MASKED Television Series!

So, I have some potentially big news.

Back in 2010, I edited a superhero anthology called Masked. It was conceived to be a serious, non-ironic look at the rising popularity of comic books and the superhero narrative. The idea was to invite top science fiction authors as well as working comic book writers to contribute prose stories that examined the superhero genre. I didn't want to make fun of it. I didn't want to camp it up. I wanted to shine a lens on all of the exciting work being done in the genre, and I wanted to challenge some of the working comic scribes to contribute prose. I also challenged one television executive producer, Stargate's Joseph Mallozzi, who surprised me by delivering one of the standout stories in the book. The book wound up with over half its contributions coming from working comic authors, but even better, in the years since, more of the contributors have gone on to write comics. At last count, 10 of the 14 people in the book have written for DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, Image, etc... I'm very proud of it.

Flash forward seven years. Vanessa Piazza, a highly-touted executive producer (Lost Girl/Dark Matter), as part of her new multi-year deal with Entertainment One, is developing Masked as a television series. Several of the book's contributors, Lilah Sturges, Paul Cornell, and Gail Simone, will be involved in translating their stories to the small screen. Mallozzi will be involved in the creative running of the show, and Yours Truly will also have a hand in MASKED development (possibly several hands). Here is the press release on Variety.

It's important to note that just because a show is being developed does not mean it will make it all the way to television. Plenty of ideas die in development, or at any number of gatekeeping stages along the way. But we've got some big names attached to this project already, and it can't be lost on anyone in a position to greenlight this that comic books are absolutely booming on the small and large screen, and we certainly have a host of cable TV and streaming channels that desperately need to fill content slots. So I'm very hopeful, excited, and eager to see where this goes. 

More news as I know it. But isn't that enough news for now?

Sincerely, 

Lou Anders

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