Despite attempts by the likes of “Watchmen,” “Hancock” and “Kick-Ass,” and the lower budget likes of “Special,” we’re still yet to see a really interesting deconstruction of the superhero genre, but as the genre becomes more and more popular (with “Thor,” “Captain America” and “Green Lantern” hitting next summer alone), it seems more and more necessary to get a fresh take on the archetype. Fortunately, one of the more well-regarded of takes in the comic book world has now been optioned for the big screen.
Working Title Films head honchos Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan have picked up the rights to Kurt Busiek’s long-running anthology series “Astro City,” which follows the inhabitants of the titular metropolis, which, in the alternate reality of the books, has been a home to superheroes and villains since the first world war. Many of the characters are takes on popular characters like Superman and Batman, but viewed from fresh perspectives — storylines have seen a supervillain adjusting to life after prison, or a civilian’s struggle to get over his kidnapping by a bad guy. While we’re not familiar with the source material, it’s won stacks of awards over time, and it seems ripe for adaptation as a sort of “Short Cuts” for caped do-gooders.
Fellner and Bevan will produce, with Busiek, Ben Barenholtz and Jonathan Alpers as executive producers. Our only concern here is that Working Title often falter when they step out of their rom-com/family comfort zone, and move into the bigger budget world, as the likes of “Green Zone” and “Thunderbirds” have proven, but with the right talent attached, this could be pretty special. [Deadline]
I've read a few of these and thoroughly enjoyed them. There's actually some pretty cool characters, hopefully they could get the right director and control for this.
"Despite attempts by the likes of "Watchmen," "Hancock" and "Kick-Ass," and the lower budget likes of "Special," we're still yet to see a really interesting deconstruction of the superhero genre" Uhmm…seriously? all that needed to be said in this particular sub-genre has been said already. No need for bollocking.