The TV show Sweet Tooth has received critical acclaim since its debut. Netflix adapted the fantasy series from the Vertigo comic books created by Jeff Lemire, telling the story of a post-apocalyptic world where the “sickness” ravaged the world and a new group of hybrid children was born. One of these hybrids, Gus, might be the key to understanding the entire new world situation.
As with most comic books brought to the small screen, changes had to be made. There were several changes made to Sweet Tooth from the start, changing the tone of the series and making alterations to key characters’ backgrounds. The Netflix series also introduced new characters and changed motivations to allow the horror comic series to morph into a fairytale success story.
Sweet Tooth Is More Fairy Tale Than Horror
The biggest change that occurred when bringing Sweet Tooth to Netflix was changing the genre of the story. While Jeff Lemire’s comic has a strong fantasy background in place, the entire look and feel of the story is pure horror. If the series played out like the comics, it would bear a similarity to something like the apocalyptic movie, The Road. Instead, the James Brolin narration helped turn the horror story into a fairytale, and things seemed more hopeful from the start.
Pubba Is A Religious Zealot In The Sweet Tooth Comics
In the Netflix series, Gus’s father, Pubba, is a caring and concerned parental figure. He saved Gus from a lab and took him into hiding in the woods. Pubba created a home for them, and helped teach Gus how to talk, read, and act like an average human child. He also created loving stories for Gus to read. In the comics, Pubba was not a nice man; instead of creating picture books for Gus, he copied scriptures, mostly those involving terrifying punishment for sinners.
Dr. Singh’s Backstory
Dr. Singh had a huge part in Sweet Tooth Season 1 from the start. He was one of the first doctors to see all the hybrid babies. He then realized his wife has the sickness and did everything he could to keep her alive, getting vials of serum from the doctor trying to find a cure. This made him sympathetic, even when he had to experiment on the hybrids himself. In the comics, he never appeared until hunters brought Gus to him, and he was already experimenting on children by this time.
Dr. Singh Has Morals From The Start
Since Dr. Singh got a significant backstory in the Sweet Tooth Netflix series, the show could explain why he was experimenting on the hybrid children. Without this, he would have just looked like another bad guy. It also allowed the streaming series to show that he didn’t want to do this and was morally against the experimentation on hybrids.
In the comics, Singh was extremely hard to sympathize with because he felt it was his purpose in life to find the cure and become humanity’s savior. That is not Singh in the series, as here he wants to save his wife and it has nothing to do with some sort of higher cause.
Jepperd’s Backstory
Tommy Jepperd’s backstory changed from the comics to the Netflix series. Minor changes include turning Jepperd from a hockey bruiser into a football star. However, the biggest change had to do with his wife and son. In the comics, his wife was pregnant. Scientists took in the two, offering help. However, their benefactors betrayed them and only wanted to experiment with their child if he was born a hybrid. Tommy’s wife died during childbirth, and he had to complete a mission for these scientists if he wanted his wife’s body to bury. In the Netflix series, his wife and son’s fate is unknown.
Jepper Betrayed Gus In The Sweet Tooth Comics
When Tommy Jepperd found Gus, he saved the boy’s life from two of the Last Men. He killed both men and reluctantly ended up traveling with Gus. He protected Gus again from an attack at the lodge and then endured an injury when the Last Men took Gus. In the comics, Tommy was different. He only helped Gus because he needed to turn a hybrid child over to the scientists for them to release his wife’s body to him. He was a bad guy in the comics and betrayed Gus before eventually turning good.
Jepperd And Gus Take A Different Journey
In the Sweet Tooth Netflix series, Gus asked Tommy Jepperd for help. He wanted one thing. His dad died, and he found a photo of Birdie, who he mistakenly thought was his mother. He wanted Jepperd to take him to find his mother in Colorado, and they set out on that journey.
On top of the fact that Tommy betrayed Gus in the comics, their destination was also different. Gus wasn’t searching for his mother. Jepperd promised Gus that there was a preserve in Colorado that was a haven for hybrid children. It was a lie, and it changed the reason they left together.
Tribe Of Children In Amusement Park
Gus met some allies in the first season of Sweet Tooth. This was a group of kids who lived in an amusement park, all led by a girl named Bear. This was a group that almost worshipped the hybrid children and took on animal personas themselves. They helped rescue and protect hybrids from the Last Men. In the comics, there was another group like this, but it was a cult. They also saved hybrid children, but immoral men led them. These men had their own hybrid children kill others because they believed they could steal their powers.
Aimee And Her Preserve
Aimee did not exist in the Sweet Tooth comic books. In the Netflix series, Aimee was a former therapist who seemed to hate her life of listening to married couples talk about their problems. When the sickness started, she barricaded herself in her office building and survived. She eventually left and made her way to the zoo. It was here that Aimee created a preserve and sanctuary for the hybrid children, including a pig-faced baby she took in. The comics talked about a preserve in Colorado, and this might be the substitution for it with a new character.
General Abbot
General Abbot is the villain in both the Sweet Tooth streaming series on Netflix and in the comics. He also looks very close to his comic book counterpart. However, there are some differences between the two characters. In the comics, he was the leader of the scientific base that experimented on the children, which he ended up at by season’s end. In the show, he was also the leader of the Last Men. However, he was even more evil in the books than he is on the show, a truly despicable human being.