The UK Independent has news of a new addition to the Virgin Comics roster:

The film director Guy Ritchie is joining forces with Sir Richard Branson to create a comic book with a view to turning it into a feature film.

Virgin Comics is Sir Richard’s newest business venture and will launch its first title, Devi, in Britain and the US on Wednesday. The unnamed Ritchie project, for which the Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels director will write the story, is due to be published in the autumn.

Madonna’s husby joins John Woo and Shekhar Kapur as the announced creators of the “Director’s Cut” line of the start-up, but if the article is correct a few more may be in the wings: Virgin may launch as many as 16 titles by 2007.