Every day, another graphic novel is optioned by a studio great or small, and very rarely do they stir much interest in me. They always seem to be a variation on the assassin-with-a-heart-of-gold or superhero deconstruction, which can't even motivate me to pick up the graphic novel, let alone buy a movie ticket. So, it's a rare treat when the trades run the latest comic to be snatched up and I go "Okay -- this one I get." Hiding in Time is one of these.

According to Variety, Warner Bros has bought the rights to Christopher Long and Ryan Winn's series. Time is set in a future where the Witness Protection Program is no longer interested in changing your name and moving you to Tampa -- instead, they send you back in time to hide from those you snitched on. If hiding out in the Black Death to escape your mob buddies sounds too good to be true, it is, as a group of armed thugs begin hunting them down across the ages. It's up to one humble scientist in the Time Portal Division to stop them. (The trades mention that the scientist teams up with a master thief to track down his old crew -- I don't know if that's part of the movie pitch, or if that actually happens in the series.) No director has been named, but Beau Thorne is tackling the screenplay.






It sounds like an incredibly ridiculous premise, but it's also undeniably unique. Sure, it involves assassins again, but it's time travel! The Prime Directive will be violated from their bringing in automatic weaponry, to say nothing of what happens to the time-space continuum if you off an innocent bystander. Think of all the eras this could jump between! At worst, it could be another Timeline, but I'm willing to take the chance. If you're willing to take it with me, here's an 8-page preview of the first issue, courtesy of Comic Book Resources. Even the clunkiness of the opening dialogue doesn't curb my enthusiasm. I'm very curious to see where this goes, on page and screen. What about you?