Artist Ben Mackey, a frequent Little Village contributor who’s illustrations most recently graced issue 203’s Weird Al interview, and writer Sean Lewis, who in June was named interim artistic director of Riverside Theatre, are staples of the arts scene in Iowa City.
Recently, their work together has been garnering a lot of press outside of town. Their comic series Saints has had a meteoric rise on Image Comics. Issue one hit the stands in October of last year, and this September saw the release of the first trade paperback, which collected issues one through nine.
Last week, it was announced that the comic had been optioned for television by Automatik Entertainment, a production company best known for the upcoming series Beyond and horror films such as Sinister.
“I went out in June to LA to meet with production companies who were interested in Saints and Chris Goble at Automatik was clearly a big fan of the book,” Lewis said. “I knew when I left his office that they were the right company.”
Lewis will be on board with the project as an executive producer. That will also enable him to be available to advise on content, as well, once the show passes beyond what’s been written.
“There are more arcs to the story than what has been published so far,” he said. “So there is material to go to beyond the book for sure.”
