46-Episode HBO Max Sci-Fi Series Deserves Kudos For Successfully Adapting An Unfilmable Comic Book

An HBO Max superhero show based on a comic book that was long deemed unfilmable deserves a lot of praise, not only for adapting the story into live-action, but also for delivering 46 tremendous episodes of television. Over the years, superhero television shows have become a dime a dozen. Between the myriad of MCU television shows and the many series based on DC Comics, it has been thoroughly established that comics can translate to live-action pretty easily.

Across the 21st century, comic book adaptations have grown more common, CGI and VFX have grown more sophisticated, and audiences have grown more accustomed to weird and outlandish superheroes, like the Guardians of the Galaxy, entering the mainstream. Even with all these advancements, there are a select few comics that are still considered truly unfilmable.

High-concept or heavily metaphorical comics like Absolute Martian Manhunter haven't made it to television yet for obvious reasons. Smaller superhero teams, like the Justice League Dark, don't have the popularity necessary to make a TV adaptation worthwhile. There are still a lot of "unfilmable" comics out there, but one of them got made into an extremely competent live-action series with four seasons on HBO Max: Doom Patrol.

HBO Max's Doom Patrol Should Have Been Too Strange To Function

Basically every part of Doom Patrol shouldn't have worked as a live-action adaptation. The team itself isn't terribly popular, though it has earned a small but very dedicated following. The Doom Patrol's members are very strange and saddled with emotional baggage and trauma. Even their powers were considered incredibly hard to film; Crazy Jane, for example, has 64 split personalities that demand a huge amount of range from a single actress.

Any one of those issues would, traditionally, make Doom Patrol a very bad candidate for a live-action series. Its low popularity meant it didn't have a built-in audience, making it a much bigger risk than more established superheroes. Having strange and emotionally complex characters can only work with excellent writing, and it still runs the risk of alienating viewers simply looking for a fun series to watch. The over-the-top powers of characters like Mr. Nobody, a "walking shadow" who constantly breaks the fourth wall and can't be properly perceived, meant the VFX budget would be astronomically high.

Adding to it all is the actual story of Doom Patrol. The show is incredibly emotionally complex, deals with really heavy topics, and gets into surprisingly high-concept sci-fi elements. It's often considered one of the most intellectually taxing superhero shows out there. The comics themselves also dove into abstract concepts, art movements like Dadaism and surrealism, and questions about the very fabric of the universe. Doom Patrol was already niche as a comic book series, and by all accounts, it should have been even more niche as a TV show.

Doom Patrol Ended Up Being One Of The Best DC Shows Of The Last Decade

Despite its well-earned "unfilmable" status, Doom Patrol ended up being the basis for a hit series. In fact, it's easily one of the best shows DC produced in the last decade. That's quite an achievement, given the last decade featured the Arrowverse, standalone shows like Lanterns and Peacemaker, and more. Still, even with such stiff competition, Doom Patrol easily deserves a spot near the top.

Doom Patrol was a surprise hit precisely because of its unfilmable qualities. It was and still is one of the most sensationally unique shows in the entire superhero genre. It brought nuanced emotional storytelling, psychological elements, and extremely strange metaphysics to the small screen before almost anything else. It also managed to turn some of its weaknesses, like its lack of popularity and general weirdness, into strengths that lent themselves to the story it was telling.

Doom Patrol is a story about a found family of outcasts battling themselves and their own pasts as much as they battle any supervillain. It's unabashedly strange, dripping with personality, features some of the most engaging and sympathetic characters on television, and basically forces the audience to be endeared to it. Before it started, no one could have imagined Doom Patrol being such a hit. Once it had begun, it was hard to remember why anyone doubted it at all.