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As a kid, you probably had one special stuffed animal that you were never without, or far away from. Maybe you were even one of those kids who carried more than one. If you (or a wee sprite you know) fits that description, you might get a smile out of Mike Bullock's Lions, Tigers, and Bears which has just been optioned by Paramount.

Bullock's series centers around a boy named Joey and a girl named Courtney, who discover that their stuffed animals come alive to protect them from a gang of monsters known as the Beasties. The Beasties can break into our world and kidnap children to devour ... but luckily they have their stuffed animals to protect them, a task which they have been performing "since the dawn of time."

According to Variety, Transformers' producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura is the man behind the scenes on this production, which kicked into gear with Joey Aucoin's spec script. The plan is to adapt it live action, and tell the story from the perspective of a grown-up Joey. Naturally, it will have a ton of CG effects to bring the Stuffed Animal Kingdom and its guardians to life.

The conceit is a little overblown, but it's a cute idea, and the comic is an enjoyable enough romp for the younger set. (Remember, they need comics too!) It's like We3 meets Toy Story. You can check out a preview courtesy of Runemaster Studios.

Every day, another graphic novel is optioned by a studio great or small, and very rarely do they stir much interest in me. They always seem to be a variation on the assassin-with-a-heart-of-gold or superhero deconstruction, which can't even motivate me to pick up the graphic novel, let alone buy a movie ticket. So, it's a rare treat when the trades run the latest comic to be snatched up and I go "Okay -- this one I get." Hiding in Time is one of these.

According to Variety, Warner Bros has bought the rights to Christopher Long and Ryan Winn's series. Time is set in a future where the Witness Protection Program is no longer interested in changing your name and moving you to Tampa -- instead, they send you back in time to hide from those you snitched on. If hiding out in the Black Death to escape your mob buddies sounds too good to be true, it is, as a group of armed thugs begin hunting them down across the ages. It's up to one humble scientist in the Time Portal Division to stop them. (The trades mention that the scientist teams up with a master thief to track down his old crew -- I don't know if that's part of the movie pitch, or if that actually happens in the series.) No director has been named, but Beau Thorne is tackling the screenplay.