for 1) It’s Superman, and 2) His early years is when all of Clark Kent’s moral center is formed and it’s probably the best time in his life in regards to building his character. When you think about it, focusing on Robin’s life before Batman is just plain dull, stupid, and too “Dawson Creekish” to make anyone over 15 interested, especially anyone male (but admittedly most dramatic television is AIMED at a primarily female audience anyway, so well, ‘WHATEVER!”

In comics, Dick Grayson is literally three Robins back in continuity. They’ve killed Robin almost every way you can think of (even leaving it up to an online vote once), and Dick Grayson changed suits and became Nightwing about 20 years or so ago. Most comic fans will tell you (or would tell you if these silly network execs would actually ASK them!) that Robin is a much-hated character over all. Kid sidekicks have become a clichéd joke in most every comic fans mind, not withstanding the homosexual overtones brought on in the 50’s by Wertham’s tirade on comics: The Seduction Of The Innocent.

Robin has NOT been in the top 4 money making Batman films in the last 20 years. Maybe the CW execs can take that as a hint. Unless there’s some AMAZING reworking here, doing a series on the Flying Graysons is a losing proposition. Fans will not only not watch it, but they will HATE it, and one thing I think all the media has learned by now (and are painfully learning with HEROES) is that when the fans HATE you, you make NO money.

Hey CW, best of luck on The Graysons, hope you pour a TON of money into it because it’s gonna make Birds Of Prey (a series that died for completely different reasons) look like a winner! Let’s just hope they don’t decide that the failure of The Graysons makes them think that Smallville was a fluke, or that the audience is over this whole “superhero thing” and abandon the genre altogether.

Knowing them they will place a full season order based on the look of the pilot, start full tilt into filming the first season, run the pilot, look at the ratings, realize their mistake too late as they have already placed the show on the fall schedule, stop full production of episodes around 10-11 as they see the ratings on the first 1 or 2 shows, run about 8 episodes while they chase around creating the next bland ‘reality” nightmare to replace it, and a year or so later release the DVD set to mediocre sales and giggles from most comic fans who STILL are looking for great escapism on television, as the CW has sworn off doing anymore DC properties since they can’t seem to sell them beyond Smallville. I can see all that easily happening.

Listen. Instead of just bitching, I would like to propose a short list of DC comic properties that the CW should consider doing INSTEAD of The Graysons. Screw the name recognition, these properties might not be know to most, but if they did do them with even a small hint of respect to their source material, they would probably have another Smallville on their hands. Let’s NOT do the obvious ones, like the Bruce Wayne script that the WB almost did, or the Mercy Reef/Dawson-Aquaman pilot that they shot and never aired, or even Global Frequency that was a much more ambitious and fun version of Fringe (well, almost- global had MUCH more entertainment potential), those are probably gone anyway. I know this a personal list, based upon my perceived potential, and I’m not a television guy, so logistics and budget constants ARE considered but MIGHT be unrealistic. Here goes:

First, the no-brainers:

1)GREEN ARROW: Set-up is done, actors and costumes are ready to go, sets are built, concept is easily accessible, even doing today’s version of the comic can be done. This is a total no-brainer for CW, Warners, and DC- a solid win/win/win. If you keep to the Smallville budget you could even start a regular rogues gallery of villains and turn him into a real swashbuckling adventurer, and when’s the last time we’ve had a REAL action oriented show on that didn’t involve vampires and darkness? His association with Black Canary could easily rival the relationship dynamics in Moonlighting or Bones.

2)MARTIAN MANHUNTER: Seriously, call it JOHN JONES and never show his true greenness (or show it in shadow, or shadow form), but give him his powers and his alien-ness. An outsider looking in on earth life- it’s literally Starman (the movie) meets superheroes, and with the same actor as was in Smallville you’ll have a strong African American lead to boot. Again, a REAL no-brainer here.

3)DIANA PRINCE: You don’t even show her origin if you can’t afford it, plus the costume is optional, but honestly who doesn’t want to see a well formed girl in a Wonder Woman costume running across our TV set again? Stupid that you’re not already 3-4 seasons into this show. Of course it would take a little thinking if you were to totally update her, but I’m willing to bet that recreating WW2 on the Warner’s lot would not be too difficult if they really wanted to.

4)MANHUNTER: Paul Kirk or otherwise, take a version of Manhunter, or blend them into a new one. You’ve got rights to the name and plenty of concepts to choose from (though the Paul Kirk version would allow you a MUCH wider story range as one episode he’s modern day, the next he’s reminiscing about his days as a WW2 superhero- with no powers to boot!). You could easily leave this in it’s own universe and go for YEARS just copying James Bond and Alias plots-seriously a lazy no-brainer. Look back a few weeks in this blog to a previous “Heroes I Miss” post for more on this guy- I promise you it’s worth it!

5)THE PHANTOM STRANGER: Again, easy concept to grasp, a wide range of stories to tell, and a GREAT hook and plenty of room for character development. This could be a multi season series where no 2 seasons are exactly alike. One season, it’s all short stories, set in multiple places, fighting multiple problems, as only the viewer is allowed to REALLY get to know the main character. Next season, set in modern day, establishes a secondary cast, must like the old Bill Bixby Hulk, the Stranger keeps traveling and there’s a reporter and a head of “homeland security” desperately trying to trap him and figure him out. Next season could be a constant chase after a major, MAJOR baddie (you could even rip-off Heroes and have his stopping an “end of the world” scenario that he’s trying to keep from happening). Again, a no-brainer.

Now quickly, here’s 5 higher concept properties that I long to see on TV, but the budget would probably never allow it:

1)ADAM STRANGE: A remake from the ground floor of the ORIGINAL concept, and I’m gonna leave that hanging because I’ve rambled enough for one post and I plan on using him as another Hero I Miss really soon. Let’s just say that the property has such mass appeal for all ages, a true cross of romance, and action/adventure science fiction than anyone with half a brain at the CW offices should already be arguing over budget.

2)KAMANDI: Not so high concept, last boy on earth after a worldwide holocaust that has turned everyone else into animal mutants. Modern retooling, and employing a few geniuses in makeup (as well as a few actors willing to wear make up all the time) this property has hard potential.

3)STARMAN: The comic this time. Take the latest revamp and run with it. Again, potential potential, potential.

4)THE QUESTION: Easy make-up, great concept (at least in the first revamp) and again, probably a no-brainer.

5)Man, who to choose for #5 here where there are SO many…Let’s just put it this way EL DIABLO, VIGILANTE, BAT LASH or any other western superhero, comic character. I miss seeing a good western on TV, even a super heroic one would be MORE than welcome and DC has a TON of properties to choose from. A personal favorite, again because of the multi-story potential would be Vigilante, because you can tell Wild West stories, old Hollywood stories, Modern Hollywood stories, anything really, though I’d probably turn him multi-generational (Like The Phantom, kept in the family with plenty of records of previous adventures- only I’d keep a grandfather type around to tell a story or two so he could REALLY exaggerate them superheroicly at times).

There you go ten plus properties all of which I would MUCH rather watch that any silly attempt at a young Dick Grayson, but like I said, I’m sure ol’ CW will be doing the path of least geekiness, so get ready to watch a kid or two in bad tights, swinging on trapezes. If they would do COMICS (television) MY WAY I assure you it would be much more fun.

WAKE UP!