Christopher Priest created a character called Xero that ran in DC Comics in the late 1990s.
In the late 1990s, as the comic industry was reeling from the bursting of a speculator bubble that put many retailers and distributors out of business, DC Comics quietly experimented with a number of interesting concepts from auteur-oriented creators. Christopher Priest, a Black comics pioneer best known for his work on Black Panther, wrote Xer, a racially-charged action thriller that ran for 12 issues in 1997.
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The title is going for a bigger stage. 50 Cent's film and television production company G-Unit, in collaboration with Color Farm Media and Illuminous Media, is developing a film franchise called Xer. Warner Media, DC's parent company that has been aggressively adapting the imprint's pantheon of heroes in films, broadcast and streaming media, is nowhere to be seen.
ChrisCross drew a comic about a Black government assassin who can use bio-organic implants to disguise himself. Walker is a star basketball player in St. Louis and the story follows his struggle to reconcile his dual identities and regain his Black personhood. It was powerful and heady in the 90s, and it came from a concept that Priest had nurtured since he was a teenager.
Illuminous principal Joseph Illidge compares his work to James Bond and The Wire.
It is unusual that Xer was not part of DC's Vertigo adult-oriented comics line, and that certain creators maintained partial ownership of their characters like iZombie or Preacher. Xer was part of the established DC universe and interacted with corporate-owned characters, even as Priest was listed as co-copyright owner in the comics. The rights to the character reverted to Priest in 2016 and the creator was free to make his own deal.
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The partners in Color Farm Media said that the loss of DC's voice is their gain. DC allowed it to go back to Christopher because they didn't think it was worth keeping, and that worked to Chris's advantage because now, in a post-Black Panther world, everyone is looking for properties with this kind of reach and relevance.
The publisher of DC had no recollection of the details of the company's arrangement with Priest or how the Xer rights were allowed to reverting.
Alexander said the idea of putting a DC character on screen without DC's involvement was a huge selling point for Jackson. Everyone else was talking about Xer as a streaming series, but 50 thought big about everything and saw its potential as a full blown film franchise.
Christopher Priest is the man to bring G-Unit Film and Television into the world of comic book superheros. I can't wait for the world to meet Trane Walker.
Christopher Priest is a comic book writer.
The slow- moving car wreck at the intersection of race and class is depicted in Xer. It is exciting to be working together to create a new world.
Illidge said that Xer speaks to universal themes and that the Black experience in America is having to appear one. On one level, it's a spy-adventure story. It is an exploration of what it means to have your Blackness taken from you. That was way ahead of the curve in 1997, and even now, it will cause some ruffled feathers.
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