“Mage” Optioned by “Watchmen” Producer

I searched for Mage on Google Images and this was the best thing that came up. Keep in mind it has NOTHING to do with the comic.

In the interest of full disclosure, I had to look up what the hell a “mage” was. It’s one of those words I’ve always heard people use, usually in MMORPG-related conversations that I quickly tune out of, but never quite understood what it was. According to Webster, it’s a sorcerer or magician. Good to know, I guess.

Anyway, according to /Film the film rights for “Mage,” a comic series by Matt Wagner, have been bought by Lloyd Levin, the man who brought us the “Watchmen” adaptation last year. In fact, at one point, “Watchmen” director Zack Snyder was attached to a “Mage” film, but it fell through.

The film would be an origin story of a character named Kevin Matchstick who has a chance encounter with a mage who shows him that he is capable of more than he ever dreamed. Along the way, they meet other magical creatures and begin a quest to defeat evil. According to /Film, the story is deeply based in mythology and mysticism.

Having not read the comic, it’s hard to guess whether this is positive or not. I guess more original stories like this coming to the big screen are never a bad thing, even though, from the plot synopsis, this sounds like a pretty generic Harry Potter-esque tail of a guy finding out he has magical abilities/powers and uses them to save the little guy. One of the interesting parts to this story is that Levin has optioned “Mage” himself, without studio support. This, as /Film brilliantly points out, puts it in similar terms to “Kick-Ass,” where they didn’t have to answer to a studio for editorial control of the film, something that is increasingly important in the age of constant adaptations like this.