Super Visions: Fall TV 2014 is all about comics-based characters

• Courtesy NBC
• FIREMAN: Matt Ryan as John Constantine

As I await Daredevil’s 2015 premiere on Netflix with all the patience of a boiling teakettle — Scott Glenn’s spot-on casting as Stick, Matt Murdock’s mentor, is newly announced as I write this entry — I console myself with the knowledge that the TV cornucopia is about to spill forth comics-based characters in superabundance. What will I be pointing my greedy geek’s eyes at this fall, you ask?

In order of the anticipation they spark in me, from least to most, I expect to fritter away the dark hours of year’s end at the following electron parties:

“Constantine”
Based on DC’s Hellblazer, this NBC program is shooting (at least in part) in Atlanta (but what isn’t?). It revolves around ever-raincoat-clad sorcerer John Constantine, an Alan Moore creation who first popped up in the Great Brit’s run on Swamp Thing. My lessened expectations stem somewhat from rumors of the character’s softening (predictably, he’ll be neither bisexual nor a smoker, unlike the comics version), but mainly the snippets I’ve seen online. Matt Ryan looks right in the title role, but his onscreen demeanor struck the wrong tone to me. Still, Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers, “Game of Thrones”) is directing the pilot, so hope lingers. 10 p.m. EST Fridays; premieres Oct. 24.

“Arrow”
I admit to being a sucker for the soap opera that is the CW’s version of Green Arrow. Season two was pallid in comparison to its predecessor, and this season sounds crammed with new masked, um, marvels. I detect a whiff of desperation here. 8 p.m. EST Wednesdays; premieres Oct. 8.

“The Flash”
Like Superman, the Scarlet Speedster is among the toughest superheroes to make interesting in all of comics. Truth is, those goofy bastards in his rogues’ gallery bring life to the fastest man alive (even as they try to take it away …). I gave considerably less than a damn about this show before Wentworth Miller (“Prison Break”) got cast as Captain Cold. Few actors convey intelligence as intelligently as he can. Now, if only they can justify the character’s ridiculous monicker (the smart route would be as a dismissive nickname with roots in a newsroom or a police precinct). This CW spinoff of “Arrow” is airing at 8 p.m. EST Tuesdays; premieres Oct. 7.

“Agents of SHIELD”
This ABC show’s first season dithered along until the release of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Thereafter its pleasures were manifold, stakes were raised, and what had seemed to bear only scant resemblance to its source material came sharply into focus. Worth catching up on if you avoided it earlier. 9 p.m. EST Tuesdays; premieres Sept. 23.

“Agent Carter”
ABC’s impending “Agents of SHIELD” spinoff stars actress Hayley Atwell (I could stop there) as its secret weapon. Set in the era after WWII and the first Captain America movie, it promises to deal with the title character’s struggles against evildoers and sexism. Times and dates TBA.

“Gotham”
Batman before he begins. Call me nuts, but a bit of the Bat goes a long way. I thought the best stretches of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight cribbed from Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka’s brilliantly somber comics policier, Gotham Central. Show runner Bruno Heller (“The Mentalist”) appears to second that idea, if the teasers give any indication. Now: If only Fox won’t strangle it in its infancy. Times TBA, Mondays; premieres Sept. 22.

Which shows, new or old, tickle your fancy this fall?