Though Hollywood seems obsessed with bringing classic comic book heroes to the big screen (for good reason, they're usually the biggest films of the year), 20th Century Fox has decided to mix things up by optioning the rights to a comic book series that hasn't even come out yet. Mark Millar's 'Starlight' may make its way to the big screen under Fox's comic book guru Simon Kinberg's supervision.

This news was broken by El Mayimbe at Latino Review, and he describes the comic as 'Flash Gordon' meets 'The Dark Knight Returns.' 'Starlight' is about a human who saved the universe Gordon-style, but when he comes home no one believes him. He then settles down and gets married, only to be called back to save the universe thirty five years later. The comic was written by Millar -- who also created 'Kick-Ass' and 'Wanted' -- and was drawn by Goran Parlov.

In the past studios would read galley editions of upcoming books, with anything by pop authors like John Grisham, Stephen King or -- more recently -- Dan Brown often optioned before they hit book stores (or kindles for that matter). This seems to be the first time a comic book has gotten this treatment, but considering that Millar is a creative consultant over at Fox, this should be no surprise.

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