Beaks here...

After languishing for ten long years in development hell, The Main Man is at last ready to burst forth and commit frivolous genocide on the big screen. Borys Kit of The Hollywood Reporter has just learned that Guy Ritchie is set to direct LOBO at Warner Bros. for producers Joel Silver, Akiva Goldsman and Andrew Rona. The screenplay is being written by THE SIMPSONS' Don Payne (who's also partially responsible for MY SUPER-EX GIRLFRIEND and THE FANTASTIC FOUR DO STUPID THINGS WITH THE SILVER SURFER, but let's accentuate the positive), and could go into production in early 2010. It's been well over a decade since I cracked a LOBO comic, but I do recall enjoying the absurdity and senseless violence of Keith Giffen, Alan Grant and Simon Bisley's THE LAST CZARNIAN back when I was in college. It's unclear as to whether Ritchie and Payne will be mining that limited series for their film's plot, but, given its popularity with comic book fans, I can't imagine they'd want to start anywhere else. I guess it's a good sign for SHERLOCK HOLMES that Silver is so eager to re-team with Ritchie on another potential franchise starter. What do you guys think?

UPDATE: According to Variety, they're not doing THE LAST CZARNIAN.

In the film, he is a seven-foot tall, blue-skinned, indestructible and heavily muscled anti-hero who drives a pimped out motorcycle, and lands on Earth in search of four fugitives who are bent on wreaking havoc. Lobo teams with a small town teenaged girl to stop the creatures.

Currently, they're going for a PG-13 rating. If only WATCHMEN had been bigger...