Warner Bros. Pictures is reportedly considering legal action against famed “Line of Duty” and “Bodyguard” creator and showrunner Jed Mercurio over his new graphic novel “Sleeper”.
Warner’s subsidiary DC Comics own the rights to Ed Brubaker’s 2003 graphic novel “Sleeper” which has been up for a potential adaptation numerous times. Brubaker is an iconic comics author who created the ‘Winter Soldier’ character in Marvel comics.
In a statement in a recent newsletter, Brubaker says Warners owns the copyright and trademark to ‘Sleeper’ as a series of graphic novels (and TV and film). However no-one had flagged the title until the Mercurio comic was already at the printer. Brubaker says: “From what I understand there are a lot of legal things happening with them and the other publisher right now.”
The new comic is a sci-fi Western which follows a cantankerous biologically enhanced marshal who finds himself embroiled in the hunt for a missing scientist and at the heart of a big energy conspiracy.
Mercurio and Prasanna Puwanarajah co-wrote the new “Sleeper” which was illustrated by artist Coke Navarro. Apparently, it was initially penned as a screenplay but then adapted as a graphic novel. A television pilot based on the book is now in the works.
Source: Variety
