ComicBitsOnline.com

I suppose most comic fans will have heard this piece of news but,just in case you’ve been locked away in your room with a stack of Wonder Woman versus Power Girl mud-fight edition comics and a stack of burgers…

“Warner Bros. Pictures is saddling up to bring DC Comics’ Western anti-hero comic book “Jonah Hex” to the big screen, with film-makers Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor on board to adapt. Andrew Lazar is producing via his Mad Chance Productions,as is Akiva Goldsman.

Hex, known for having the right side of his face disfigured and wearing a Confederate army uniform, was a rough-and-tumble gunslinger and part-time bounty hunter whose adventures always ended in blood.

“Hex” first appeared in the early 1970s in the issues of “All-Star Western” before graduating to his own series in 1977 that ran for about 10 years. A new series was launched in 2005. The character also had a run in the 1990s that combined the Western genre with supernatural elements.

The filmmakers are not making a straight-ahead Western but plan to develop the character with some of the supernatural overtones in the hopes of creating a franchise.

Greg Silverman and Elishia Holmes are overseeing for Warners. Gregory Noveck is overseeing for DC.

Neveldine and Taylor wrote and directed “Crank,” which starred Jason Statham.”

Oh. Jason Statham. Top notch movies then.

Erm,no! Stop it,Terry –behave!

It seems to me that,if you are lining up a successful character from a Western comic,especially a gun-slinging,ex-confederate such as Jonah Hex then you go for just that.  However,as we all know,

We’ve seen the utter failure of the,frankly awful,Bionic Woman. We’ve seen Blade:The TV Series –“The TV Series” was added in case you thought this dribbling piece of tripe was in anyway connected to the good movies.  Starsky & Hutch:take the concept and turn it into a comedy..whatever.  The I-Spy TV series of the 1960s –put the likable Owen Wilson in it [ala Starsky & Hutch] and Eddie Murphy and make it a comedy [it WAS supposed to be a comedy?].  Nab the rights  to the Brit hit The Italian Job and turn it into..a rather smelly brown heap of “something”.

Oh,it goes on.

I’m afraid I’ve had my fill of “re-telling” the origins of Batman and Superman in movies and comics.  Ang Lee’s Hulk movie was over-long and made in the format of a Chinese epic movie –didn’t work.  Actually,Elektra worked [!] though Daredevil I was not too overly keen on but it was a good movie.

The X-Men movies played around with the comic history but were great –X-Men III being incredible.  The Spider-Man movies stuck more to the comics and are also favs of mine.  The Iron Man movie just looks incredible and Robert Downey Jr was born to be Tony Stark [though I think he should have had the original setting –suited,trench-coat and hat in the middle of a “South Asian jungle!!].

And the wonderful Ron Perlman as Hellboy –fantastic!

Hmm. Right:Jonah Hex. You have to ask why,why,why these people could not create a new character if they wanted a cowboy fighting zombies and other supernatural threats [actually,although the TV series Supernatural is one of my favourites,I ought to point out that those involved in paranormal investigation and research use that term:”Paranormal”. Use “Supernatural” and everyone knows you are an amateur with no real idea],why not create a new character?

Seriously,why just say “Hey,he’s a gun-slinger cowboy!  Let’s get the character and turn him into a zombie-fighter!”  Why not say,ooh,buy up Star Trek and have them trawling the universe hunting vampires?

But,all that said,does

So let’s just wait and see how things turn out.