Derek Kolstad to Adapt Comic Book ‘Ordained’

Derek Kolstad, the screenwriter behind the John Wick franchise and action movie Nobody, has set his sights on a new shoot ‘em up.

The scribe has come aboard to adapt Ordained, a comic from upstart comic book publisher Bad Idea. Kolstad made the announcement a a Bad Idea panel held Saturday at San Diego Comic-Con.

Kolstad is already in business with Bad Idea, working with writer Robert Venditti and artists Raúl Allén and Antonio del Hoya on a comic mini-series titled Planet Death. When he heard that Venditti was working on a new project, Ordained, he wanted a peak. He geeked out over what he saw.

“When I read Ordained, I knew I had to adapt it and told Bad Idea they would have to pry it from my cold dead hands,” he said.

Bad Idea’s Dinesh Shamdasani and Benjamin Simpson are producing the adaptation.

It’s easy to see why Ordained would appeal to Kolstad as it explores similar ground of seemingly ordinary men pushed to the edge that unveils their unsuspecting, and butt-kicking, pasts.

The story centers on a priest who performs last rites at a hospital and one day, gives sacraments to a dying patient. The patient confesses to being the head of the Irish Mafia and spills out his darkest deeds and secrets. When the man makes a miraculous medical recovery, he is quick to return to his old ways and send his men to kill the priest who now knows where all the bodies are buried.

Big however: the priest’s collar wasn’t always white as he was once a Navy SEAL who found his faith in the midst of battle. Gangsters, corrupt cops and a police officer who wants to take on the Irish Mafia head will learn what happens when you cross this priest.

Check out a preview of the comic below.