Sweet Tooth: 10 Huge Differences Between The Show And The Comics

Sweet Tooth came to Netflix and was enough of a success to receive a renewal for a second season. However, anyone who has read Jeff Lemire’s Vertigo comics series on which the show is based knows that the comics could in no way come to the streaming service without some significant changes. Thus, the TV adaptation is very different from the Sweet Tooth comics in tone and content.

With the changes made, fans of Sweet Tooth have a lot to compare and contrast between the two versions of the story. These changes include characters, events, locations, and even Sweet Tooth’s journey itself. In the end, both versions offer a great story of survival and wonder, but in very different ways.

The Sweet Tooth Comics Are Much Darker Than The Show

One of the biggest differences between the Netflix Sweet Tooth series and the comic books it adapted is that the Netflix series seems optimistic from the start. There is violence and danger, and it is clear than not everyone will make it out alive, but the despair is marbled with sweetness and hope.

On the other hand, the comics are bleak from the start. What happens in the comics with the military forces and the children is horrific, and the books hold nothing back. Netflix clearly lightened things up for the series, because the dark horrors in the comics would be hard to take in a live-action series.

The Sweet Tooth Comics Deal With Sexual Violence

One big difference between Sweet Tooth on Netflix and in the comics that had to change was the sexual violence in the comics. While the books were darker and more violent, it was also a future where no one was safe.

Not only were the children captured, abused, dissected, and killed, but women also found themselves the enemy for bringing the children into the world. There were camps that not only held children captive, but also ran prostitution rings. This is something Sweet Tooth discovers in the comics, shocking him and forcing him into action to save the captives.

Gus Is Not As Smart In The Sweet Tooth Comics

Gus in the Netflix version of Sweet Tooth is a cute, likeable young hero, one who would stand the test of time against even a Steven Spielberg child hero. This is important to get viewers behind him and help them want to see him achieve his goals. However, that is far removed from the Gus in the comic books.

The Gus in the comics was not anywhere near as smart, and his dad didn’t teach him anywhere near the same education and survival skills that he did on the Netflix series. Gus in the comics is more of an uneducated country boy than the plucky hero from the Netflix series.

Tommy Jepperd Is Much Less Altruistic In The Sweet Tooth Comics

Tommy Jepperd, aka Big Man, is the one person who is actively trying to help and save Gus on the Netflix series. He is a reluctant hero and wanted nothing to do with the boy at first. However, he knew he couldn’t leave Gus alone and set out to not only lead the boy to Colorado but protect him every step of the way.

That is not what happened in the comics. In the books, Tommy got Gus only because he was promised the body of his dead wife if he brought in a living hybrid child. He betrayed Gus in the comics before he had a change of heart and saved him.

Pubba Is Not A Good Man In The Sweet Tooth Comics

Pubba raised Gus as his own son even though he was not the child’s father. In the Netflix series, he taught Gus how to protect himself. He was very protective himself before his own death. Thanks to Pubba, Gus had a head start on survival techniques before he ever set out on his quest.

In the comics, Pubba was a terrible person, almost a religious fanatic. He protected Gus, but it was with a form of tough love. It was clear that his experience at the medical facility left him a broken man, and he was nowhere near the father figure from the comics.

The Animal Army Is More Terrifying In The Sweet Tooth Comics

The animal army in the Sweet Tooth comic books is nothing like the ones shown on the Netflix version of Sweet Tooth. On the series, they are a bunch of tweens and teens wearing animal masks, protecting each other and looking out for their own. It all feels a bit like the Lost Boys from Peter Pan.

In the Sweet Tooth comics, the animal army is terrifying. They are not children protecting each other; they are adults who wear animal masks and operate as a cult. A man with five hybrid children leads them for his own purposes. This group in the series is more heroic in every way.

Dr. Singh Is Much More Ethical In The Netflix Sweet Tooth Series

In the Sweet Tooth comics, Dr. Singh did terrible things to hybrid children, experimenting on them and dissecting them. There is no telling how many hybrid kids he killed before he had his turn and chose to help Gus instead of killing him.

The Netflix series humanizes Dr. Singh before he eventually is forced to begin experimenting on hybrid children. It shows him protecting his wife from their fanatical neighbors after the infection. He agrees to take on the role of the doctor experimenting on the kids only when captured and forced to do so by General Abbott and the Last Men. By starting out as a good man, the audience is on his side.

Gus’ Journey To Colorado Is Unique To The Netflix Sweet Tooth Series

Gus is on an adventure in both versions of Sweet Tooth, but they’re different journeys with different goals. In the Netflix series, he is looking for his mother, Birdie, and sets out traveling from Wyoming to Colorado, where he believes she lives. The series makes it clear that Birdie is not really his mother, but Gus doesn’t know this.

In the Sweet Tooth comic books, Gus takes a completely different journey. Instead of trying to find his mother, he sets out to find a sanctuary he heard about that protects hybrids like him from attackers. This adventure takes Gus from Nebraska to Alaska.

Aimee Is An Original Character In The Netflix Sweet Tooth Series

In the comics, Gus met a pig-girl hybrid and the two of them worked together and fought for survival. However, in the Netflix sci-fi series, a new character was introduced. This was Aimee, who was the pig-girl hybrid’s adoptive mother.

There are some connections. In the comics, Gus was looking for a preserve, and this featured one, albeit smaller and less secure. Also, by adding the adult Aimee, it gives Tommy someone he can communicate with once they join up and doesn’t leave the entire story in the children’s hands.

Dr. Singh’s Neighbors Don’t Exist In The Sweet Tooth Comics

Dr. Singh’s neighbors did not exist in the comics at all. While these scenes were invented to show that he was a good man before he started doing bad things, there was another important reason to include them in the Netflix series.

The comic books threw the reader right into Sweet Tooth‘s apocalyptic event after it had happened. This caused disorientation and put the reader in the mind of Gus as he set out to discover the world. Netflix wanted viewers to know more than Gus, so these flashback scenes showed how and why society crumbled.

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