A few months ago, I saw a sobering ad while scrolling mindlessly through TikTok. Two people, dressed in gaudy yet stylized Victorian garb yelled at me for scrolling. Broadly, they told me to move beyond the rot of endless, looping scrolling and do something, anything, with my time. And maybe that something might be to watch Dead Boy Detectives on Netflix. I have no shame. A few times, I’ve gotten the “Hey, you’re up really late, go to bed” video from the official TikTok wellness account, but this was the official Netflix account, in a sponsored post, telling me to replace one form of consumption with another. And it must have worked, because Steve Yockey’s Dead Boy Detectives, adapted from Neil Gaiman and Matt Wagner’s comics series of the same name, topped the Netflix charts for weeks. If you’re going to rot, why not not rot in the afterlife with the best of them? Sadly, the hit series has been canceled by the streamer and viewers are upset, to say the least.
Per Netflix: Characters from the Sandman universe come to life in this mystery series following dead best friends Edwin and Charles, who solve supernatural crimes.
The series is set in the same universe as Gaiman’s other Netflix hit, The Sandman, which follows the personification of dreams and his quest to restore his realm after years of capture in an occult ritual. Both series are dark yet fluffy, tender yet funny. They feature Gaiman’s trademark imagination and penchant for fantastical storytelling, though Dead Boy Detectives, as a quasi-spin-off, is much smaller in scale.
The angst and romance rendered the Netflix series a hit among critics, plus audiences loved the series’ queer representation.
However, Netflix just recently decided to cancel the series, which has led to outrage on social media and a hashtag campaign (#SaveDeadBoyDetectives). Fans wanted more of the world’s lore, as well as more of the queer representation, thoughtful storytelling, and quirky characters. This news comes on the back of several cancellations at the streamer.
Have you watched Dead Boy Detectives on Netflix? Do you think they’ll bring the series back from the dead? Let me know over on Twitter @Chadiscollins.
Categorized:News
