Showtime and Dexter executive producer Sara Colleton are reteaming for The Exterminators, a drama based on the canceled Vertigo series by Simon Oliver and Tony Moore.
Launched in January 2006, the comic centers on Henry James, an ex-con who gets a job at his stepfather’s extermination company, Bug-Bee-Gone. A mystery develops involving Henry’s girlfriend, a high-level employee of a company that manufactures a new poisonous gel for killing cockroaches.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, which describes the concept as “Six Feet Under in the world of pest control,” the network’s version will focus on the dysfunctional Bug-Bee-Gone crew, “whose greatest enemies aren’t the insects and rodents they meet and kill on a daily basis but rather their own self doubts, vices and inner demons.”
Originally envisioned as a 50-issue series, The Exterminators ends this month with Issue 30.
Curiously enough, The Exterminators initially started out as a TV pitch and pilot outline.
“It was specifically written to please me, so, as you can see now, it wasn’t really network material,” Oliver said last year. “I started to notice that the Vertigo name kept cropping up on the spines of most of the books that interested me at the comic store so I figured that was where it should go.”
July 9th, 2008 at 9:15 am
Oops. Y’know, this has to have been in the pipeline for quite a while now. Perhaps Vertigo should have waited a bit before they cancelled a book that’s now going to be getting a lot more attention?
July 9th, 2008 at 10:00 am
I’ll go to my grave saying that THE EXTERMINATORS is one of the most most under-appreciated gems that Vertigo has ever released… and given the numer of solid Vertigo books that never found a big enough audience, that’s saying something.
July 9th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Can’t wait to see what happens with this! Loved the comic.
July 9th, 2008 at 10:20 am
Pay channels need more Preacher. Seriously. They made that “Jeremiah” show. Where’s my Preacher????
July 9th, 2008 at 10:29 am
Exterminators is one of my favourite Vertigo books ever, and it’s good to see that it will live on in the form it was supposed to be created in. I wonder if there’s any chance this could persuade Vertigo to uncancel the book.
July 9th, 2008 at 10:46 am
I’ve been loving Exterminators lots. Exterminators II anyone?
July 9th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Would be great to see something done with this. Was probably the best “new” Vertigo title in the last few years, following Y & Fables. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for this but sadly this stuff has happened in the past where something gets optioned but nothing comes of it. Can only hope for the best on this though. *keeping fingers crossed*
July 9th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Congrats, Simon! I’ve been saying it all along: this is one of my favorite books ever. Glad to see this finally happening!
-D
July 9th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
The Exterminators was a good book, but never really had that buzz or accessibility that other Vertigo books had. I think TV may have been a better format for it all along, and I think it’ll do great on Showtime.
July 9th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Congratulation guys ! I am so sad that this title along American Virgins got cancelled, I buy the book in TPB and because of so many cancellations by Vertigo lately, I will wait untill there is 3 or 4 TPB to support the book, I hate rushed endings to a series !
I wish Vertigo would do seasons of 12 issues on a title with an open ending instead of saying it will be 50 issues from the get go and axing the book later on.
July 9th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
I hope that means that we get more new comics
July 9th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Great news. Exterminators is my favourite series – hopefully we will be able to see a little more of it now!
July 10th, 2008 at 2:13 am
Does anyone know if Oliver is wrapping the story up with issue 30, or if it just ends there, with plot threads dangling?
It was a great comic, and it’ll make a great TV series. ShowTime seems to be sneaking up on HBO, in terms of the programs its putting out nowadays. And I trust Sara Colleton … after all, she saw the gleaming nugget of televisual gold in the turd that is the Dexter series of books.
July 12th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
I just couldn’t get into this title because of the gross factor but I think it will probably do really well as a show, especially on Showtime.
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January 20th, 2011 at 9:36 pm
Being an exterminator is great. There is always something new each day
January 20th, 2011 at 11:44 pm
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