NBC has announced that it will air the mini-series based on Jean Van Hamme and William Vance’s XIII graphic novel series on successive Sundays in February (the 8th and the15th).  The 4-hour XIII Mini-Series, which stars Val Kilmer and Stephen Dorff, will air from 9pm to 11pm (ET, PT—see “Network Schedules XIII Mini-Series” for a more detailed examination of the project).  The mini-series is based on the first five books in the XIII series of graphic albums, which has now reached 19 volumes in Europe where the combined sales total for the series is numbered in the millions.

In 2007 Marvel published the Dabel Brothers 144-page adaptation of the first three European XIII albums as XIII Vol.1: The Day of the Black Sun, but the property is probably better known here in the States thanks to the XIII video game, which came out in 2003, and like the mini-series, is based on the first five-volume story arc.

While the XIII series was clearly influenced by Robert Ludlum’s novels, it in turn has had its influence in the world of comics, most notably on Kentaro Yabuki’s Black Cat manga series.