Comic-Con Sensation 'Last Man Standing' Sells To Paramount For Film And More

EXCLUSIVE: Paramount has just closed a deal to purchase the LAST MAN STANDING and develop it as a multiplatform franchise property. The hugely sought-after graphic novel from Heavy Metal publishing was the sensation of this past Comic-Con when it debuted. Marc Evans, President of Production for Paramount, played a major role in bringing this into the studio. Scott Aversano will produce with Daniel LuVisi, the artist and creator of the graphic novel. The project will be executive produced by Stephan Lokotsch, Russell Binder, and Peter Levin. The novel will be expanded into a comic book by Kevin Eastman’s Heavy Metal publishing label. Attorney Craig Jacobson made the deal. The graphic novel which was 2 1/2 years in the making and sold out within 2 hours will be expanded into a comic book series for Kevin Eastman’s Heavy Metal publishing.

Dan LuVisi told my pal Peter Levin’s Geek Chic Daily that Last Man Standing, or “LMS”, “takes place 600 years in the future, in an alternate universe and is about Gabriel, this invincible soldier, who’s been created to help win a war Earth got itself too deep into with Mars. After Gabe wins the war, he comes back down to Earth and is celebrated as this incredible hero. From there, he becomes somewhat of a celebrity, a Superman of this story, but then it all takes a quick turn. Gabriel is framed for an atrocious crime, by a terrorist organization known as Pandemonium and their leader, Dante. He is then sent to Level-9 Facility, where he’ll spend the next nine years in the worst prison of all time. Once Gabriel breaks out, only then does his true story begin, and the lies and twists unravel.

“As for the entire series, it’s a story of mine I’ve been crafting over the past two and a half years. I want it to be a graphic novel series, but start it in a non-traditional type way. Where most comics start off with a first issue, this starts off with a 230-page bible of a book, Killbook of a Bounty Hunter, that sets up the entire universe of the LMS world. But not only that, the audience gets an incredibly deep perspective on the protagonist, Gabriel, and what his plans are now that he’s escaped from Level-9.”