Dead Boy Detectives Review: There's nothing like a good mystery to capture the attention of a wide readership. This truth is demonstrated by the success of characters such as the detective Sherlock Holmes, protagonist of several novels and serialized stories, whose popularity even forced his reluctant creator Arthur Conan Doyle, under pressure from fans, to bring him back to life after his premature death. death (which occurred in the story “The Last Adventure”, dated 1893.
After the resurrection, the character will be the protagonist of many other exploits, until 1927). The yellow element certainly exerts a strong attraction on the public, something not ignored by a form of serial story - and therefore, with the need to maintain its readership over time - such as comics. A genre that, in that usually over-the-top world, often hybridizes with fantastic elements.
The figure of the detective who deals with cases related to the paranormal is in fact very popular in comic books, with examples ranging from our "Oldboy" Dylan Dog to Mike Mignola's demonic and muscular Hellboy. To be counted among the most famous, there is also that shrewd bastard and unrepentant smoker John Constantine. Part of the large pantheon of DC Comics characters, the bad boy from Liverpool is the protagonist of the "Hellblazer" magazine, with transpositions to his credit for both the big and small screen (the film Constantine with Keanu Reeves, a TV series that lasted only a season).
And it is precisely by staying at DC that we also meet the Dead Boy Detectives, characters created by Neil Gaiman and Matt Wagner as supporting characters in Sandman and at the center of the new Netflix production of the same name, available on the famous streaming platform starting from April 25th. A new TV series set in the same narrative universe as the previous The Sandman (as also demonstrated by the presence of Kirby Howell-Baptiste, who resumes his role as Death in a brief appearance).
Dead Boy Detectives Plot:
Developed by Steve Yockey (Doom Patrol, The Flight Attendant) together with co-showrunner Beth Schwartz (Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow), Dead Boy Detectives introduces us to the eponymous pair of investigators, Edwin Paine (George Rexstrew ) and Charles Rowland (Jayden Revri), both young ghosts who have escaped from the afterlife.
Based in London, the two boys' detective agency deals with solving mysteries linked to the world of the supernatural, including spirits with unfinished business and cases of demonic possession. Precisely during one of these cases, Edwin and Charles come across the psychic Crystal Palace (Kassius Nelson), one of the few people able to see them and interact with them. The girl's extraordinary divinatory skills soon bring her trio to the town of Port Townsend, where she will have to deal, among other things, with Esther Finch (Jenn Lyon), an immortal witch without the slightest scruple.
Dead Boy Detectives is made up of eight episodes, in which the same number of cases to be solved are addressed, where different horror topoi alternate, seasoned with a pinch of folklore and mythology (Gaiman's trademark, as we have already seen both in the aforementioned The Sandman than in American Gods). Acting as a link, a horizontal plot that will lead us to discover more and more elements of the protagonists' tragic past. At the center, are two almost diametrically opposed characters: Edwin is thoughtful and reserved, just as Charles is reckless and impetuous.
Two best friends apparently very different from each other, but united by the solitude of their status as spirits and their desire for redemption, as well as by a problematic past of abuse and bullying. Edwin and Charles are both two outsiders, linked by a deep relationship that was created over the long years spent together. A bond is destabilized by the arrival of Crystal, a third wheel who will bring havoc to their couple dynamics (even romantic, from a certain point of view, given that Edwin feels an unspeakable attraction for his friend).
A blatantly teen-oriented product:
In the background, we find the town of Port Townsend, a classic small town in the American province where, under a façade of reassuring normality, various horrors and many small secrets are hidden (a trope popularized by Mark Frost and David Lynch with their Twin Peaks, and then be filmed in serial products of various kinds, from Riverdale to Murder in Easttown).
But the gloom of the subject is tempered by a youthful and trendy package, where a weird and queer aesthetic is accompanied by a musical commentary that alternates the sound of the theremin with indie pop and punk rock songs. A context where there is also space for a bright and ironic character like Niko (Yuyu Kitamura), an extravagant Japanese girl passionate about shōjo manga, ready to become the little kawaii mascot of the group.
Dead Boy Detectives is a production aimed mainly at an audience of teenagers and young adults, where the supernatural adventure meets blatantly teen-oriented tones and themes. A characteristic that can be understood even just from the name of one of the producers involved in the series: that of Greg Berlanti, one of the main architects behind the series of the so-called Arrowverse and products such as Dawson's Creek and You.
This adaptation of the comic by Neil Gaiman and Matt Wagner, compared to The Sandman, aligns itself with Netflix series such as Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and Wednesday, where the young protagonists find themselves dealing with both horror-tinged mysteries and the classic problems of adolescence, without neglecting the sentimental side. The result is a mostly successful show, even if not exactly original, which professionally retraces paths that have already been widely traveled.
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