The feature inspired by great cosplay and fan art where I imagine various DC properties taken to the small screen and wonder aloud just what their shows would be like. Today's pitch: The Heckler.
Cosplay picture by: Bob Mask (on Pinterest)
There are SO MANY DC heroes getting turned into television properties right now, I feel like my "Arrowed" feature was quickly becoming redundant, so I sort of phased it out (and haven't done one in 6 months). But I didn't give it a proper send-off. So how about this?
The Heckler television show would basically be The Tick of the DC Universe - a comedy with silly heroes and villains, lots of zingers, and awkward secret identity moments. Stu Moseley gets no respect either in or out of superhero duds, which is a nice opportunity to subvert the usual superhero narrative, and Delta City is populated by lots of bizarre, satirical characters like Mayor Clump (who wears liberal and conservative masks depending on his audience), the Minx (a vigilante who hunts down her bad dates), X-Ms. (perfect for the Christmas episode), John Doe the Generic Man (antagonist), Bushwack'r (obviously based on Wile E. Coyote), and the Four Mopeds of the Apocalypse.
I see it as part sitcom, part absurd satire, part action story, part deconstruction of the superhero type created by all these new shows. Now that we have a good, strong corpus of the genre in this media, it makes sense to poke fun at it in the same medium. The Heckler does that. And I "Arrow" him with no fear, because he's just about the least likely DC property to show up on your television screens.
But how would YOU handle him?
There are SO MANY DC heroes getting turned into television properties right now, I feel like my "Arrowed" feature was quickly becoming redundant, so I sort of phased it out (and haven't done one in 6 months). But I didn't give it a proper send-off. So how about this?
The Heckler television show would basically be The Tick of the DC Universe - a comedy with silly heroes and villains, lots of zingers, and awkward secret identity moments. Stu Moseley gets no respect either in or out of superhero duds, which is a nice opportunity to subvert the usual superhero narrative, and Delta City is populated by lots of bizarre, satirical characters like Mayor Clump (who wears liberal and conservative masks depending on his audience), the Minx (a vigilante who hunts down her bad dates), X-Ms. (perfect for the Christmas episode), John Doe the Generic Man (antagonist), Bushwack'r (obviously based on Wile E. Coyote), and the Four Mopeds of the Apocalypse.
I see it as part sitcom, part absurd satire, part action story, part deconstruction of the superhero type created by all these new shows. Now that we have a good, strong corpus of the genre in this media, it makes sense to poke fun at it in the same medium. The Heckler does that. And I "Arrow" him with no fear, because he's just about the least likely DC property to show up on your television screens.
But how would YOU handle him?
Comments
OK, it's probably not a strong enough concept to carry a whole show. But I wish that Legends show had a bit more of an anthology feel, and could give five minutes a week to someone like the Heckler. (Or Ambush Bug, or Plastic Man...) Five minutes could be enough to set up, do some jokes, get out before wearing out the welcome or anyone overthinking it.
There are also other characters that are only name dropped but not seen due to the sad fact that the series only lasted 6 issues. I would love to see those characters in the show as well.