Shocking to no one, but as time goes on, more comic book adaptations will be released on TV and at the movies. Obviously, Marvel and DC Comics are the most popular and well-recognized comic book franchises, but Image Comics is coming for them.
Image Comics has been producing a lot of content over the years. Maybe the most popular are Invincible on Prime Video or AMC’s The Walking Dead, with the latter having produced seven spin-offs. And, recently, it was announced that Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky’s Sex Criminals is coming with Kumail Nanjiani.
There’s another series based on an Image Comics series on Hulu and Disney+ called The Beauty. It’s written by Ryan Murphy (American Horror Story and Pose) and Matthew Hodgson (American Horror Stories). After reading the first couple of volumes (created by Jeremy Haun and Jason A. Hurley) of the source material, it’s weird that the show went so far away from the original story.
The differences between FX's The Beauty and the comic
The series begins with a woman on a catwalk sweating profusely. She runs into the audience and snatches water from anyone with a bottle. Then, she starts attacking people out of nowhere. After leaving the arena, the trend of guzzling water and violence continues. She’s eventually stopped by the police, who shoot her, but she doesn’t die until she spontaneously combusts. That’s the best way to describe it, but viewers later learn that a sexually transmitted disease caused the implosion. However, it also made her beautiful.
In the comics, a woman who took the Beauty drug is on the train, and an explosion comes from every hole in her face. While investigating the crime scene, Detectives Vaughn and Foster learn that not only did she burn from the inside out, but also her bones are so fragile that they’ll shatter if she’s moved. Back at the police station, they find out that Beauty killed her and is killing more around the country.
As the season progressed, I kept waiting for things to get closer to the comic book. There are characters like Ezerae (a trans woman and assassin) to show up, or for the theme of blood and guts to slow down. Instead, she wasn't introduced (and should have been), and the outrageous scenes increased. For example, in the season finale, after taking a street version of the Beauty, a teenage girl mutated into something that resembled a more tragic version of Jeff Goldblum in The Fly. It was a bit much and not necessary.
Is The Beauty worth watching
Just from the description of the two beginnings, it's easy to tell that the difference between the two is the subtlety. While the FX show used a lot of shocking violence to keep people into what’s going on, the comic book didn’t rely on it. They waited for the right time to use a jaw-dropping moment, and that's what makes it special. That’s not to say the writing on the program isn’t good, but sometimes less is more, and this is a clear example of that.
In the end, FX's The Beauty seemed more like a season of American Horror Story than an adaptation of the Image comic book. The creative team took the idea of the virus and made it their own, but maybe not in a good way. However, that's not necessarily a bad thing.
The Beauty is getting decent ratings on Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb. So, it’s worth checking. And while I will watch season 2, I will be critical of the series. It seems like the name was used to get comic book fans to watch, but it removed the parts that made the source material special. Maybe that will change if the show gets renewed. There's a lot of story to tell, and it can improve the show.
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