Comic Book TV Shows For People Who Hate Superheroes

It is an era of peak comic book TV, and while most people associate comics with superheroes, that does not mean that those small handful of people who for whatever reason can’t get into superhuman exploits don’t have anything going for them on the small screen.

While comic book movies and TV ape their print companions’ model of being dominated by men and women in tights, there are plenty of good, entertaining shows that run the gamut from fantasy to comedy to horror, all inspired by comics, and all currently airing (or at least currently waiting for their new season to air soon) on American TV.

We’ve put together a little list of the shows you superhero-averse readers can call your own…

…and by all means, let us know if we missed one! Certainly there have been some comic book shows in the past which have embraced a different tone — Human Target, Constantine, and so on — so we would not be surprised if one managed to slip thorough our fingers while putting this list together.

The Walking Dead

Let’s get this one out of the way first.

The Walking Dead is basically the show on this list that it is almost inconceivable you have never heard of.

The series, which is entering its ninth season in the fall, has been one of TV’s highest-rated shows for years, and is a multimedia juggernaut with toys, clothes, merchandise, and video games (among other things).

It even crawled out completely from under the influence of the comics on which it is based by spawning a spinoff series — Fear the Walking Dead, which some fans and critics are saying has surpassed the parent show in terms of quality and excitement.

It will take another hard turn against the grain of the comic book source material in season nine as lead actor Andrew Lincoln will leave the series, setting up a wildly different world than the one in the comics, where Rick Grimes remains a major player.

Riverdale

The CW’s hit Riverdale has the network’s biggest social media following and a fan base so huge that they are moving their Comic Con panel to the massive Hall H this year.

So what’s all the fuss about?

If you haven’t watched it yet, Riverdale is a dark and sexy reinvention of the Archie Comics characters. With a noir feel to the scripts and garish technicolor backing the whole thing, Riverdale feels like a surreal dream of the Archie characters, beautifully shot and expertly crafted even when the story itself often makes no sense at all.

You can check it out on Netflix (as you can with most of these series), and if you’re so inclined, this writer co-hosts Archie Digest: A Riverdale Podcast, which provides insight, commentary, and snark about every episode.

Wynonna Earp

The story of Wyatt Earp’s great-great-something granddaughter, who is fighting demons in order to overcome a family curse with Wyatt’s magic gun at her side, was originally published by Image Comics in the ’90s and has since hopped around, settling at IDW while the TV series is on the air.

A gleefully feminist and inclusive show with a badass Western sensibility and a wry sense of humor, Wynonna Earp can be said to resemble both its comic book and TV creators, Beau Smith and Emily Anders.

As the show enters its third season next month, Wynonna and company are finally tracking down the demon responsible for her family curse — in order to once and for all put the whole thing behind her so that the baby she had at the end of last season does not have to grow up and do what Wynonna is doing.

iZombie

The rom-com-zom-dram (romantic-comedy-zombie-drama) is coming to an end at the end of its next season, but it has been one of The CW’s most tightly-scripted and well-acted shows for the last four years.

The series, centers on Olivia Moore (Rose McIver), who is turned into a zombie, but realizes that by eating brains she can retain most of her personality — at least the parts of it not taken over by psychic impressions of the deceased. Becoming a medical examiner, she uses those psychic impressions to feed herself murder victim brains and then solve the murders.

In more recent seasons, the culture at large has changed as the world has become aware of zombies, leading to isolation, quarantine, and a brain shortage.

Lucifer

A show about a crime-solvin’ devil! What could go wrong?

Lucifer, based on the Vertigo comics by Neil Gaiman, Mike Carey, and others, centers on Lucifer Morningstar, who came to Earth years ago for a vacation from Hell and just never went back home.

He finds himself partnered with a Los Angeles homicide detective, and the two of them solve crimes and deal with their constant romantic tension.

For more on this show, we can direct you to a recent interview with the showrunners, in which they shared thoughts and behind-the-scenes tidbits from literally every episode which has aired so far.

Cancelled by FOX, Lucifer is headed to Netflix for its fourth season.

Happy!

There might not be a show on this list weirder than Happy! (although the next entry below is a solid contender), which centers on Nick Sax (Christopher Meloni), an alcoholic and disgraced ex-cop who makes a living doing dirty deeds for the highest bidder before he is recruited, by way of a talking cartoon horse named Happy (Patton Oswalt), into a quest to save the life of a young girl.

Grotesque, violent, and full of exactly the kind of madcap mayhem you would expect from a comic done by Darick Robertson, Happy! is shockingly the first Grant Morrison project to be successfully adapted, and while the graphic novel is very  much a closed world, the TV show opens it up significantly to make way for future seasons and future stories.

Preacher

We aren’t saying there is, but if there were to be a show that is more violent, depraved, and bizarre than Happy!, it’s probably Preacher.

Based on the Vertigo comics by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, Preacher follows a minister who begins by having some doubts about his faith and ends up carrying a massive spiritual power, palling around with a vampire, and fighting threats both human and supernatural.

The End of the F*cking World

Based on the comic book series by Charles Forsman, “The End of the F…ing World” sees two 17-year-old outsiders, James and Alyssa, embark on a road trip to find her estranged father, who left home when she was just a child.

James, who is convinced he’s a psychopath, has decided it’s time to graduate from killing animals to something bigger — and he already has a target in mind.

Alyssa, the embodiment of existential angst, feels like she doesn’t fit in at her new school despite being quite popular. Together, they get caught up on a trail of violent events that grow increasingly more ominous as their quest progresses.

Krypton

Okay, so this one barely counts, since it plays on the Superman mythology and does make frequent mentions of the Man of Steel, the Justice League, and the like…

…but we’re going to count it — partly becuase it is a damn good show and partly because there is basically no one on this series with super powers other than its big bad, which makes it feel less like a superhero show and most like a dystopian science-fantasy.

The series, which had been described ahead of its premiere as Game of Thrones in space, features a human time-traveler who makes his way 200 years into Krypton’s past to warn Superman’s paternal grandfather of a time-traveling menace which, he believes, plans to destroy Krypton early in the hope of preventing Superman’s birth.

The resultant story blends science fiction, adventure, and political intrigue, peppered with a few familiar names and faces from the DC lore to kep the hardcore fans eager for the next installment.

Outcast

From the mind of The Walking Dead‘s Robert Kirkman comes Outcast, a show about exorcism that features Patrick Fugit from Almost Famous in what is pretty clearly his best role since.

The second season is coming to Showtime on July 20 (which conflicts with both Comic Con AND the season premiere of Wynonna Earp, but whatever), although it has already aired in other parts of the world.

The show has drawn strong reviews from critics and is one of the most adventurous shows Showtime has on their lineup. Of course, they’re far from the only ones who want to be in the Robert Kirkman business, and he’s got more movies and TV coming soon.