I <3 Dexter Morgan and Bill Sienkiewicz is leet. By Felix Serrano – Robot Dialog #7

October 26, 2010 Felix Serrano 7 Comments

OK, So It’s safe to say that we are well into season 5 of Showtimes award winning series Dexter and after 5 season of blood splatter it hit me. Holy Shit, Dexter is the closest we’ll get to an actual Batman TV show. How so? Well, there are a number of similarities. First lets start with the detective work. For those of you who have never seen the show (shame on you) Dexter Morgan is a bloodstain pattern analyst who works for the Miami Metro Police Department. He’s also a serial killer, but not just any serial killer… a killer of killers. Dexter goes after the killers who have been released from jail and could potentially kill again. Here is an excerpt from the series synopsis –

“Dexter structures his killing around “The Code of Harry”, a body of ethics and procedures devised by his adoptive father Harry (who was a Miami cop) to make sure Dexter never gets caught and ensure that Dexter kills only other killers. Harry also trained Dexter in how to interact convincingly with other people despite being a sociopath, since the murder of his biological mother, Laura Moser, did in fact turn Dexter into a serial killer. As an adult, Dexter has largely escaped suspicion (with some exceptions) by being genial and generous and maintaining generally superficial relationships. However, his attachment to his sister Deb, his significant other Rita, his stepchildren and (later) his biological son have all complicated his duplicitous lifestyle while making him question his need to kill.”

Ok Take the latter part of that quote and substitute Harry for Wildcat, Ducard or Kirgi and substitute Dexter for Bruce or Batman like this:

Ducard also trained Bruce in how to interact convincingly with other people despite being a sociopath, since the murder of his biological mother, Martha Wayne, did in fact turn Bruce into Batman. As an adult, Bruce has largely escaped suspicion (with some exceptions) by being genial and generous and maintaining generally superficial relationships. However, his attachment to his Butler Alfred, his significant other Dick(hehe had to throw that in, we all know the dude has tendencies), his stepchildren and (later) his biological son (this is where Dexter becomes more human than Bruce Wayne)have all complicated his duplicitous lifestyle while making him question his need to be Batman.

You get the point. The foundations are very similar. So at it’s essence that’s why I’ve been watching this show for five seasons and I am still not bored of it. Another thing is that it’s one of the few shows on television that portrays Latin Americans in a realistic light. When I see my fellow Boricuas, Cubanos or Dominicanos on the screen I don’t cringe <cough> George Lopez<cough>, no Mexicans though, they are west coast or trapped in kitchens all over NYC.

Watch Dexter. If you have Netflix you can que seasons 1-3 on Watch Instantly and bang them out in a weekend. It’s worth it.

On another note, let’s talk Illustration in the form of the TV title sequence. The title sequence to Dexter was created by a production company called Digital Kitchen. The folks over at DK really know their craft. DK is responsible for the Title Sequences of: Nip/Tuck, Rescue Me, True Blood, Six Feet Under, House, Dexter and a few more. They mange to tell more story with character within a minute and a half than Michael Bay can in eight big budget films. The title sequence for Dexter (which gives you the total vibe of the show while illustrating his tendencies in his daily rituals) won them one of many Emmys. Check this interview out with Creative Director Eric Anderson on the evolution and inspiration of the sequence. http://www.artofthetitle.com/2010/09/27/dexter/

Lastly. Bill Sienkiewicz, you get all the cool jobs and you still have not friended me on Facebook. I’m hurt. <sad face> However; I forgive you. You’ve shown me that there is hope for the evolving art of the webisode. Sienkiewicz illustrated the first few webisodes of Dexter: Early Cuts Dark Echo and they look great. Sienkiewicz has always been an influence on my work and always will be, the man just knows how to keep pushing the envelope. Check out the first webisodes of Dark Echo.

The others can be found here http://www.sho.com/site/dexter/webisodes.do

That’s it for me, getting my organs poked by a doctor tomorrow, fun stuff.

-F