‘Batman Begins’ Co-Writer David Goyer to Produce ‘100 Bullets’ TV Series

One of the best comic book series of recent memory -- perhaps ever -- is coming to premium cable television courtesy of the writer of the most popular comic book movie we've yet seen. David Goyer, co-writer of Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and the forthcoming The Dark Knight Rises is developing a new Showtime television series baed on 100 Bullets, the hugely acclaimed Vertigo comic book created by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso.

Remember the feeling you had when you read that Ally McBeal creator David E. Kelley was creating a television series based on Wonder Woman? You should be feeling the exact opposite of that right now. That it's difficult to summarize 100 Bullets for the purposes of this brief news post is one of the reasons why it's so good. To say the 100-issue epic is deeply grim, gritty, uncommonly sexy and deeply noir or anything along those lines is to understate the grimness of the series, which asks its myriad of players (and readers) what they would do if they knew with absolute certainty that they could murder the people who destroyed their lives, a question asked by an enigmatic old man with a briefcase, 100 untraceable bullets and a gun. The philosophical implications play out in a labyrinthine plot that spans nations and time, and concerns the vicious take-down of a secret society of wealthy families who control the world.

Obviously, 100 Bullets would make an incredible television series if produced properly, and it sounds like that's what Vertigo parent company Warner Bros. has in mind with David S. Goyer. Deadline reports that he will write and executive produce the series for Showtime, which is already developing a series based the Image Comics series Chew by John Layman and Rob Guillory. Goyer is uniquely suited for the task of adapting 100 Bullets, having written the comics Starman and JSA, developed successful film franchises for DC's Batman and Marvel's Blade, and written the script for the new Superman film, Man of Steel.

The winner of multiple Eisner and Harvey Awards, 100 Bullets is available in 13 paperback volumes. A new series of five oversized hardcover reprints will begin in October.

[Via Deadline]