According to The Hollywood Reporter Warner Bros. has picked up the rights to Jeff Smith's Eisner award-winning independent comic Bone.  A decision on whether to make the Bone film live action, animated, or some combination of the two will be made soon after meetings with the filmmakers.  In the 1990s Nickelodeon had acquired the rights to Bone, but no film or TV series resulted in part because Smith was totally opposed to Nickelodeon's desire to turn Bone into a kiddie series with child actors voicing the key roles and a soundtrack that included songs by Brittany Spears and N'Sync.

The 55 issues of the self-published black-and-white Bone comics appeared irregularly from 1991-2004.  The Complete Bone, a 1332-page compendium, has sold like crazy since its release several years ago (see "Bone Blows Through").  Scholastic Books began issuing the Bone trade paperbacks in full color editions in 2004, and Volume 8: Treasure Hunters (of 9) is due out this August.

The Bone comics, which clearly display the influence of Walt Kelly and Carl Barks, also partake of the grand tradition of 20th Century fantasy authors, especially the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.  Bone deserves better than what Nickelodeon had in mind for it -- here's hoping that Warner Bros. is up to the challenge of adapting what is clearly a modern comic book classic.