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Dead Boy Detectives Gets its Main Cast

Posted on November 22, 2021 by Brett

The main cast for Dead Boy Detectives has been revealed. The comic series will be coming to HBO Max with a pilot in the works. George Rexstrew, Jayden Revri, and Kassius Nelson will star in the lead roles.

Created by Neil Gaiman, the Dead Boy Detectives was released as a comic series from DC Comics. The Dead Boy Detectives are Charles Rowland (Revri) and Edwin Paine (Rexstrew) who decide to not go to the afterlife and instead stay on Earth and investigate supernatural crimes. They’re joined by Crystal Palace (Nelson) who is a psychic medium. Dead Boy Detectives was published by DC’s Vertigo imprint with a story by Toby Litt and Mark Buckingham and art by Mark Buckingham and Gary Erskine.

Reports have even more cast including Alexander Calvert as Thomas The Cat King; Briana Cuoco as Jenny; Jenn Lyon as Esther; Yuyu Kitamura as Niko; and Ruth Connell who will play Night Nurse.

Steve Yockey is writing and executive producing the pilot. Jeremy Carver, Greg Berlanti, Sara Schechter, and David Madden are executive producing.

The series isn’t a guarantee and just a pilot is in the works. Gaiman has had success currently with American Gods at Starz, Lucifer formerly on Fox and now Netflix and The Sandman coming to Netflix. Gaiman has an overall deal with Amazon which airs Good Omens. Amazon is also readying based on Gaiman’s Anansi Boys.

Review: Dead Boy Detectives #1

Posted on January 5, 2014 by Brett

From the pages of The Sandman, Neil Gaiman’s dead boys get their own monthly series! As fans of storybook detectives, Edwin Paine (died 1916) and Charles Rowland (died 1990) will take on any and all mysteries—including their own untimely deaths! The dead boys head back to St. Hilarions, where bullying headmasters continue to rule the school. But when they investigate the lingering mysteries of their own deaths, they meet a young girl named Crystal whose tech skills and strange link to the undead earn her a place as a new detective. Dead Boy Detectives is a fast-paced adventure series that takes us from the bustling streets of contemporary London to Japanese-inspired video games and dangerous worlds perched somewhere between the now and nevermore.

I didn’t read the original Sandman comics, so I came into this first issue with a complete blank slate. But, Vertigo as an imprint has a great track record of publishing amazing comic books that are high quality. While I liked the first issue of this series, I can’t say I was completely blown away by it.

The series, written by Toby Litt and Mark Buckingham, starts off with this weird performance art heist that might be a real heist, I’m still not quite sure, and the detectives stopping it. But, since I never read anything with them previously, I had no idea what they could and couldn’t do. So, as far as I knew they were really alive, it just took me a bit to figure out they were dead. So, there’s probably a lot folks who know about these characters pick up that I don’t.

The story is good, but nothing really blows me away. I’ll definitely check out the second issue, but like some of Vertigo’s other series, this one seems to be a slow starter. That’s not necessarily bad, because many of the imprint’s comics have started this way and have become modern classics.

The art is really solid. Buckingham and Gary Erskine have produced great art to look at, even if you’re not totally into the comic itself.

The issue was a good first issue, but not excellent. Overall, my gut says that after a few issues, the series will be, and that it’s just a slow start. Maybe folks who are more familiar with the characters will enjoy it more, but for me, it was only ok.

Story: Toby Litt, Mark Buckingham Art: Mark Buckingham, Gary Erskine

Story: 7.75 Art: 8.25 Overall: 7.75 Recommendation:Read

Vertigo Announces 6 New Titles

Posted on July 2, 2013 by Brett

Vertigo Comics has confirmed that American Vampire will be returning this December, but also announced the following all-new, bold, and exciting series:

Hinterkind – Decades after “The Blight” all but wiped out the human race, Mother Nature is taking back what’s hers and she’s not alone … all the creatures of myth and legend have returned and they’re not happy. After her grandfather disappears, Prosper Monday must leave the security and seclusion of her Central Park village to venture into the wilds to find him, unaware of how much the world has changed. An epic fantasy adventure set in a post-apocalyptic world, Hinterkind is written by Ian Edginton and illustrated by Francesco Trifogli, and debuts this October.
The Discipline – Launching this December, The Discipline is a dark, erotic thriller about a privileged young woman named Melissa who is thrust into a centuries old battle between good and evil. She begins an affair with a mysterious man named Orlando who opens her eyes to a sexually sinister world she never knew existed. Through this ritualistic seduction (“The Discipline”), Orlando unlocks Melissa’s inner power and then enlists her into a shadowy war that has been fought for centuries. The Discipline comes to you from writer Peter Milligan and artist Leo Fernandez.
Dead Boy Detectives – Spinning out of the pages of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, two dead British school boys star in their own monthly series and solve crimes in the 21st century with the help of a new female accomplice. Premiering in November, Dead Boy Detectives is written by noted British novelist Toby Litt with layouts and painted covers by Mark Buckingham.
Suiciders – Hitting the spinner rack this December, this new series marks the incomparable Lee Bermejo’s debut as an ongoing series comic book writer and artist. Suiciders follows the lies of two futuristic boxers – one on top of the world, the other trying to fight (and kill) his way there. Set in Los Angeles after “The Big One,” “Suiciders” is the wildly popular reality sport that contestants are literally dying to be a part of … and to be the best, you have to murder the best.
Coffin Hill – When she was 15, Eve Coffin summoned a darkness that had been buried since the Salem Witch Trials. Now Eve’s back to harness the evil that destroyed her friends and is slowly taking over the sleepy town of Coffin Hill. This is a series full of magic, madness and murder via a twisted family of New Englanders. Arriving in stores this October, Coffin Hill combines the talents of artist Inaki Miranda with writer Caitlin Kittredge, a young, dark fantasy author whose writing includes the Nocturne City, the Black London, and the Iron Codex series of novels – which include the recently published titles Dark Days and The Mirrored Shard.
The Witching Hour – Just in time for Halloween, this anthology-style one-shot collects short stories exploring witchcraft written and drawn by some of the most talented veterans and newcomers in the business – including Kelly Sue DeConnick, Cliff Chiang, Lauren Beukes, Emily Carroll, Matthew Sturges, Shawn McManus, Tula Lotay and many more.

And of course, how could you talk about all of the exciting projects on Vertigo’s plate in 2013 without discussing the highly anticipated Sandman prequel miniseries from writer Neil Gaiman and artist J.H. Williams III?

The Sandman: Overture will officially launch on October 30. The miniseries will be published every other month, with a special, oversized issue (including interviews, rare artwork, and more) hitting stands in between the release of each new issue.