Humongoid Congratulations to my pal Chuck Satterlee on the news of his comic series OF BITTER SOULS being picked up for development as a TV series! Here's the press release in all it's glory:
MARKOSIA'S "OF BITTER SOULS" MOVING TO TV
Of Bitter Souls, Markosia Enterprises hit comic book series from creator Chuck Satterlee, has been set up for television development with Hollywood's Kickstart Productions.
"We are extremely pleased that Kickstart will be trying to build on its fantastic success rate by bringing one of our publications to the screen," said Markosia's Managing Partner and Publisher, Harry Markos.
Of Bitter Souls joins a distinguished list of other comic book-related projects in development right now with Kickstart, including Joe Quesada & Jimmy Palmiotti's Painkiller Jane, which begins a 22 episode run on SCI-FI Channel this spring; Mike Mignola's The Amazing Screw-On Head, just released on extended dvd format through Lionsgate; the upcoming action movie Wanted from Universal Studios starring James McAvoy, based on Mark Millar and JG Jones' comic book series; Christian Gossett's epic series Red Star, also in feature film development at Universal; and Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's classic comic book series Preacher, now in development at HBO. "Kickstart is always looking for the best from the comic book world, and Of Bitter Souls has everything a great television series is looking for!" enthused Kickstart's president, Jason Netter. Kickstart has immediately put the comic series into development with writer Geoffrey Thorne.
Written and created by Chuck Satterlee and drawn by internationally renowned artist Norm Breyfogle, Of Bitter Souls is the story of four "bitter" people who were leading nowhere lives. The four -- a dirty and violent cop, a prostitute, a grifter and a drug addicted gang-banger -- are brought together by a mysterious Pastor and adorned with powers directly related to their worst character flaws. Charged with the defense of America's original sin city, New Orleans, against all types of supernatural threats, all four experience relapses as they fight external forces and their own inner demons. Ken F. Levin's NightSky Productions put the deal together.
"When Ken Levin called me and told me that Kickstart wanted to develop Of Bitter Souls for television, I was flabbergasted," recalled Chuck Satterlee, the comic series' creator. "To be included with the likes of Kickstart's other development properties is an honor. I am very excited and I have a lot of phone calls to make to thank people that got Of Bitter Soulsthis far."
Contacted for comment, NightSky's Ken F. Levin stated: "In the introduction to the Of Bitter Souls trade paperback, star comic book writer Mark Waid wrote that the concept that redemption must be earned isn't a light and breezy message, but it makes for great drama, and he's spot on. I, and I think all comics fans, eagerly look forward to seeing the great drama on the pages of Of Bitter Souls translated to the television medium."
Satterlee noted that the journey for Of Bitter Souls from creation to option had been a difficult one, with two publishers and a variety of contributors involved in the process, including Janice Binder, who made the series possible in the first place, and Harry Markos, who stepped in to publish the initial series' trade paperback and the second volume of the series through Markosia, where the series finally settled.
"Throughout, Markosia has been very supportive," said Satterlee.
"We are very proud of Chuck and of Of Bitter Souls," stated Markos. "This is hopefully the first in a long line of announcements of this kind for Markosia and our creator-owners."
Apart from Of Bitter Souls, Satterlee has a myriad of other titles coming out in 2007 from a number of different publishers. These include a re-tooling of his super-hero title, Smoke & Mirrors, The Grinder and The Uncredited History of Farragut & Foster: Adventurers For Hire (both with Sal Cipriano), and the Arcana title No Other Gods (with Brian Augustyn) due out this fall. Satterlee is also adapting both Harry Gallan's The Lexian Chronicles and Joe Nassise's The Heretic for Markosia. The Heretic's first issue hits stores in late February.
