With only one issue released so far, the BOOM! Studios series Day Men has already attracted serious Hollywood attention in the form a reported seven-figure deal for the film rights. Drawn by Brian Stelfreeze and co-written by Matt Gagnon (also BOOM! Editor-in-Chief) and Michael Allan Nelson, Day Men imagines vampires as clans of supernatural crime families secretly controlling everything in the world. The titular Day Men are specially trained human agents tasked with doing the vampires' dirty work during the day.

Because there have been some unfortunate circumstances with respect to films based on comics whose original creators are not compensated to their or their families' liking (or even credited), we reached out to the BOOM! and the Day Men team to see if the news was indeed good from their points of view.

"Everything is cool with this development," Gagnon told CA via email. The writer and BOOM! staffer acknowledged the relevance of the question in light of the events of recent years, saying, "Me, Brian, and Mike are all being fairly compensated in the wild world of Day Men. Outside of working for the company, I've been really pleased as a creator with how BOOM! has treated the whole situation. Of course, that's coming from a company man -- but it's still the truth! The three of us got on the phone yesterday and shared some virtual high fives about the announcement."

Stelfreeze did not reply to inquiries before publishing time, but his Facebook fan page -- which claims to be managed with the artist's "participation, approval and cooperation" -- has posted links to news stories about the Day Men movie. Additionally, Nelson's tweeting a link to CBR's news story would seem to be a tacit approval of the situation.

While declining to go into financial specifics, BOOM! Studios VP of Publishing and Marketing Filip Sablik told CA via email, "All of the creators involved are being treated fairly and are happy with their participation in the project. Feel free to reach out to Matt, Brian, or Mike directly and ask them. On the BOOM! end there's nothing in the way that we partner with our creators that we would be embarrassed about."

Beyond its tantalizing Hollywood-ready "vampire noir" premise, Day Men is an auspicious title in the American comic book industry because of the involvement of Stelfreeze, one of modern comics' best but most elusive talents, who hadn't drawn a monthly comic in years. The book is BOOM!'s first major commitment to an original title with a marquee artist, which I've argued is part of a favorable trend in the business. That the artist is a participant in the media exploitation of his work is hopefully part of another growing trend.

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