Sitting on my desk, literally within arm's reach, is the collected Bone, by Jeff Smith. It's not there as some sort of talisman; not long ago I realized that after buying the series from day one I'd never actually finished it. (Due to uncontrollable economic issues.) And as always when returning to a comic series that I started reading fifteen years ago, I was worried that Bone wouldn't keep my attention the way it did a long time ago.

I shouldn't have doubted. Jeff Smith's writing and cartooning get stronger with every book in the series, and I tore through the collection. There's no way I would have put it down. Smith weaves together a story that "mixes Walt Kelly and Mobius" with extraordinary skill. (Check the wiki for more Bone recap info.) And at the end, I got the same old fear I get when revisiting stuff like Sandman and Cerebus -- eventually someone's going to try to make a movie.

What a coincidence, then, that movie possibilities for the Bone creatures have just risen again. The Hollywood Reporter notes that Warner Brothers has optioned the series, to be produced by Dan Lin. You might know Lin as one of the execs involved with the Thundercats movie, or perhaps from one of his other upcoming projects: The Sword of Shanarra, Masters of the Universe, The Doom Patrol, and the CGI remake of Cries and Whispers. No plans for an actual film are currently set, so there's no indication as to whether the end result might be animated or a mix of CGI and live action (as seems likely).

This isn't the first time the comic has had screen aspirations. Nickelodeon was interested in the series at one point, but Smith pulled the plug when the company became set on an overly childish tone. Smith is an executive producer on the project at Warners, so at least he's around to shepherd the thing away from such obvious pitfalls as the animated musical.