• Continuing the intriguing trend of Euro comics getting developed for the US, NBC announced a mini series based on XIII, which Kevin Melrose tells us, is an 80s Euro-comic by Jean Van Hamme and William Vance:

XIII, originally serialized in 1984 in the Belgian comics magazine Spirou, begins with a man who washes up on the shore of the East Coast with no memory of who he is, and the only clue to his past is “XIII” tatooed on his neck. His search for his identity leads him to confront a plot to overthrow the U.S. government.

The comic has been reprinted in the US by Catalan and most recently the Dabel Bros. Stephen Dorff and Val Kilmer will star in the mini-series.

• Ving Rhames, Radha Mitchell, and Rosamund Pike have joined Bruce Willis in the cast of The
Surrogates movie, which is based on the Top Shelf series by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele.

• Boom strikes again, as the controversial North Wind has been optioned by producer John Davis . Creator/screenwriter David DiGilio will adapt the tale.

Boom co-founders Cosby and Richie have been experiencing a boom in Hollywood lately. The pair is producing adaptations of their “Tag” and “Talent” comics at Universal with Marc Platt and “The Foundation” at Paramount. Ice Cube’s CubeVision is adapting the Boom graphic novel “10″ for Dimension.

The film will be one of many sci-fi spectacles for Davis Entertainment, which helped bring “I, Robot,” “Alien vs. Predator” and “Eragon” to the screen.

Alex Robinson’s next book is out this July, a graphic novel entitled TOO COOL TO BE FORGOTTEN; it’s the cmedic tale of a sorty-something man who is transported back to his high school days and gets a second chance to ask that girl in math class out.

ESSEX COUNTY’s Jeff Lemire (interviewed this week in PW Comics Week by Laurel Maury) has a new mini comic up at his blog:THE HORSELESS RIDER.:

THE SURROGATES, based on the GN by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele, has gained a top line star in Bruce Willis, the trades report. Jonathan Mostow directs. It looks from the story that the film has missed the strike cut-off, assuring this and other websites a steady stream of news items on comics-rekated films in the coming months.

Michael Ferris and John Brancato scripted “The Surrogates” based on a graphic novel from Top Shelf Comix. They collaborated with Mostow on the last film he directed, “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.” The scribes also wrote “Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins,” the Halcyon-financed sequel that McG will direct at Warner Bros.

Via PR, news that Top Shelf will be republishing Brit comic Marshal Law, and a TV sighting of Lost Girls, believe it or not.

The government has commissioned living weapons of mass destruction to wage war on terror. The survivors return home broken, bitter, insane. Some form gangs, some go psycho. Some turn into ‘A’ list celebrities with ‘A’ bomb fists. The city is now a war zone.

San Futuro needs a Super Cop to enforce summary justice. His eyes will reflect the rocket’s red glare. He is Twilight’s Last Gleaming…

MARSHAL LAW

A bad choice is better than no choice at all.

Top Shelf is proud to announce that it has just signed Pat Mills and Kevin O’Neill’s MARSHAL LAW, and will publish a MARSHAL LAW Omnibus next year — THE all-up one-volume, full-color, 500(+)-page definitive MARSHAL LAW collection.

And only Canadian TV is bold enough for the Moore/Gebbie erotic oddessy, it seems:

Tanya Spreckley of the Canadian TV show “SexTV” has just aired the one-and-only filmed TV segment on LOST GIRLS. Flying over to Northampton England, Tanya and her crew filmed and edited an amazing interview with Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie. And they’ve just posted a streaming-video version of it at their website.

TO WATCH THE TV SEGMENT ON LOST GIRLS, JUST CLICK HERE: (Recommended for Adults Only)

The segment is © 2007 SexTV (Canada).

Top Shelf publishers Chris Staros and Brett Warnock will continue their 10th Anniversary Celebration at the San Diego Comic-Con this year with a dozen cartoonists in attendance — all available to sign their new releases. Drop by the booth, meet the whole gang, and pick up a free 10th Anniversary Poster and Seasonal Sampler while you’re there!

Jeffrey Brown (Incredible Change-Bots)
Renee French (Micrographica)
Matt Kindt (Super Spy)
Jeff Lemire (Tales from the Farm)
Andy Hartzell (Fox Bunny Funny)
Jeremy Tinder (Black Ghost Apple Factory)
Christian Slade (Korgi)
Andy Runton (Owly)
Robert Venditti (The Surrogates)
David Yurkovich (Death by Chocolate)
Jose Villarrubia (The Mirror of Love)
& last but definitely not least:
Eddie Campbell (Fate of the Artist)

It’s another exhausting run of events for the next few days. Make sure the Metro card is filled up! The following list is indebted to Bill Kartalopoulous, who gave us permission to adapt his own email listings. The whole list is in the jump. Saturday is particularly rough, but we know we’ll be hitting the Top Shelf 10th Anniversary party…that’s the one “must do” on the list!
(Above “Space cadet” by Souther Salazar, another must do.)

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