• Continuing the intriguing trend of Euro comics getting developed for the US, NBC announced a mini series based on XIII, which Kevin Melrose tells us, is an 80s Euro-comic by Jean Van Hamme and William Vance:
XIII, originally serialized in 1984 in the Belgian comics magazine Spirou, begins with a man who washes up on the shore of the East Coast with no memory of who he is, and the only clue to his past is “XIII” tatooed on his neck. His search for his identity leads him to confront a plot to overthrow the U.S. government.
The comic has been reprinted in the US by Catalan and most recently the Dabel Bros. Stephen Dorff and Val Kilmer will star in the mini-series.
• Ving Rhames, Radha Mitchell, and Rosamund Pike have joined Bruce Willis in the cast of The
Surrogates movie, which is based on the Top Shelf series by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele.
• Boom strikes again, as the controversial North Wind has been optioned by producer John Davis . Creator/screenwriter David DiGilio will adapt the tale.
Boom co-founders Cosby and Richie have been experiencing a boom in Hollywood lately. The pair is producing adaptations of their “Tag” and “Talent” comics at Universal with Marc Platt and “The Foundation” at Paramount. Ice Cube’s CubeVision is adapting the Boom graphic novel “10″ for Dimension.
The film will be one of many sci-fi spectacles for Davis Entertainment, which helped bring “I, Robot,” “Alien vs. Predator” and “Eragon” to the screen.
“…with a man who washes up on the shore of the East Coast with no memory of who he is, and the only clue to his past is “XIII” tatooed on his neck…”
Sounds remarkably similar to initial set-up to “The Bourne Identity” which was also published in 1984.
Doesn’t the guy on the cover of that comic look like Jim Shooter?
I should also note that XIII was made into a video game (actually, several video games) a few years ago, so that may be the more direct connection to why someone in Hollywood would suddenly notice it.