It’s been a year since Smallville finished its tenure, and some have been wondering why nothing has stepped up to fill the gap.
Well, now we have confirmation that the CW is adapting a different DC property: Deadman.
Perhaps you’ve been expecting it, but I’ve been waiting for an announcement about a Smallville spin-off with one of the other superhero characters introduced during the run of the series – like Flash, Green Arrow, or Aquaman. They would have been easily able to retain the audience base from Smallville, but still have the opportunity to tell new and different stories. Perhaps they still will, but for now, it’s Deadman.
Deadman was introduced in Strange Magazine during the 60s, (the Silver Age of comics), but was never particularly noticed until the recent Brightest Day arc, in which he featured prominently.
Deadman’s power is a bit strange, however. Why? Well, he’s dead, but not gone. The character stuck around to help people by jumping into their bodies, Quantum Leap style (without the time-travel).
He was given a black Lantern ring, then a white one in the recent stories which came with lots of weird powers, but I doubt the CW adaptation will cover any of that.
Deadman is part of the New 52, and is getting his own line of comics in the relaunch. The new show is being created by Supernatural creator Eric Kripke, which is nothing to sneeze at.
Deadman does seem tailor made to function episodically (with his frequent body-changing), so a good run can likely be made of it. No word if the new series will be set in the same story world as Smallville.
Judging by the typical timings of these things, we’ll likely see the pilot in the 2012 fall lineup.
