DC's "Naomi" coming to CW from Ava Duvernay

https://deadline.com/2020/12/naomi-tv-dc-comics-ava-duvernay-jill-blankenship-the-cw-1234650615/

"Ava DuVernay is doubling down on DC Comics IP for her latest television project: an adaptation of teen superhero story Naomi. DuVernay, who is set to direct the feature film adaptation of DC’s New Gods, is developing the drama for the CW. She has teamed with Arrow writer and co-exec producer Jill Blankenship to write and exec produce the project.

The show will follow a teen girl’s journey from her small northwestern town to the heights of the multiverse. When a supernatural event shakes her hometown to the core, Naomi sets out to uncover its origins, and what she discovers will challenge everything we believe about our heroes."

Very excited for this, I absolutely love the character and what Bendis has done with her (hate how long this gap is until her next "season"). He's so good at solo teenage books, I'm very excited to see how they adapt this.

 

Wow, they're definitely diving starting these adaptations pretty fast now.

 

Interesting. With Supergirl and Black Lightning ending this season, and my interest in the rest of the existing Arrowverse flagging badly, I had thought I might end up with Superman & Lois as my only remaining show. But I quite enjoyed Naomi's initial comics run, and I might be tempted to give this a try.

 

This might not be a done deal, according to the announcement on DC's website, this is just script development deal, so there hasn't even been a pilot or series ordered yet.

 

I've never heard of whatever this is supposed to be, I'm assuming they're thinking about it because it's probably a pretty cheap property, although it's really stretching to call it a DC thing.

 

It's definitely a DC comic, firmly set in the comics universe. As I recall, Superman guest-starred in her very first issue.

It's just a relatively new character who has only been around for a few years now. That doesn't make it any less of a DC thing.

 

Yeah, it was one of the first comics Brian Michael Bendis started writing when he came over to DC.

 

Yep.




Then she returned the favor:



Come to think of it, maybe Tyler Hoechlin's Supes could help kick off her CW/Arrowverse debut.

 

I hopes it's better that the comic. Bendis' DC work seems to lack focus and meanders about.

 

Bendis work has always been written in a style where the story and characters take a while to develop. But his stories hold up very well usually. Naomi was certainly a gem of his recent run with DC.

 

I was thinking/hoping this exact thing!

 

Superman and Naomi are pretty strongly connected in the comics--this is our new crossover pairing.

 

I didn't really doubt that she was actually a DC thing, but I bet the vast majority of even the comic reading fan base probably cant identify her. so she is still probably a pretty cheap license for the CW, and seeming to be a youngish woman is probably fit for their demographic. it makes sense I hadn't heard of her, Bendis hasn't put out a single Good comic since he stopped writing Avengers, and I stay away from his DC work.

It kind of sucks that the CW's just planning shows based off No Name characters like this and that weird Black Lightning spin-off, but maybe DC now wants to save its more popular characters, that aren't already licensed to the CW, for HBO Max and various movie things.

 

You may be right that it is a "cheap" license. You also forgot the Wonder Girl series by the way. But Naomi has potential to become the next Stargirl in the comics. By the way, look for the Wonder Twins to be the next CW DC program.

 

I'm unfamiliar with Naomi, but I'm hearing positive buzz -- someone on Facebook called it "DC's Ms. Marvel." So that's promising. Although it's weird to see a superhero series title that's just an ordinary first name. The Flash, Superman and Lois, Batwoman, Black Lightning, Stargirl, Wonder Girl... and Naomi! Okay...

The article didn't really say if it would be in the Arrowverse, but since it's for The CW, it stands to reason. Plus the tagline mentions the Multiverse as a story element.

 

TBH hist post-Siege Heroic Age Avengers/New Avengers stuff wasn't very good either. There was definitely a spark missing, that was there during the original New Avengers run.

 

Stargirl isn't an Arrowverse series, so 'airing on The CW' has nothing to do with continuity alignment as far as that particular franchise goes.

 

Yeah, I can agree with that. I loved his original New Avengers run, it was one of the first ongoing comics I ever read as it was coming out and I still consider it the best Avengers run, but he definitely lost steam as he went. Still, even the weaker part of his run is, in my opinion, better then any other Avengers run since he left, so I still have a bit of fondness even for the weaker stuff. But after that I've pretty much hated everything he's done. His various problems as a writer (extreme decompression and random retcons being two of the biggest) have gotten worse as time goes on, at least in my opinion, and his "Bendis Speak" has also exploded, so I really just find his modern work unreadable.

 

That's not entirely the same situation since Stargirl was originally developed as a DC Universe before they decided to air it on The CW too. This is being developed specifically for The CW, so there's a pretty good chance it's being developed with crossovers in mind.

 

Yes, and Black Lightning was originally developed for FOX, I think, though FOX ultimately didn't pick it up.