Sony Just Bought the Film Rights for “A.D.: After Death”

After negotiations turned into a bidding war, Sony has managed to acquire the film rights for Scott Snyder and Jeff Lemire’s A.D.: After Death.

A.D. is put out by Image Comics, a label that’s pretty well-known for innovative storytelling. It’s set in the far future when a genetic cure for death has been found. No one dies of old age anymore, just outside causes. The main character, Jonah Cook, has recently lost someone and begins thinking about himself and what to do next when there’s time to do everything. (At least, that’s the general synopsis. With two books still to be released in December and January, this story could take a serious left turn somewhere.)

The cool thing about A.D. is the structure. It’s not a comic book exactly (though there are comic pages), and it’s not a novel (though there’s plenty of prose). The story switches back and forth between narrative structures to create a very personal feel. Lemire’s watercolor art is both restful and unsettling to look at. He described A.D. to CBR as being “like an autobiography or a memoir because it’s a deeply personal and emotional story and it just happens to be set against a sci-fi backdrop”.

Honestly, as soon as I saw Scott Snyder on the cover I started waiting for this book. Snyder has made some of my favorite books out there (American Vampire is incredible, people). I was a little frustrated when the first book didn’t come out last year as planned, but now I’m happy they waited to get it right.

While I’ve only read the first part of this book (seriously, it’s getting a movie deal and it isn’t even all the way out?), I feel like it’s going to make an incredible film. Snyder and Lemire are both talented in their own rights and they’re longtime friends, so they work well together. Plus, Sony is very intelligently signing them on as Executive Producers. That means we can expect an end result that passes what I like to call “creator quality control”. I hate seeing a film adaptation that makes the original creators want to cry. With this creative team, it could be the kind of sci-fi film that wins eleven Academy Awards and gets added to the curriculum of Film Studies courses.

We’ll keep you updated as more details come out. In the meantime, go pick up A.D.: After Death Book 1 from your friendly local comics store. You can join the rest of us who are impatiently waiting for the next installment on December 28th.

Author: Khai

Khai is a writer, anthropologist, and games enthusiast. She is co-editor (alongside Alex DeCampi) of and contributor to “True War Stories”, a comic anthology published by Z2 Comics. When she’s not writing or creating games, Khai likes to run more tabletop RPGs than one person should reasonably juggle.

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