It's not like comic book movies are the only game in town, but for the producing duo Benderspink, it certainly appears that way. The Hollywood Reporter announced that the production company with the bizarre name has purchased the film rights to the graphic novel Drafted. The series was created by Mark Powers and Chris Lie and was published by Devil's Due Publishing (DDP). The story centers on "the human race in the early 21st century, and their encounter with alien beings that need their help in an intergalactic war. Without much choice, the humans of Earth are drafted into the conflict". The comic book has received early praise (the first preview came out in June and the first issues was released back in September. Josh Blaylock of DDP seems to be taking no chances with the fledgling franchise and plans on co-producing the big-screen treatment.

At this point it seems like if a comic book movie is being made out there, Benderspink has something to do with it. The production company first gained notice as the team behind David Cronenberg's History of Violence, but lately, they only seem to be interested in making comic book movies. It is quite the list too, including: Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina, Power and Glory (also with New Line), Ghouly Boys, Pet Robots with Disney, and finally Preacher with HBO. Just last week, the duo signed a director for Area 52; yet another big-screen comic book property the two have planned. Benderspink are currently on the hunt for a writer and director for Drafted, so stay tuned for any updates that come our way.

Wow, you would think if a top secret military installation was going to pick a name, they would have went with something a little more original than Area 52. Variety reports that comic book producer Chris Bender and JC Spink (also known under the catch moniker of Benderspink) have hired Steven Miller to direct a feature film version of Image Comic's Area 52. First time screenwriter Jack Phillips wrote the script about "a storage facility in Antarctica that houses top-secret alien wares after Nevada's Area 51 is done testing them, an Army nurse must restore order after a mercenary attack has unleashed a menacing terror".

Miller is a relative newcomer and has been shopping around his first feature, Automaton Transfusion, to various festivals. Benderspink on the other hand have a good amount of comic book adaptations under their belt, so they appear to be a little more experienced when it comes to these things. Benderspink are the production team behind a variety of upcoming comic book flicks, including Y, the Last Man with Disturbia director, DJ Caruso and New Line, and the Scott Chirstian Sava comic, Pet Robots for Disney. Last but not least, they will produce The Ghouly Boys for Mandate and Howard Chaykin's Power and Glory. Glory was originally in development at Touchstone back in 2001, but reportedly got the bump for being just a tad too similar to M. Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable (New Line has since picked up the project). Casting for Area 52 has yet to begin, but now that a director is on board, it shouldn't be long.

Some industrious person in Hollywood made a giant dart board, and on it wrote the names of every comic book/graphic novel ever created. For a few hundred dollars, this shady gentleman will allow any major studio executive who wants to get in on the comic book action -- but finds himself sadly ignorant of the field -- to grab a single dart and hurl it in the direction of the board. When this dart strikes, the big executive runs out and grabs up the rights to his new comic book property. In this way, all sorts of comic book titles have found their way into the tents of film studios, and those that survive development hell will eventually make it onto the silver screen. The latest graphic novel to get so lucky is Howard Chaykin's Power and Glory. P and G is the story of a genetically enhanced super soldier who is timid about his own powers and thus finds himself teamed up with a tough former C.I.A. operative. Rumors of this adaptation have been floating around since the late nineties, according to Cinescape, but this time they mean it.