Mike Fleming

Lionel Wigram, who famously hatched a graphic novel version of Sherlock Holmes before setting that franchise up at Warner Bros., has tapped into another comic for a feature film project. Wigram Productions has acquired rights to RASL, a black-and-white science fiction noir comic book series written and drawn by Jeff Smith. RASL is an ex-military scientist-turned-art thief who jumps to parallel universes to steal treasured pieces of art. During these trips, he gets discovered by his former employer, and finds himself trying to protect the world’s most dangerous secret. Smith, who launched the series in 2008, also writes Bone, a series that has received 10 Eisner and 11 Harvey Awards. Wigram, who just wrapped Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, said he was tipped to the comic by colleague Peter Eskelsen and bought it with his own cash. “We’ll team with a writer and figure out how to adapt it to the screen and hopefully it will become a big movie franchise for Warner Bros.,” he said. ICM brokered the deal. Wigram will produce, and Eskelsen and Jeff Smith will be exec producers.