If there’s anything positive that’s come out of a decade of studio executives scrambling for anything in the comic book bin to shove onto the big screen, it’s that sometimes the studios find the diamonds in the rough. Sometimes they find them, slap a cheap rubber scar on their cheeks, and make them blow up John Malkovich’s submarine. Sometimes they have to mistake trash for treasure first. When they do get their hands on something special it’s cause to celebrate.
“Cal McDonald” is something special. The twenty year-running Steve Niles comic book is one of the classics of the Darkhorse stable, and it features the sort of Hunter Thompson by way of John Constantine figure that will spit on your mother while shooting up and demanding attention.
Apparently, comic is doing just that (minus the motherly insults and the needle use) at Universal where the project is currently in the writing phase. No director. No stars. Just a draft script by Steve Niles that’s being considered and poured over. That’s enough to illicit some reasons to smile, though. With any luck, the project announced during the Raw Entertainment panel here at Comic-Con today will move through the studio with the right pieces falling into place.
“Cal McDonald” is one of the great ones, and it’s a character that deserves the big screen.
Related Topics: Comics, Conventions
