Wake The Dead has had a moderately long road to production (and it’s not there yet) which is why news of a new company taking it over should be taken with a pinch of bittersweet salt. Steve Niles’s comic book pass at the Frankenstein story that features med students fooling around with the dead was at Dimension for a while, then Jay Russell (Ladder 49) was going to direct it, and now it’s landed in the lap of Slash. Yes, the guitarist from Guns N Roses. The awesomely talented one with the top hat. According to Hero Complex, the axeman has started his started his own production company called Slasher Films, and Wake The Dead will be one of the first productions. This is great news. An adaptation of the comic could be like Flatliners and Dawn of the Dead met somewhere in the middle of the operating table, but Niles is quoted in the piece as wanting to evoke the tone of the 1970s horror flicks. Maybe he should call up Ti West. Slasher will be partnering with Scout Productions (Session 9) to make the movie.

If there’s anything positive that’s come out of a decade of studio executives scrambling for anything in the comic book bin to shove onto the big screen, it’s that sometimes the studios find the diamonds in the rough. Sometimes they find them, slap a cheap rubber scar on their cheeks, and make them blow up John Malkovich’s submarine. Sometimes they have to mistake trash for treasure first. When they do get their hands on something special it’s cause to celebrate. “Cal McDonald” is something special. The twenty year-running Steve Niles comic book is one of the classics of the Darkhorse stable, and it features the sort of Hunter Thompson by way of John Constantine figure that will spit on your mother while shooting up and demanding attention. Apparently, comic is doing just that (minus the motherly insults and the needle use) at Universal where the project is currently in the writing phase. No director. No stars. Just a draft script by Steve Niles that’s being considered and poured over. That’s enough to illicit some reasons to smile, though. With any luck, the project announced during the Raw Entertainment panel here at Comic-Con today will move through the studio with the right pieces falling into place. “Cal McDonald” is one of the great ones, and it’s a character that deserves the big screen.

Two of my favorite people in the industry, Pineapple Express director David Gordon Green and 30 Days of Night writer Steve Niles are teaming up in a big way for Overture Films.

Steve Niles is very quickly becoming one of the hottest writers out there. Just recently Steve partnered with Microsoft to pen a comic for their Zune Arts division called The Lost Ones.

We’ve got a few copies of Steve Niles’ graphic novel adaptation of Richard Matheson’s classic story that inspired the upcoming Will Smith flick ‘I Am Legend’. All you have to do is play a little game…

I had a chance to sit and hang out with good friend of the site, and creator of 30 Days of Night, Steve Niles. Steve has had his hand in alot of projects recently, namely the adaptation of his ground-breaking graphic novel to the screen. Steve teamed with director David Slade to create one of the best vampire films in many years. I have already had a chance to see the film, and you can check out what I had to say here. For those of you who haven’t had a chance to see it, let’s see what Steve had to say.

The cornerstone of this year’s Screamfest film festival in lovely Los Angeles was the much anticipated 30 Days of Night from ever present comic scribe Steve Niles and brought to the screen by David Slade, who is riding his last film Hard Candy straight to the top.

Director David Slade’s vampire thriller, based on the groundbreaking graphic novel of the same name by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith has not even hit theaters yet and we are already talking seriously about a sequel.

At the end of the week 30 Days of Night will begin scaring the hell out of audiences in America. For now, this clip will suffice for some sleepless nights.