Sony is expanding their comic-to-film business, but this time avoiding the standard superhero fare. Instead, they have scooped up the rights to Scott McCloud’s recently released graphic novel The Sculptor. Even though it was only released a few weeks ago – to huge critical acclaim – it’s safe to say that The Sculptor is a big success.

The comic follows David, a struggling artist who is willing to sacrifice anything for his artwork. He gets the chance to do exactly that when Death pays a visit and offers him a deal: all the power to create whatever art he can imagine, but he only gets to live for 200 more days. David jumps at the opportunity; after all, what is life without art? Over the course of the book, however, David learns what life really is and what it really means to create art.

As first reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Sony is looking to Scott Rudin and Josh Bratman to produce the adaptation. These guys are some heavy-hitting producers, so it’s clear that Sony is not messing around with this property. Anyway you slice it, comic books – even those beyond the typical superhero scope – still have Hollywood captivated.

If you want to be one of those hip cats who spouts off how much better a book is than a movie, do yourself a favor and pick up The Sculptor. We already heaped some glowing praise on it and it certainly deserves your attention. If nothing else, you can get in on the ground floor with this surrealist, magic story before it sweeps the award season in about 3 years.

Read our interview with Scott McCloud about The Sculptor.