Strangers in Paradise, Echo Film Rights Revert to Terry Moore

While cartoonist Terry Moore has always expressed enthusiasm when asked, it's been a long time since anything much seemed to be happening with the film adaptations of his comics Strangers in Paradise and Echo. Many fans expected that nothing would come of the deal he had in place with Lloyd Levin, the Watchmen producer who bought up the rights to Echo in 2009, and now it looks as though that suspicion has been borne out, as Moore says the rights to both Echo and Strangers in Paradise have reverted to him and anyone interested in making film or TV projects based on the properties can approach him at will. "In the spirit of the Open Information Act, I realized I should officially announce that the film/TV rights to Echo have come back to me. So the rights to Echo and Strangers In Paradise are both available. They would make a swell holiday present for that special filmmaking sweetie in your life," wrote Moore to his Tumblr earlier today. Strangers in Paradise has been optioned in the past, with both movie and TV opportunities discussed either seriously or at least in the entertainment press. The award-winning series has never come close to getting off the ground, though, with a number of issues often cited as the reason: it's got an involved, serpentine and almost generational plot that would be difficult to do in a single feature film. At one point, it was considered a liability that the two main characters are lesbians, although it's unclear how much of a stumbling block that would be anymore. The series is turning twenty years old in 2013 and by way of recognizing that, a new, prose novel will be released next year, which Moore has been hard at work on. At San Diego Comic-Con International this year, Terry Moore announced that he was close to a deal to option Rachel Rising, the horror comic he's currently working on, but that deal hasn't come together yet as of the last time he spoke about the matter.