From Cylons to Silicon: Rymer Mounts ‘Witchblade’

How does one go from working on one of the most intelligent television series of the last decade to one of the worst comic properties ever inked? Ask Michael Rymer, who will be directing a feature film version of the Top Cow comic Witchblade.

Sci-fi fans will know Rymer for his exhaustive contributions to Battlestar Galactica, producing 40 episodes (and directing 20) of the future-set parable on modern times which is gearing toward the end of its run. Fans will also know Witchblade as the tit-obsessed yarn where a hot chick gains superpowers via an overly ornate gauntlet, shedding most of her clothes (and dignitity) as she fights supernatural baddies. Horny teens have ensured the property’s inexplicable legs since 1995, including a short-lived TV series starring Yancy “not-so-chesty” Butler. I don’t even read comics and I know this stuff is bad! Of course, Rymer did direct Queen of the Damned so it’s not like he’s beyond such tripe. Still is it too much to hope that a man who has spent so much time in the world of the Cylons would develop a bit of taste?

No studio is attached to the project yet, but Top Cow is producing along with Platinum Studios and Arclight Films. Variety claims 100 million copies of the comic have sold worldwide which tells me some guys like ink stains and expensive tissues. Not surprisingly, there’s also an anime version of the series titillating the otakus out there. With any hope this film won’t see the light of day beyond the DTV rack.