School of Hard Knoxville

I could never be a studio exec who greenlights films. Drop two pitches for comic book scripts on my desk and I would have opted for the guy who has his entire life uprooted and becomes an unrepentantly violent vigilante over the tale of Nazis who bring one of Lucifer's spawn to this Earth to win WW2 only to see him shave off his horns and use his cement hand to battle crime. Yet "Hellboy" has done admirably at the cinema while "The Punisher" has dropped 60% of its BO take in week two. Both however will be hard pressed to make back their budgets.

Not a comic fan myself the one graphic novel I was taken with--primarily due to my prediliction for things Polynesian--is called "Hawaiian Dick". Not a super-hero account this is more of a noir detective procedural set in the 50th state, replete with tikis in many of the panels. How could I not like it? Well word has come down that a script has been optioned based on the series and the lead is set for Johnny Knoxville.

New Line will be producing and they will soon be saying Aloha to a nice piece of money. We will have to see if that means hello or goodbye.