Eisner’s Contract With God Movie

A Contract with God, the landmark graphic novel from legendary comic book master Will Eisner, is being adapted into a live action feature film. The announcement came from the film’s producers at Comic-Con International.

Considered to be one of the most influential graphic novels ever written, A Contract with God explores stories and memories from Eisner’s childhood growing up in a New York City tenement, in an innovated comic book format. The book is an anthology of stories that show the brutality, fragility, and tenderness that exists among people living in close quarters during challenging economic times.

The movie will cover the four chapters of the graphic novel, with a different acclaimed independent director handling each chapter. Alex Rivera (Sleep Dealer), Tze Chun (Children of Invention), Barry Jenkins (Medicine for Melancholy), and Sean Baker (Prince of Broadway, MTV’s Warren the Ape) will be bringing the seminal comic work to the screen. Darren Dean (Prince of Broadway) will produce and adapt the graphic novel for the screen.

The film adaptation of the comic will be produced under the auspices of the Eisner estate in the spirit of the original work. Bob Schreck, a 30-year veteran of the comic book industry and Michael Ruggiero, former head of original programming at STARZ, will serve as Co-Executive Producers. Black Squirrel Films Co-Founder Tommy Oliver will serve as Co-Producer and Mark Rabinowitz, Co-Founder of indieWIRE.com, will serve as Associate Producer.

Focusing on the immigrant struggle, A Contract With God takes a look at prominent themes across four separate but related stories that are set in a New York City tenement in the 1930s. The four chapters are: A Contract With God (Rivera), The Street Singer (Chun), The Super (Jenkins) and Cookalein (Baker). Each filmmaker brings a different approach, which will capture the diversity, style and essence of Eisner’s story. Nat Sanders (Medicine for Melancholy, Hump Day) will serve as editor on the entire film.

The announcement regarding the film adaptation of A Contract with God was made at the 22nd annual Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, which honors creative achievement in American comic books including induction ceremonies into the comics industry Hall of Fame, the first time such an announcement has been made at the Eisners. Will Eisner was a regular participant in the award ceremony until his death in 2005.

Darren Dean said, “I look forward to finding the fine balance of offering Eisner fans a very faithful interpretation of his work and allowing the voices of these strong and competent filmmakers to be heard. We are all approaching the inaugural stage of this project with respect, honor and anticipation and hope that the fans will welcome us with both faith and scrutiny. This is for them, as much as any of us.

Bob Schreck said, “Getting to know Will Eisner was one of the great honors of both my personal and professional journeys. We are all well aware that the work ahead has a very high bar of excellence to aspire to set by Mr. Eisner’s pioneering achievements in storytelling.”

Tze Chun said, “Before I became a filmmaker, I wanted to be a comic book artist, and I spent many nights poring over Eisner’s Comics & Sequential Art. The book should be mandatory reading for every person who wants to be a storyteller regardless of his or her intended medium. Eisner’s magnum opus, A Contract With God, is a master class in visual storytelling — groundbreaking, humanistic, moving, and rich in detail. Within these four short stories, Eisner creates an entire world. I’m very excited to be a part of the team that will bring this film to life.”

Key roles will be cast in the coming months with principle photography set to begin in 2011.

Harvey Pekar Passes Away

Harvey Pekar, the comic book writer known for American Splendor has passed away. Cleveland Heights police captain Michael Cannon said that Pekar suffered from prostate cancer, asthma, high blood pressure, and depression, but his cause of death is unknown. An autopsy is being planned. He was 70.

Pekar’s wife called the police to their home around 1 a.m. His body was found on the floor by the bed. His wife offered that he was in good spirit when he went to bed around 4:30 pm on Sunday.

Instead of following the trend of super-heroes that dominates American comics, Pekar’s American Splendor was an unglamorous and honest autobiographical portrayal of his life. He chronicled his life as a file clerk in Cleveland, as well as his relationship with his third wife, Joyce Brabner. His 1994 graphic novel, Our Cancer Year, detailed his fight with lymphoma.

Pekar didn’t draw the comics himself, instead he collaborated with artist such as his friend R. Crumb, who drew the first issue of American Splendor in 1976. In 2003 the comic was made into a critically acclaimed movie starring Paul Giamatti as Pekar. “Harvey was one of the most compassionate and emphatic human beings I’ve ever met,” Giamatti said. “He had a huge brain and an even bigger soul. And he was hilarious. He was a great artist , a true American poet, and there is no one to replace him.”

Lucy Shelton Caswell, curator of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at Ohio State University said, ” He will be remembered as an innovator who wrote stories about ordinary things that were then illustrated by some of the most notable cartoonists of the late 20th century. People identified with what he was writing about and the stories that these people were drawing because it was so ordinary.”

Harvey Pekar brought something special to comic books. Instead of taking off for distant worlds or high fantasy, he gave people a real and honest look at himself. His work was personal, and it was brave for him to let others share in it. And he showed that an independent creator can contribute something of value to comics. He may not have reached stardom or wealth with his comic books, but what he gave to us is invaluable. He will be missed.

Cowboys & Aliens & Indiana Jones

Jon Favreau has used his Twitter feed to confirm  that Harrison Ford is set to co-star in Cowboys & Aliens. The movie will be Favreau’s next project, and it is based on a graphic novel that mixes together the western and science fiction genres. The graphic novel is set in Arizona during the 1800s, where a skirmish between cowboys and Apaches is interrupted by the crash landing of a space ship. The alien intruders set their sites on taming the Old West, and they set out to enslave everyone. Now the cowboys and Native Americans must join forces and turn their six-guns against the alien invaders.

Favreau had teased the announcement of Ford joining the cast by tweeting, “Some very cool Cowboys & Aliens casting news coming soon…”  And then later tweeted, “Please stop asking if Harrison Ford is in Cowboys & Aliens. Okay? He is. Please don’t tell anybody.”  Although Ford’s role in the movie is still yet to be decided.

Cowboys & Aliens is set to be released in theatres on July 29, 2011. Shooting is expected to begin this July.  The film co-stars Daniel Craig and Olivia Wilde and the screenplay was written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (Star Trek) and Damon Lindelof (Lost). The original graphic novel was written by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg.

Jessica Alba Becomes An Insider

Jessica Alba is teaming up with her Sin City director Robert Rodriguez to acquire the rights to The Insiders, a series of Belgian graphic novels. Rodriguez will be a producer on the film, and has Mabrouk El Mechri (JVCD) set to direct.

Alba will play Najah Cruz, a Columbian orphan who was raised and trained by a Medellin drug cartel family. Set to become one of the family’s soldiers, Najah disappears during th fallout of a raging family feud. When she resurfaces she is a rebel fighter who is as deadly as she is beautiful, with the weapons expertise and combat skills of a James Bond. The White House blackmails Cruz to take on a secret mission to infiltrate a global criminal organization composed of businessmen and politicians. Through this mission she becomes the bodyguard of the organization’s leader.

The Insiders first debuted in 2002 from Jean-Claude Bartoll and Renaud Garreta. The series of graphic novels encompass eight volumes that have been released in France. Recently, Cinebook has brought the first volume of the series titled Insiders: Chechen Guerrilla, to America.

Discuss it in the forums.

Talking Comics

TED has this presentation by Scott McCloud about comics. The talk goes a little into the subjects of McCloud’s father, visionary thinkers, the nature of comics, and his idea of using the infinite canvas to bring comic books to the web.

Scott McCloud is considered to be  comic book scholar. His books Understanding Comics, Reinventing Comics, and Making Comics are an articulate and intelligent look at the medium, and they are highly regarded in the comic book community. This video shows McCloud to be a knowledgeable and entertaining speaker, and it should be checked out.

Discuss it in the forums.

Silver Screen Comics

Comic books remain a popular source of material for movies, and Hollywood is developing a couple more comic book properties for the big screen.

The Nye Incidents

Dark Castle, a Warner Bros. based production house has picked up the rights to the Graphic Novel The Nye Incidents. The comic book is written by Whitley Strieber and is published by Devil’sDue. The comic book is about a medical examiner who is on the hunt for a killer of alien abductees. Its being offered that the book is inspired by true events, but who knows whatthat really means. The alien abductee angle shouldn’t surprise anyone as Strieber is well known in the alien conspiracy theorist community. He is best known for writing Communion, his novel about alien abduction, and The Coming Global Superstorm, which he co-wrote with Art Bell. Strieber also wrote the novels The Wolfen and The Hunger both were adapted into movies in the 1980s.

Todd Lincoln will direct the film, with Joel Silver, Andrew Rona, Alex Heinmen, and Daniel Alter with serve as producers on the project. As of now there hasn’t been a writer hired to write the screenplay adaptation.

Station

CBS Films has purchased the screen rights to Station, a comic book mini-series by Johanna Stokes that is published by Boom! Sudios. Station is a tale suspense set aboard the Earth’s first multinational space station. The best astronauts from five nations are sent to the space station, but when one of them turns up dead, the remaining personnel must race against time to discover if the death is the result of sabotage, an acident, or murder.

Screenwriter Jeff Vintar is teaming up again with his I, Robot producer Laurence Mark, who will be producing along with Boom! Studios co-founders Andrew Cosby and Ross Ritchie. David Blackman will serve as executive producer on the film.