Regarding Neil Gaiman’s Association With Dead Boy Detectives

The purpose of this page is to clarify Neil Gaiman’s level of involvement with the show.

How It Started

In April 1991, Neil Gaiman and Matt Wagner introduced us to Edwin Paine and Charles Rowland in The Sandman #25. Between December 1993 and January 1994 Gaiman revived the characters to feature in The Children’s Crusade. This revival marks the first time the boys were referred to as the Dead Boy Detectives.

Although Gaiman created the characters, it should also be noted that Peter Gross wrote them into the Books of Magic short story Winters Edge #3. The boys appeared in several of their own comic book series written by Ed Brubaker and Jill Thompson starting in 2001 with Neil Gaiman having no involvement. The Dead Boy Detectives then went on to finally get their own comic series starting in 2013, written by Toby Litt and Mark Buckingham, again with no involvement from Gaiman.

On September 23 2021, the Dead Boy Detectives made their first television appearance in season 3 episode 3 of Doom Patrol, aptly named ‘Dead Patrol’. While we do not have the exact dates, we do know that work on the Dead Boy Detectives pilot began around the same time in 2021. By this point, Steve Yockey had purchased the rights to the Dead Boy Detectives brand.

Charles and Edwin in the first panel from their very first appearance in The Sandman Season of Mists #25.

Throughout the production of the Dead Boy Detectives, Gaiman has admitted to writing very few scenes. Although he is credited as an executive producer, Gaiman has admitted several times on his tumblr account that Dead Boy Detectives is strictly Steve Yockey and Beth Schwartz’s show.

Steve Yockey was the one to approach Warner Bros and DC about creating a Dead Boy Detectives show, and bought the rights to the show himself. In terms of copyright holdings, the show is entirely owned by Warner Bros, while Yockey is employed with a deal that started in 2022.

It should also be noted, that the show itself is heavily based on the Dead Boy Detective comic series created by Toby Litt and Mark Buckingham. This comic series marks the first appearance of Crystal Palace and Tragic Mick, two prominent characters in the television series. On January 12th, Toby Litt confirmed the connection to his comic line and the show in an article from Southampton UK.

In conclusion, Gaiman’s involvement with Dead Boy Detectives as a whole has always been very minimal, which Gaiman himself has admitted. Many articles have incorrectly stated that Gaiman’s involvement had an effect on the show’s cancellation, despite many members of the crew insinuating that the view count was the culprit in Dead Boy Detectives’ early demise.

In an interview by CBR, George Rexstrew who plays Edwin Payne in the show, reveals that there were only a total of three scenes written by Gaiman in the whole show. Rexstrew states, "There's the final scene of episode eight, which he wrote. And then he wrote the two scenes that feature The Sandman characters." If those scenes are added up, the total time of Gaiman’s involvement with writing the show would be approximately ten minutes and fifty eight seconds out of the full eight hour season.

Gaiman’s Written Scene Involvement Breakdown

Season 1 Episode 1 (5:14-7:10) : 1 Minute 56 Seconds

Season 1 Episode 7 (22:59-25:13) : 2 Minutes 14 Seconds

Season 1 Episode 8 (45:51-52:39) : 6 Minutes 48 Seconds

Total: 10 Minutes 58 Seconds

If you would like more information about Neil Gaiman’s involvement with Dead Boy Detectives, click the button below to go to a Tumblr post that details the situation more thoroughly.