Sweet Tooth has arrived on Netflix and has become one of the most successful productions of the platform this 2021. The 8-episode series, produced by Robert Downey Jr., is based on the post-apocalyptic comic book of the same name by Jeff Lemire.
The comic book
The story is about Gus aka “Sweet Tooth”, a deer-child hybrid, and his quest to find his mother in a world devastated by a virus, in which most of its inhabitants died. Sweet Tooth is a refreshingly different take on the post-apocalyptic stories we know, in which women begin to give birth to “hybrid” babies that are half-human, half-animal. The main plot of Sweet Tooth takes place approximately a decade after this collapse, as the remaining human survivors try to find a cure for the pandemic while the hybrids have to fight for their own salvation.
Photo: Netflix
The tone
The comic book miniseries were published from 2009 to 2013 through D.C.’s Vertigo imprint, and honestly, this original version is much less sweet than its Netflix version. The original comic book is full of violence and gore. It also delves into sexual violence: early in the plot, Tommy and Gus come across a town where a family captures women and forces them into prostitution.
Pubba
The upbringing Gus received from his dad was not necessarily top-notch; Pubba was actually not a good father like we see in the series. In the comic book, he is a God-fearing man who writes his apocalyptic visions. Gus loves him, and he loves Gus, but Pubba is clearly a dysfunctional person.
Dr. Singh
In the series, Dr. Singh had a key role from the beginning. His interest in the study of hybrids is justified here by the loss of his wife. However, in the comics, he appears until the hunters take him to Gus, then he understands that his purpose in life was to find the cure and become the savior of humankind.
Photo: Netflix
Tommy Jepperd
In the comics, Tommy Jepperd was a field hockey player with a pregnant wife. Scientists took the couple in and offered them help. However, their saviors betrayed them to experiment on their child. In the end, Tommy’s wife dies in childbirth, and to bury her with dignity, the scientists demand he must complete a mission: deliver a hybrid child. This justifies the rescue of Gus, whom he is willing to betray by deceiving him with a supposed hybrid child shelter in Colorado.
Gus’ friends
Unlike the series, in the comics, the group of children led by Bear was actually a cult of tribes led by a lunatic named Glebhelm and his five feral half-dog/half-man children, who began their lives by devouring their own mother. Glebhelm uses his hybrid children as trackers and enforcers and, while he is interested in other hybrids, that’s mainly because he believes his children can absorb his powers by eating them.
Photo: Netflix
General Abbot
General Abbot was the leader of the scientific base that experimented with children. Although the series portrays him as evil, the comics show him as an even more despicable and disgusting being; a true monster.
Netflix has not yet announced season 2 of Sweet Tooth. But due to the success of the show, a continuation is very likely to happen soon. Although due to the poetic licenses taken for the adaptation, the screenwriters will have their work cut out for them to make the outcome match properly.
Translated by María Isabel Carrasco Cara Chards
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