Following the recent news that he's working on a not-Excalibur King Arthur film, Variety reports this morning that comics doyen Warren Ellis (Transmetropolitan,** Iron Man**: Extremis) is also set to script a version of his own Gravel series, for Legendary Pictures.
Gravel began life as a sporadically released limited comic series published by Avatar Press, co-created by Ellis and Mike Wolfer. Recently it's become a regular monthly title, with Wolfer at the reigns on his own.
It involves "combat magician" William Gravel, a British SAS soldier who specialises in magic as it applies to war (he'd have been useful to The Men Who Stare At Goats) and occasionally moonlights as a mercenary (for a bit of extra cash) on X-Files style gigs that require supernatural solutions.
Potential for a sort of Constantine-meets-Black Hawk Down then, although one significant plot strand saw Gravel back on home-turf after a stint in Afghanistan, negotiating re-admittance to his mage cadre The Minor Circle, after being elbowed out in absentia. Which would be less interesting but also potentially less expensive.
Legendary are behind **Clash of the Titans **and Where the Wild Things Are, among a trove of other projects. Ellis will be executive producer, with full-on producing duties going to Rick Alexander, who's was one of the forces behind the TV series Strong Medicine. Ellis is scripting "the initial draft", which implies Legendary are expecting this to pass through several more pairs of hands on its way to the screen.