Yet another vintage comic book property is making its way to television screens very soon, as Universal Cable Productions announced today that they are developing the 1980s space hero comic book Dreadstar into a scripted series. Dreadstar creator Jim Starlin, who is maybe best known for his psychedelic cosmic comics for Marvel like Silver Surfer, as well as being the co-creator of the villainous Thanos and Guardians of the Galaxy members Gamora and Drax the Destroyer, will serve as executive producer and writer on the show.

The original comic centered on Vanth Dreadstar, sole survivor of the entire Milky Way galaxy, and an ensemble cast of crewmates (including a cyborg sorcerer) as they struggle to end an ancient war between two powerful, evil empires. According to Universal Cable Production’s Dawn Olmstead, “Jim Starlin’s cosmic space opera is a great read and it’s time for Vanth Dreadstar to make his television debut.”

In a statement, Starlin said, “I consider Dreadstar to be an extension of my family, so it took me a while to feel comfortable letting anyone else take care of this project; It has taken some time, but I know I’ve put my trust in the right team and I’m excited to collaborate with Universal Cable Productions and Benderspink to bring Dreadstar’s unique brand of chaos to television.”

Dreadstar originally appeared in graphic novel form in 1982, under Marvel’s Epic Comics imprint, which was created to publish creator-owned works (similar to how they publish Brian Michael Bendis’ Powers today). Vanth Dreadstar had his own ongoing series under Marvel’s Epic imprint for the first 26 issues, before being continued by the now-defunct publisher First Comics, where it continued for another 38 issues. As the ’90s rolled around, the character moved to Malibu Comics for a six issue limited series before pretty much fading into obscurity. But as our current pop culture shows, you can’t keep a good retro property down for too long.

[HT: Deadline]