John Woo Develops Graphic Novel Series With Virgin Comics

Posted on November 8, 2006

Director John Woo (Face Off, Mission Impossible 2) is developing a comic book series in a partnership with the recently formed Virgin Comics. Virgin Comics was founded last November by Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Enterprises Ltd., alongside author Deepak Chopra, filmmaker Shekhar Kapur and Gotham Entertainment Group LLC. The new comic book series, Seven Brothers, is the initial launch in Virgin Comic's "Director's Cut" imprint, which allows top filmmakers to incubate stories and characters in comic book form for possible development into films.

The inaugural issue of Seven Brothers takes place in contemporary Los Angeles and follows a global epic that began centuries ago. The comic books feature a cast of international characters, each with supernatural abilities. Seven Brothers is written by John Woo and comic book author Garth Ennis. Here is a brief synopsis of the Seven Brothers series.

Six hundred years ago, a mighty treasure fleet set out to sail the oceans of the world. They reached every continent, and discovered every land long before history's great explorers stole credit for their feats. Now, in modern day Los Angeles, seven men with nothing in common but their destinies are drawn together in the service of a mysterious young woman. An ancient prophecy must be fulfilled. Something terrible is reaching out across the centuries. There's a world to be saved, and the only hope for us all is a power too terrifying to be used.

The series has received good reviews so far. It will be interesting to see whether the five-issue comic book series ends up being made into a film or tv series. It does bear some resemblance to the popular Heroes TV show.