Posted in: Movies, Preview, streaming, TV | Tagged: button man, graphic novel, John Wagner, preview

Button Man: "The Fall Guy" Team Eyes John Wagner Graphic Novel Adapt

The Fall Guy team of David Leitch & Kelly McCormick and Fifth Season eye a series adaptation of John Wagner & Arthur Ranson's Button Man.

With their Ryan Gosling & Emily Blunt-starring feature film The Fall Guy going wide across screens today, film director David Leitch's and producing partner Kelly McCormick's 87North production banner is turning its attention to the small screen in a very big way. In an exclusive report from Deadline Hollywood from earlier today, Fifth Season has acquired the rights to adapt writer John Wagner (Judge Dredd co-creator, A History of Violence) and illustrator Arthur Ranson's (Sapphire & Steel, Judge Anderson: Psi Division) graphic novel Button Man. This isn't the first effort to adapt the work – with names such as Nic Refn (Drive) & Brian Helgeland (Mystic River) and studios such as DreamWorks & Netflix previously attached. Reportedly, Fifth Season is looking for a "high-end writer" to work up a draft before shopping the series for a home. Leitch is expected to direct – and will join McCormick, Wagner, Ranson, Alex Jackson, and Roger Kass as executive producers.

With Wagner penning all four series (or "books) and Ranson illustrating (Frazer Irving stepped in for the final book), the story's run consisted of "Book I: The Killing Game;" (2000 AD #780-791 – 1992), "Book II: The Confession of Harry Exton" (2000 AD #904-919 – 1994), "Book III: Killer Killer" (2000 AD prog 2001 & #1223-1233 – 2001), and "Book IV: The Hitman's Daughter" (2000 AD #1551-1566 – 2007). Now, here's a look at the official overview of the first book:

A former soldier, he left the military to offer his services as a mercenary in various Third World engagements, But soldiers-for-hire were a dying breed and the work was drying up. So Harry returned to England, and civvy street.

Until a friend tells him about THE KILLING GAME

Modern-day gladiatorial contests – man against man, usually to the death. A game of murder played for high stakes. The games are arranged by mysterious backers known as the 'Voices'; disembodied voices on the other end of a telephone, telling you where to go to, who to meet. A player can either become very rich or very dead, very quickly.

Harry decides to become a player. A BUTTON MAN.

For a professional killer like Harry, the rewards are plentiful ‹ but once the game begins, will he be able to walk away?

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!