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Sometimes a news story just makes you happy. Such is the news that Prince of Cats by Ronald Wimberly is in development as a feature film with Sorry to Bother You’s Lakeith Stanfeld to star.

According to Deadline, Legendary won the rights in an auction and writer Selwyn Sefyu Hinds (Who Fears Death) is attached to adapt.

The book, which The Beat has been nuts for since it was first published by Vertigo in 2007, and through its 2016 reissue from Image, is a hiphop version of Romeo and Juliet, It’s told from the point of view of Tybalt, Juliet’s swashbuckling cousin, and the foil for Mercutio’s Montague wits. In Prince of Cats, the story is set in 80s Brooklyn and the battles involveboth swords and  rhymes. It’s both brilliant cartooning and brilliant writing, adapting Shakespeare’s timeless tale to a sharp, relevant setting. We’ve all read and seen may takes on Shakespeare, and this is one of the best in any medium. It really is a masterpiece and well deserved to be named the best grapihc novel of the first half of the decade. 

Stanfield, who also appeared in Get Out, is red hot coming off of his starring role in the SF comedy Sorry to Bother You. Hinds is also a hot property.

Wimberly is also a star cartonist, and he recently unveiled his kickstarted anthology newspaper LAAB. Here he is signing at the launch party at Desert Island.

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Prince of Cats is a truly great graphic novel, and it doens’t need a movie made from it to be more great, but…heck, it would make a great movie, too! I hope this happens and is as cool as it has the potential to be. And congrats to @reynardfaux!

 

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