Bat Boy TV Series From Riverdale Creator Ordered at Netflix

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, who served as the showrunner on Riverdale , is reportedly developing a new series based on the '90s tabloid character Bat Boy with One Piece producer Joe Tracz . Based on the character who first appeared in the supermarket tabloid Weekly World News , Bat Boy will be a YA horror-comedy. The character was previously featured on stage in the Off-Broadway show Bat Boy: The Musical , but that story is apparently not related to the new series. The series will run on Netflix . No stars are attached yet.

Bat Boy's first appearance was in 1992, on the cover of Weekly World News , and the cryptid's popularity was so great it became the unofficial mascot for the paper. Within the context of his stories, Bat Boy was always on the run from shady government agents, and would sometimes get caught, only to escape and start over.

Here's the synopsis, via Deadline, who first reported the series:

"In the coming-of-age series adaptation, the titular character is a teen named Bobby Bates. With the help of fellow teens Charisma and her weird sister Olive, Bobby re-enters mainstream society after living in seclusion on the outskirts in the remnants of a long-dissipated carnival. When Bobby enrolls at Cypressville High, he embarks on a journey of self-discovery while attempting to find his place among his new peers and society and trying to solve a mystery bubbling up from the Florida swamps. All that while rocking his half-bat-like features like sharp teeth and pointy ears -- oh, there's also the small matter of his need for human blood."

At some point, Hate cartoonist Peter Bagge started an Adventures of Batboy strip at Weekly World News . The strip would run, both by Bagge and later by Danielle Corsetto, until the newspaper ended in 2007.