In an interview with Steve Fritz on Newsarama, Tyler Labine, who starred as the id-driven Sock on the recently cancelled CW network TV series Reaper, said, “Bret (Harrison) told me a comic book is definitely in the works. That’s a green light. I think Reaper would make a great comic book.”  Certainly some cancelled TV series, most notably Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which has become a huge hit for Dark Horse, and Angel, which has done very well for IDW, have found four-color success after being terminated, but the road from the small screen to the comic shop is not always an easy one. 

Reaper, which like Buffy and Angel is a fantasy/adventure series with lots of humor and an attractive cast, would appear to be a good candidate to extend its life via comics, but there other important considerations.  Unlike Buffy, which lasted for seven seasons, there are not enough episodes of Reaper for syndication, which means that the property is going to disappear from television.  There was talk of continuing Veronica Mars, another series that built up a strong cult following but not enough episodes for syndication, in comics (see “Veronica Mars Season 4 Comic”), but nothing has ever come of that notion. 

Lebine told Newsarama that CW head Dawn Ostroff, who cancelled Veronica Mars, was the one who pulled the plug on Reaper.  Here’s hoping that unlike Veronica Mars, the stylish Reaper gets a chance to live on in some form.  Reaper’s fate could be determined by the sales of the DVDs of its two TV seasons.  If it can demonstrate that it has a devoted following, it may just have a chance.  After all the number of buyers necessary to make a comic book series successful is far, far lower than what it takes to generate a single ratings point in the Nielsen rankings.