I wanted to ask this of your Marvel blog, but couldn't. So I'll ask it here. What did you think of Netflix's Daredevil series? And how does it compare to other superhero series like Arrow, Flash, Gotham ext.?
This is why you’re awesome, JR, because you help me answer the big questions, like ‘I wonder why I haven’t got any questions on my Marvel blog yet?’ (You can now totally ask me questions on my Marvel blog now lol.)
Though I’m actually glad I have an opportunity to answer it here, because I’ve been wanting to talk about Arrow/Flash now that I’ve finally caught up on them, and why not compare them to that Daredevil show everyone’s hoop ‘n’ hollerin’ about.
Before I go into detail (which is going to involve slamming Arrow a lot) I want to make my broader position on this topic perfectly clear: DC is murdering Marvel on TV right now, however as individual shows in the comics genre, Daredevil is by far the best.
Due to my Sons Of Anarchy binge earlier this year my watching schedule was thrown waayyyyyy off track, so cause of that + Uni I’m still trying to catch up on most of the shows that aired in the past 6 months. While I surprised even myself at how quickly I caught up on the Flash, finding time to watch this season of Arrow while also completing a dozen end of semester assignments was like trying to find the time to pull teeth.
Thing is though, I stopped watching Sons Of Anarchy to watch Daredevil, and I was fairly convinced of my above statement after the first episode; and if I wasn’t, then I definitely was by the second.
I think what sets Daredevil apart from the CW shows is that they understand the limitations of a TV budget, and use it effectively to develop the show as much as they can, whereas the CW use all of their budget trying - and failing - to recreate a movie experience. I exclude Gotham and Supergirl from this comparison because in addition to being of a much higher quality FOX and CBS don’t really have ‘TV’ budgets haha.
I’ve studied media for more years than people go to high school, so consciously or not, presentation has always been more important to me than content in determining how much I connect with a show/game/comic/etc. When I watch Daredevil I see beautiful cinematography, human characters with meaningful development, and some of the best hand to hand fighting choreography I’ve ever seen. When I watch Arrow I see half a dozen needlessly expensive sets trying to get Tony Stark’s attention, a cast with more characters than emotions between them, and fight sequences that are as believable as George Michael’s lightsaber video. Flash has improved a lot since is very soapy beginnings but still feels very much like a TV show, whereas Daredevil feels like a story that was simply best told in an episodic format.
At large DC are doing a much better job at cultivating their TV presence than Marvel are, they have several big name characters on the small screen which is what people want to see, and if they’re setting up what I think they’re gonna do they might just win the entertainment industry. Although if Marvel produce the rest of the Heroes For Hire shows to the same standard as they have with Daredevil, DC will not be able to win by sheer volume of presence for much longer.
