By Adapting Jeff Lemire’s long-running Vertigo Comics series of the same name, Sweet Tooth has received its first Netflix trailer ahead of a June premiere, and if we’re all sick of post-apocalyptic dreariness, maybe this is a tender light at the end of the tunnel?
Gus (Christian Converey) is a deer-boy (correct, “deer” not “dear”) living out a quiet rural life with his family in a world ravaged by strange disease and a collapse of society, where animal and human hybrids are, clearly, a reality. It’s perhaps a bit less high-octane than Mad Max, nor as blisteringly bleak as Children of Men, but it isn’t without its perils. Pursued by mysterious men and taken under the wing of drifter Tommy Jepperd (Nonso Anozie), Gus, who gets the nickname of “Sweet Tooth” for his affinity for sugary treats, sets out through a strange and beautiful lost world.
Running for 40 issues, Lemire wrote and illustrated Sweet Tooth for DC’s Vertigo imprint, receiving widespread acclaim. The Netflix series is executive produced by Robert Downey Jr and Susan Downey, with show being run by Jim Mickle.
From the new trailer alone, Sweet Tooth looks like a terrific summer adventure, Lemire’s warm but strange stylizations fitting right into the fantasy television spectrum while not blending together with all the other noise. Following other comic book successes like Netflix’s own Umbrella Academy or Amazon’s The Boys, Sweet Tooth looks like further proof that the medium is ripe for adaptation, and it isn’t all just Thanos fighting Batman. With all eight episodes of Sweet Tooth premiering on Netflix June 4th, we don’t have long to wait to sate our sugar cravings.