Brian Michael Bendis Developing JINX, MURDER INC., and PEARL Shows for Prime Video
Comic book author Brian Michael Bendis has partnered up with Amazon with a first-look deal, and he’s got three projects already in development. Those projects include adaptations of his previous work including Jinx, Murder Inc., and Pearl. These all sound like great projects and there is some solid talent currently attached to develop them.
Jinx is “a crime-ridden love story unfolding on a high stakes treasure hunt, per Amazon’s series description. Our players are: Jinx Alameda, a bounty hunter at the top of her game who’s tired of her grimy life; Goldfish, a charming con man and wanted felon who falls head over heels for Jinx; and Columbia, Goldfish’s loose-cannon partner, who has big criminal dreams. Their paths join when they’re pulled into a search for missing mob money — a payout so big that it lures them away from the familiar streets of Cleveland, into a dangerous, unpredictable misadventure that will change the course of their lives.”
Jinx will be executive produced by Bendis along with showrunners Ayelet Waldman and Michael Chabon (Star Trek: Picard, Unbelievable).
Murder Inc. is set in an alternate world where five families never lost their stranglehold on the country. The story follows Valentine Gallo, “a newly ‘made man’ whose first task for the mob ends with an explosion—sending him on the run from rival gangsters and the CIA, according to its logline. Dragged into the fray is Jagger Rose, a normally cool, young hit-woman who was tasked with supervising Valentine, and has wound up with a target on her back too. Just when Valentine thinks his initiation into organized crime couldn’t be more of a disaster, he learns that his mother is conspiring with the FBI, and has promised them–since his birth–that he’ll be an informant. That was definitely not his plan. But for now, he and Jagger need to find a way to come together and fight for control of their territory, and their fate.”
Bendis will executive producer along with series co-creator Michael Oeming (Powers). Tze Chun (I’m a Virgo) will be showrunner.
Pearl is about Pearl Tanaka, “an outsider among outsiders — a Japanese American with albinism, born into a world ruled by the American yakuza. Now she uses her unequaled skills as a tattoo artist to make an honest living in San Francisco. That all changes the day that she meets another tattoo artist, Rick Araki, and saves his life. Rick has made enemies of a different yakuza clan, and by interfering with their hit on him, Pearl might just have ignited a deadly gang war. And worse, Pearl has inadvertently revealed to her yakuza bosses one of her deepest secrets: she has a real talent for killing. Now, to pay off her debt, she must become their assassin.”
Bendis executive produces Pearl alongside series co-creator Michael Gaydos (Jessica Jones) and showrunner Chris Collins (The Man in the High Castle).
Bendis said in a statement: “I am thrilled to be part of Amazon’s stellar lineup of storytellers. Their vision for the future of media is SO damn exciting, and they have already honored us with these incredible showrunning partners. The readers have been cheering our original Jinxworld creations on from the get-go, and we are so excited to take them to a screen near you.”
Nick Pepper, head of U.S. SVOD wholly owned development at Amazon MGM Studios added: “Brian has had immense success throughout his career, with a hand in some of the most culturally impactful comics in recent memory,” said Nick Pepper, head of U.S. SVOD wholly owned development at Amazon MGM Studios. “We are thrilled that he is bringing his captivating storytelling to Amazon MGM Studios.”