With the emphasis we get on American comics, via DC, a few plucky indies, and the all-conquering Marvel, it's easy to forget that there's also an enormous graphic tradition in Europe, and especially France. But a Gallic contender is on its way across the Atlantic, in the form of Miss: Better Living Through Crime**, to be scripted and directed by The Wire's Seith Mann{
The original books by Philippe Thirault, Marc Riou and Mark Vigouroux are hard-boiled noirs, set in Manhattan in the 1920s and 30s. Poor white trash Nola gets kicked out of the orphanage, and while working as a private eye hooks up with Slim, a shady (is there any other kind?) black pimp. Naturally the two hook up as contract killers.
Dark and violent, with the hard edge of the heroes being largely unsympathetic, and the tough territory of the race card being part of their arsenal, the film version looked, for a while, to be heading Antoine Fuqua's way, with Mann working only on the screenplay. With Fuqua's departure to multiple possible other projects though, Mann's strong work behind the camera on The Wire (not to mention Entourage, Heroes and Grey's Anatomy) made him the obvious choice to step up.
“Watching Seith’s work, you see he really knows how to develop characters and show their humanity,” says producer Hicham Benkirane. “In addition to that, he really gets that universe, that particular time in American history and the noir world."
Spike Lee is executive producing.