As we are all aware, the current trend in Hollywood is to scoop up and option nearly every comic book property or graphic novel possible and turn it into a movie or television show. Of course, this has been met with varying amounts of success. For every The Dark Knight and American Splendor, we get five Constantine's and Fantastic Four's. This new feature has a lofty goal; we hope to educate those without previous knowledge of a comic property to become familiar with franchises that have recently been picked up for a film or television series. In doing so, hopefully we can train the untrained eyes to spot weaknesses in a film's development so that some day, Hollywood bigwigs will have no choice but to produce faithful and quality works based on our favorite sequential art.
Our usual approach to Source Material is to garner the unfamiliar prepared enough to see a film without actually ever reading the original book. While I rather inspire you to read the original material on your own, rather than taking what I say word for word, times are tough and moolah is scarce. I can personally guarantee there will be no spoilers. If you find a spoiler, I give you permission to keep my first born.
Currently scheduled for release April 23, 2010, The Losers is a major motion picture written for the screen by Peter Berg (Very Bad Things, Friday Night Lights) to be directed by Sylvain White (Stomp the Yard). If you've never heard of The Losers, you will. Aside from having a great cast attached, DC Comics is releasing a an extra sized paperback collection of the first 12 issues of the 32 issue series in January, for a low price of $19.99. Though I encourage you to support the book's release, I wouldn't be doing my job if you had to do all that reading, now would I?
The Origin: Though the original Losers was a DC series way back when featuring a group of World War II vets, the film is based on Andy Diggle and Jock's Vertigo series that began in 2003 and ended after 32 issues in 2006. The series is essentially a heist story chock full of double crosses, espionage and conspiracies, humor, pop-culture reference and of course, guns. If movies like Heist, Ocean's Eleven, and The Usual Suspects are your thing, The Losers will feel like home.
The titular team is a group of rough-and-tumble yet likable people that have been betrayed by the CIA and the corruption within it, primarily a mysterious man named Max (to be played by Jason Patric). Their mission is to clear their names and get themselves off of the death list, but doing so requires a hefty amount of violence and suave theft-jobs. The complete series is currently collected in five volumes, but it's the first two, Ante Up and Double Down that seem to be giving the most inspiration to the upcoming film.
