I’ve written about iZombie
before, and did so prior to the CW show.
Basically, I am a fan of the comic’s story and Mike Allred’s fantastic
art. I was saddened when it ended, but
was not all that surprised when I heard it had been picked up for television.
I’ve watched the show.
I like it.
It’s not the comic.
What strikes me as odd is the direction in which the show
went. At first I thought the show was
going to slowly introduce the comic’s aspects in order to ease the audience
into this weird world that had been created.
As each episode passed, however, it was clear that the show was going in
its own almost cookie-cutter direction.
It is, for all intents and purposes, a mystery show with a psychic. Something, I might add, that has been done
before, though not with a zombie. I
imagine the show’s creators didn’t want to mess with the formula that has been
tried and true.
A fan of the show who picks the back issues or trade
paperbacks is going to be very surprised, especially if he or she really loves
the show. The comic is nothing like
it. My guess is that if they are driven
to pick up the source material it is because that fan loves the show’s premise
that much and if that is the case I can’t help but think that fan is going to
be disappointed by what he or she reads.
There are moments in the show that lead me to believe it
could be really slowly delving into the comic’s storyline (and I’ve yet to see
the last two episodes as of this writing), but at this rate it will be about
ten seasons before it even gets close to the insanity of the source
series. Perhaps that is the plan, but I
doubt it. The show, as good as it is,
has played it far too safe so far to make me think it has the rotting guts to
do anything else. That’s a shame, too,
as iZombie was at its best when it
took readers out of the norm. The show
seems content to be by-the-numbers, and that is fairly disrespectful to the
comic’s creators … and the audience.
