A man who can’t die makes the perfect crime-fighter in this little-known indie comic, but his story could also make a good movie, too.

With Hollywood turning more of its attention to the world of graphic novels for inspiration, I’ll cast the spotlight on a new comic book each week that has the potential to pack a theater or keep you glued to your television screens. At the end of some “Adapt This” columns, you’ll also find thoughts from various comic creators and other industry experts about the books they’d like to see make the jump from page to screen.

This Week’s Book: The Expendable One by Jason Burns & Bryan Baugh (Viper Comics)

The Premise: Twigs Dupree is just another average guy with a below-average lifestyle, but all that changes when accidentally becomes a test subject for a chemical that makes him immortal. After discovering that he’s unable to die no matter how hard he tries, he decides to fight crime with the help of his amateur scientist pal and a police radio scanner. His new, weird life takes an even weirder turn when he gets caught up in the search for a killer who might actually be a werewolf.

The Pitch: A potent mix of gory horror and clever humor, The Expendable One is the sort of comic that echoes the feel of such films as the “Evil Dead” movies and the recent “Tucker & Dale vs. Evil,” which manage to be both scary and funny. The story also shares a lot of similarities with the tone of early Dylan Dog comics (and to a lesser extent, the disappointing “Dylan Dog” movie), in that it doesn’t shy away from presenting gory imagery one moment and sex appeal the next.

While the comic itself is a fairly under-the-radar project, Burns has created a nice little introduction for his hero that serves as both his first big adventure and origin story. The cast of characters in The Expendable One is relatively small, and the comic is short enough to give a screenwriter room to expand and tweak certain elements on its way from page to screen.

Any adaptation of the book also benefits from the fact that the characters of Twigs and his wannabe-scientist pal Jerry are so loosely defined in the original 2006 series that the net can be cast far and wide for potential actors.

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Twigs Dupree was just your average, everyday forgotten townie a few months ago, but things changed for the shaggy headed has-been when he accidentally injected himself with an experimental concoction that gave him the gift of immortality. Now along with his childhood friend Jerry, Twigs wages a war in the suburbs, playing part-time superhero with the help of a police scanner.  Things take an unexpected turn however when the sexy Agent Armstrong recruits Twigs for the FBI and asks him to take down a serial killer known as The Animal, a madman who some believe to be a werewolf, but who in reality is the head of a cult that will make David Koresh and his Branch Davidians look like the cast of Sesame Street.

Shoot him in the head and he’ll keep walking.  Strangle him with a wire and he’ll keep talking.  Send him up against a killer that views entrails as Christmas tinsel and for the first time since he got his powers, Twigs will wish he were dead.

Format: graphic novel / full color / 112 Pages / $11.95
ISBN: 0-9754193-9-0
By: (W) Jason M. Burns, (A) Bryan Baugh

Twigs Dupree was just your average, everyday forgotten townie a few months ago, but things changed for the shaggy headed has-been when he accidentally injected himself with an experimental concoction that gave him the gift of immortality. Now along with his childhood friend Jerry, Twigs wages a war in the suburbs, playing part-time superhero with the help of a police scanner.  Things take an unexpected turn however when the sexy Agent Armstrong recruits Twigs for the FBI and asks him to take down a serial killer known as The Animal, a madman who some believe to be a werewolf, but who in reality is the head of a cult that will make David Koresh and his Branch Davidians look like the cast of Sesame Street.

Shoot him in the head and he’ll keep walking.  Strangle him with a wire and he’ll keep talking.  Send him up against a killer that views entrails as Christmas tinsel and for the first time since he got his powers, Twigs will wish he were dead.

Format: graphic novel / full color / 112 Pages / $11.95
ISBN: 0-9754193-9-0
By: (W) Jason M. Burns, (A) Bryan Baugh

Available in the Viper Shop