It's painful to read people on this beloved social forum called reddit calling Netflix's Bodies a softer rip-off of another Netflix series called Dark, because it's NOT! Bodies is inspired by a graphic novel by the late Si Spencer called Drumroll: Bodies, which ran from June 2014 to February 2015.
So you read the comic and didn't watch the show, or you watched the show but didn't read the comic, or you didn't do any of those things, and you're wondering, "Is either one worth my time?"
What is Bodies about?
Bodies is a murder mystery set in four different timelines, where four detectives find the same body on the same street in London, with the same scars, but on different dates.
Now, the detectives in the show and the comic are the same. There's Edmond (or Alfred for some reason!?) in the 1890s, Karl in the 1940s, Shahara in our current time, and Maplewood in the 2050s.
The comic consists of eight issues, while the series comprises eight episodes. Although it might initially appear that each episode corresponds to one issue, leading the first episode to give this impression, this is not the case.
What's particularly good about the comic?
For each timeline in the comics, there's a new artist, a new style, so you can easily understand whose timeline you're currently reading, which makes it easier to follow the story. Clever!
And that's good because you really have to focus on the words you're reading to fully understand the meaning of the comic and the stories and what's actually happening. The show may be easier to understand because more things are explained to you directly, but the comic is more implicit and lets you philosophize about the moral of the story.
I think early on in your reading you'll realize, yeah, this story isn't just about uncovering huge secrets and a bloody murderer who needs to be stopped - it's deeper than that, innit?
Netflix characters vs Spencer's characters
Edmond/Alfred - A brooding 1890's Daredevil type detective (the red spectacles people) called Edmond in the comics and a brooding 1890's detective with a heartbreaking story on the show. I just don't understand why they had to change his name! What's wrong with Edmond?
Netflix 0,5:1 Comic
Karl - When you run from the Nazis (who did disgusting and horrifying inhuman things) and do something disgustingly inhuman to make it out alive (I'm not kidding, the page that explains what he did is terrifying), do you deserve a redemption arc? Do you deserve to be a softer, romanticized version of your original self? Do you have to make a character a better person just because he's one of the main characters? There are bad guys out there - Karl, sorry, I meant Charles, happens to be one of them. It's The Greatest Showman all over again!
Netflix 0:1 Comic
Shahara - It is sometimes painful to read a female character written by men and Shahara was one of them. While you see what this woman is capable of in the first few minutes of the show, you may roll your eyes at her from time to time in the comic.
Netflix 1:0 Comic
Maplewood - In the show, you get a more serious, hipster-looking Maplewood, with some seriously rad futuristic gear and some serious slamming down men twice my size skill. And in the comic, you get a queerer, maybe even funnier version of Maplewood, but this character has been through a lot, too. Both excellent!
Netflix 1:1 Comic
Three things that you absolutely need to know
1. The woman on the gorgeous cover is gorgeous and probably a "judge a comic by its cover" marketing strategy, but also massive clickbait (or maybe there's more to it and I just don't know it).
2. You won't know what the comic is about if you've only seen the show (and vice versa), and worst of all, you won't know what beautiful message Si Spencer hid behind this story and these characters!
3. There's a lot of naked bodies in the comic, and fortunately or unfortunately, whichever you prefer, there's less of that in the show. Also blood, there's a lot of blood in the comic - might as well have called it Bloody Bodies.
4. Oh, I almost forgot - know that you are loved.
Look at that german - it's so bad that it hurts
Bodies TP (2023 Edition)
€14,50
€16,99
LONDON, 1890. As Jack the Ripper stalks the streets, Inspector Edmond Hillinghead-the city’s most diligent detective-applies his skills to an even harder case. The victim is an unidentified male. The killer may have powerful allies. And Edmond’s darkest secret may… read more
