A Sweeter Sweet Tooth

 

I re-upped for NETFLIX after an absence of several years for one reason: I wanted to see Sweet Tooth. 

I tried not to gulp it down too quickly, but it still only took a week to watch the eight episodes of the series. (Season1? Maybe. There's certainly lots of room for more.) And somewhere around the fourth episode, I said to my self, "Self, you should probably re-read the comic book pretty soon...because a lot of this doesn't seem very familiar." So I started on that. By the end of the second volume (In Captivity, which takes us through the first 11 issues of the 40 issue series--not counting the six issues of The Return, which (1) just recently ended and (2) I have not yet read), it was clear that the NETFLIX show actually didn't have a lot to do with the comic book series.

The key difference is the intensity. If you think that the NETFLIX show is intense...which I can kind of see if I squint...then you should definitely stay away from the comic book. Pretty much from the get-go there are copious amounts of blood, people beaten to death, and other horrible things that are likely to happen in a post-apocalyptic world. 

This difference in intensity is also manifested in the characters. Gus's father, Pubba (I am pretty sure he didn't have a name in the comic book), is a sweet, gentle man in his NETFLIX incarnation. In the comic book, he is just this side of a raving religious maniac--pretty much Hazel Motes without a car hood to stand on. And this Biblical fervor is instilled into Gus, and definitely skews his worldview. All of that is stripped out of the show, too, though. In fact, even Gus's speech patterns...which evoke a rural Southern style in the comic book...have been stripped out of the show. I like young Christian Convery a lot--he evokes an innocence which is truly lovely...but his Gus is very much a pasteurized version of the character.

And as for Tommy Jepperd.... Well. Nonso Anozie does a great job in this role, for sure. But the differences start right from the get-go with what might seem inconsequential: in the comic book he is a fading ice hockey star, and in the show he is a former football player...and then those differences increase drastically. In ways that I can't address without spoiling some major plot developments, so I won't, but let's just say that the change in this character causes the show to take a completely different path very early on. What's gained is a warm, cozy Buddy relationship, maybe bordering on filial love. And that's nice. What's lost is more than I am willing to tell you, but it is more than a lot. Enough to essentially make the show only tangentially related to the comic book.

Despite this fact...I was actually fond of the NETFLIX show and would most certainly watch a second season if it comes to be. My main objection to the show in and of itself is that the special effects are pretty shitty...so if they do go forth for a second season, I hope they increase the special effects budget to at least $450. But Jeff Lemire's comic book is far, far superior...more complex, more touching, and more real. 

P.S. In the course of verifying my facts for this bit, I discovered that a Sweet Tooth Compendium was just released five days ago. It's $36 on Amazon, and it gives you the whole 40 issue series. If you hate Amazon as much as I do, you can also get it from Walmart for the same price. (And Walmart lets you pay via PayPal, a protection that Amazon doesn't afford its customers.) Yes, there is a story, there. Or HERE, if you want to hear it. ANYway...the Compendium is a great deal.