Warner Brothers has optioned Image Comics’ ‘Memoir’ from writer Ben McCool and artist Nikki Cook for the latest foray into the company’s comics-to-television adaptations. The comic that only went to print this past January follows the story of a reporter who is investigating a small farming town where all the citizens have lost their memory. Well… all the citizens except for one.
According to McCool:
“’Memoir’, in a nutshell, is a creepy amalgamation of ‘Twin Peaks’ and ‘The Twilight Zone’: small town dysfunctional America with a sci-fi/horror twist. Lowesville, a small town out in the arse end of the Mid West, is a place where nothing much happens, and the folk living there like it that way. However, one morning Lowesville’s residents awakens with no idea of who they are, where they are, or what’s happened… It seems the town’s memory has been erased. All except for the mind of one man: he remembers everything.
Cue stashed dead bodies, many a rambling lunatic, plus a strange girl claiming to be the Daughter of God…”
The comic series begins three years after the community-wide memory blank out. The initial press interest has died down and the populace of Lowesville has returned to its daily routine. Enter Trent MacGowan, the brash young reporter fresh out of college and looking to exploit Lowesville’s story to further his own career. Like any good mystery, MacGowan’s motive for investigating the town may run deeper than it seems on the surface.
The premise seems similar to other sci-fi tinged television programs like ‘FlashForward’ and the aforementioned ‘Twin Peaks’ but it seems unique enough that it should stand out amongst other television fare. Plus there are no costumed heroes and the comic isn’t well known by the general populace so fanboys can’t be offended if WB decides to take creative license with the story. Either way, McCool is excited about the idea of his series coming to the small screen. In an interview with MTV, the author said, “”Me and artist Nikki Cook are absolutely delighted that a company as prestigious as Warner Bros. TV has elected to pick up ‘Memoir,’ and we’re very excited to see where things go from here. Me and Nikki have always felt that the potential to tell stories in the ‘Memoir’ universe was abundant, so with a bit of luck there’ll be plenty more of them coming soon!”