Marvel/Icon comic Scarlet in development at Cinemax
The fact that the comic book Scarlet, a title that’s been plagued with delays for its entire run, is getting its own TV series says a lot about the quality of the story. This critically acclaimed hidden gem, written and penciled by the massively talented Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev respectively, has just released its 8th and 9th issues three years after the release of the 7th. There are several reasons for the delays, one of them being the fact that Bendis is an insanely busy man, but the people at HBO’s sister channel Cinemax have apparently seen enough potential in the Marvel/Icon comic to start development on a series.
Bendis, who’s done extensive work for Marvel on huge titles like Avengers and X-Men and co-created Jessica Jones and the Marvel/Icon title Powers which have also been adapted for television, announced the news about a potential Scarlet series at the ATX Television Festival in Austin, Texas.
Bendis said “I do a book called Scarlet which is soon to be announced also in our universe of television. Not announced yet, but HBO.” Bendis was careful to add that the project is “at the earliest stage,” but that “the team around it…will be announced as soon as all are on the same page.”
Scarlet was first released in 2010 and continues with an irregular release schedule. It revolves around a young Portland, Oregon girl named Scarlet Rue who starts a crusade against a corrupt police force and society as a whole, sparking a new American revolution. Scarlet often breaks the fourth wall and talks to the reader, even urging them to get involved. It’s known for its controversial content regarding politics and law enforcement and its intense violence.
Bendis remarked on this by saying, “Scarlet is a list of things you can’t get made. Here’s a female lead who’s killing cops because her world is broken.” But, he says, “when it was sold it was sold to people who were actively looking for that, so that put us in a good place. So stay tuned.”
This is understandable as Cinemax is known for its adult content. It’s shown erotic content for a while and even when it announced in 2011 that it would start airing mainstream original programming, this content is still aimed at males aged 18-49. The Knick, one of these new, original shows, follows a group of doctors at a hospital during the first few years of the 20th century. It shows incredibly graphic and bloody surgical scenes as well as the typical nudity and drug use. Cinemax is also having early success with the series adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s comic Outcast which is a supernatural horror story that deals with demonic possession. It would seem like this is a good spot for Scarlet.
Via: Deadline
