Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Ed Brubaker goes Hollywood! More great news for great talent...

It's about dang time...

As mentioned above, Warner Bros. is developing the dynamite comic book spy thriller Sleeper into a feature that may or may not star Tom Cruise and may be directed by Sam Raimi.

For those not in the know, Sleeper was a 24 issue miniseries of sorts that ran from 2003-2005. Written by the incomparable Ed Brubaker back when he still worked for DC Comics, it told the story of... well, just give it a try. I promise you won't be disappointed. For some reason, only volumes 2 and 3 (out of 4) are available new, but I'd imagine that they'll go back to print as soon as the movie gets an official green light.

Ed Brubaker has been the best mainstream comic book writer for this entire decade. Coming aboard DC with the Batman family in 2000, he, Devin Grayson, and Greg Rucka helped shepherd the Batman titles to a level of consistent quality not seen since the 1970s. He also helped relaunch Catwoman and helped shepherd that character to a level of quality not seen since... well ever, before or since (twas tragic irony that the Halle Berry Catwoman movie came out towards the end of Brubaker's 37 issue run). He also teamed with Greg Rucka for a 40-issue run of an original series, Gotham Central. Taking a look at the Gotham crime wars from the point of view of the embittered cops, the series provided the (unacknowledged) blueprint for The Dark Knight.

After leaving for Marvel in 2004, he promptly reinvigorated Captain America, shepherding the character to... well, you get the idea (this is a guy who intelligently brought back Bucky and then killed Cap himself, and the story arc isn't even 2/3 over as we enter year 3) . He also took over for his friend, Brian Michael Bendis, when the latter left Daredevil, and he is currently writing Uncanny X-Men as well.

It's about time that Brubaker was able to successfully develop one of his properties in Hollywood. No matter who ends up starring or directing this one, I'll be first in line.

Scott Mendelson

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