Targeting the growing hip-hop and urban market, Distant Horizon, the international film financing, production and distribution company headed by Anant Singh, announced its plans to adapt urban-underground comic book Brotherman for the big screen.

Rights for the comic were bought from Atlanta-based publisher Flipbook Communications.

Based on the series of comic books developed by three brothers, Jason and Guy Sims and Dawud Anyabwile, Brotherman, known as the 'Dictator of Discipline,' is an urban hero who goes up against dark forces that seek to pull the black community apart in Big City, U.S.A.

'Brotherman has street credibility,' said Singh. 'No one has seen anything like it before. There have been black super-heroes, but Brotherman is very much a hip-hop cultural icon who embodies the attitudes of the current American urban scene - defiant, intelligent, and fiercely loyal to his 'hood. However, we don't see this as just an urban niche market entertainment. We feel it has potential to cross-over all racial barriers internationally - wherever there are young people who are tuned in to hip-hop.'

The project was brought to Distant Horizon by Ben Silverman of Reveille Entertainment, a television development and production concern based on the Universal lot. Singh and Distant Horizon's Brian Cox will produce the theatrical feature version, while Distant Horizon and Reveille will team up for a potential television spin-off. Anyabwile will executive produce along with Silverman.

The comic book, now in its 12th volume, has independently sold over 750,000 issues without a major comic book distributor in its corner - a rarity in the world of indie comics.

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