Dynamite Entertainment announced an agreement with Universal Studio Consumer Products Group to publish comics based on Sam Raimi's Darkman.  Raimi had originally wanted to do a film version of The Shadow, but when that proved impossible he combined many pulp, comic book, and classic horror film elements into the character of Darkman, a scarred scientist played by Liam Neeson in the well-received original Darkman film of 1990, which was followed by two direct-to-video sequels.  Although Dynamite is not providing definitive launch dates and marketing efforts for its new comic series at this time, the publisher did announce that a special launch for the new series will involve a cross-over with another famous Sam Raimi character and would be written by Roger Stern and Kurt Busiek.

Kurt Busiek should be familiar with the character since he wrote a six-issue Darkman mini-series for Marvel back in 1993.  Busiek's Darkman limited series was actually Marvel's second Darkman publishing effort -- Marvel published a three-volume adaptation of the original Darkman movie in 1990 -- but like Dynamite's new series, Busiek's 1993 Darkman effort featured all new adventures and was not an adaptation of any of the Darkman movies.

Dynamite, which just announced its second Battlestar Galactica comic book series (see 'Dynamite Lands Classic BSG Comic'), has a growing list of licensed comic book series including, among others, Army of Darkness, The Re-Animator, Xena, and Red Sonja.