On The Air: Wynonna Earp (2016)

A common trope in comics is to employ elements of "steampunk" in works of fiction set in the Old West. Supposedly, the 1960's series, The Wild, Wild West, fit this category.

But what if you flipped things around a bit and created a "steampunk" drama in the present day?

Nearly 20 years ago, comics writer Beau Smith created Wynonna Earp for Image Comics. A descendant of the legendary lawman, Wyatt Earp, Wynonna discovered that carrying on the family tradition meant more than upholding law & order. Seven years later, Smith moved his pride & joy to Idea & Design Works (IDW), where he had held down a front office job for a spell. Now, Wynonna's back, both at IDW, and making her television debut on SyFy, marking the 1st time that a property active at IDW had been adapted for television.

According to the television show, Wynonna had left her hometown of Purgatory as a juvenile delinquent. Now, she comes home to find she is tasked to rid the town of demons, vampires, and such, and, at the same time, break the curse that seems to go with the Earp family. One online site review describes Wynonna Earp as a cross between Buffy, The Vampire Slayer and Justified. Judge for yourselves while you watch the following trailer.



This will attract fans of AMC's The Walking Dead and CW's Supernatural because of the subject matter. NBC-Universal-Comcast wisely placed Wynonna on SyFy after NBC's take on DC's Constantine was mishandled and cancelled after 1 season. Wynonna's reluctance to be a hero also parallels Netflix's Jessica Jones, but that's as far as the comparison goes.

Now, the only night where there's no comics-related live-action programming is Saturday. AMC is prepping an adaptation of the former Vertigo series, Preacher, but I suspect it will be part of the Sunday schedule instead, to give Walking Dead a running mate.

Having not previously read the books, and not being much of a fan of the "steampunk" concept, even though I am a Wild, Wild West fan, I felt as though I'd seen something like this before, and the Buffy comparison seems to make sense. I think I'll wait for the inevitable DVD release.

Rating: B--.