I’m not a huge comic book nerd, but there are a handful of comic book writers that I tend to keep tabs on and read with some regularity. Warren Ellis is one of them; the original properties he has created over the years include The Authority, Transmetropolitan and Global Frequency. It was announced this week that his graphic novel Ocean (not to be confused with Ocean’s Eleven, Twelve or Thirteen!) has been optioned for a feature film by Gianni Nunnari (300, The Departed, Frank Miller’s Ronin) and Nick Wechsler (Drugstore Cowboy, Requiem For a Dream, The Fountain).

Ocean is a 5-issue mini-series illustrated by Chris Sprouse and set 100 years in the future. The story’s main character is Nathan Kane, a U.N. weapons inspector sent to Jupiter’s moon Europa where a fleet of strange floating coffins have been discovered floating in an ocean along with an alien weapon buried under the planet’s ice. The premise is a little reminiscent of Alien, but I think it would make a great movie perhaps in the vein of Danny Boyle’s Sunshine or yes even Paul W.S. Anderson’s Event Horizon. Heck, I’m just happy to see another non-superhero comic book headed for the big screen. Of course, the one stipulation that I would place on this project is that Nathan Kane absolutely must be played by Avery Brooks (Captain Sisko from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine). If you’ve read the comics, you know there’s no other person better suited for it!

On a related note, Warren Ellis’ first novel Crooked Little Vein hit stores a couple weeks ago, and he will be taking over for Joss Whedon on Astonishing X-Men in the near future.