Hollywood has struck gold. Comic book superheroes have brought a cash bonaza in recent years, and as the number of untapped properties runs out there’s a rush to snap up other types of graphic novel too.

Here are the top 10 best graphic novels / comic book projects currently in production:

Preacher

This has appeared on many an “In Production” list since the comic began back in 1995. Numerous directors have sought to bring the adventures of Jesse Custer (the titular Preacher) to the screen, including Kevin Smith and Daredevil helmer Mark Steven Johnson.

The main story follows Custer’s attempts to locate God, after he becomes possessed by the errant child of an Angel and a Demon. Other characters include the Saint of Killers – a Clint Eastwood style gunman hired by Angels to kill Custer, Cassidy – an Irish vampire, and Arseface – a boy who, when attempting to emulate Kurt Cobain’s suicide, merely blows half his face off and is left looking like he….well, has an arse for a face.

Sam Mendes has been attached to direct since Columbia picked up the rights in October 2008. In the past James Marsden had been in the frame to play Custer, though reports that Sarah Jessica Parker had been lined up to play Arseface are cruel and unfounded.

Read It: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Y: The Last Man

Written by Lost writer and producer Brian K Vaughn, this 66 issue series focused on Yorick Brown, the only man left alive on the planet after all the males – of every species – suddenly drop dead. Yorick’s attempts to find his fiancé after the gender clearout scream to be filmed. But this isn’t fx driven, we don’t really see the armageddon happen in the comics, it’s all about the human elements of the story. Shia Labouef, who has been attached to star in every film coming out for the next 5 years, has been attached to star.

Read It: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Runaways

Think The Goonies meets Heroes… The prolific Brian K Vaughn also created this story of a group of teenagers who find out their parents are a super villain collective called The Pride, and immediately go on the run in order to escape them, finding out in the process that they’ve inherited some of their parents’ abilities…

After writing the first storyline, comprising of 24 issues, Vaughn stepped down as writer, allowing for a certain Joss Whedon to take over writing duties.

Read It: Amazon U.S.

WE3

Grant Morrison, author of the recent Batman: R.I.P. storyline (which famously killed off the caped crusader), wrote and created this surprisingly touching tale of three pets, stolen by the government and augmented with cybernetic implants in order to create remorseless killing machines… The comic was ultra-violent. The best graphic novel to mix Homeward Bound: the Incredible Journey and Robocop.

Read It: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Fables

Though not in production as a film, ABC has picked up this popular story of fairytale characters forced out of their homelands by an evil presence that is sweeping the land, forcing many of the fables, including Prince Charming, Snow White and Cinderella relocate to modern day New York. Recommended for mature readers, the graphic nature of this comic could work well as a True Blood style series. Think Enchanted, but good.

Read It: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Thor

Reluctant Daniel Craig passed on the opportunity to play the God of Thunder and it ended up going to relative unknown Chris Hemsworth (the guy who played Kirk’s father the suicide bomber in JJ Abrams’ Star Trek). Thor will be directed by Kenneth Branagh, whose career in the director’s chair has consisted of making bad movies then hiding behing Shakespeare until it’s safe to come out again. The premise is a hard one to translate – the movie will be set mostly in Thor’s home world of Asgard, a place of feuding Norse Gods.

Read It: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Green Lantern

A comic created in 1940 (making it 22 years older than the Webhead) about a man named Hal Jordan, who is given an all powerful ring and battery (lantern) by a dying alien. This gives him the power to create anything he wants to out of green energy – though he does have a very strange weakness…the colour yellow. Yup, the colour yellow. In a film version I’d like to see Hal Jordon creating a giant green chicken with laser eyes and the Olsen Twins for legs. Oh, and his nemesis could be Big Bird…

Ryan Reynolds has been cast as the Green Lantern.

Read It: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Fathom

Megan Fox(’s body) has been cast in the titular role of the aquatic Goddess, so we get to see her looking like this:

Fathom is the only project on this list that belongs to neither Marvel nor DC, but to Aspen, which was founded by artist Michael Turner, who sadly passed away last year at the age of 37 after losing his battle with cancer.

Aquatically-fixated director James Cameron was at one point interested in bringing Fathom to the screen, before he went off trying to re-invent cinema with the upcoming Avatar.

No doubt Turner, who was famed for the way he drew the fairer sex (that’s a nice way of saying the women he drew looked frakkin’ hot. You know, for drawings…), would have appreciated the casting of Megan Fox’s body. (I should point out that all my copies of Fathom look like that because I read them in the bath…)

Read It: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Captain America: First Avenger

Much like Thor, the casting of one of the oldest and best loved characters in the Marvel universe will be crucial – even more so with Marvel hoping to build on its film universe and move towards a unified Avengers movie (it made its giant ambitions known when it offered Samuel L Jackson a 9 movie deal as Nick Fury).

Steve Rogers is a sickly young man during WWII, who is given a serum by the government in order to turn him into a super soldier and tip the balance of favour towards the Allies. In later stories he is rescued from suspended animation – or a block of ice – and implemented as leader of The Avengers, a heroic man out of time and having to deal with the fact that the world around him has considerably changed. Think California Man meets Universal Soldier.

Leonardo Di Caprio has apparently been placed on the top of Marvel’s wish-list for the role, with Brad Pitt as second choice. Both are doubtful.

Read It: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Luke Cage

Director John Singleton (Boyz ‘N the Hood) is on board for what is essentially Marvel’s version of Shaft, albeit with superpowers. Luke Cage is a young teenager in 1970’s Harlem, who is arrested for a crime he didn’t commit. In order to gain his freedom he signs up for a government project that gives him diamond hard skin and super strength. No, I’m not sure why either.

I’ve always found Luke Cage to be very boring (he also goes by the very cool moniker of…Power Man – and in earlier incarnations had the distinction of wearing a silver headband which looks not unlike the one worn by Wonder Woman), and I can’t see the blaxploitation angle working so well in these PC times, unless Marvel decides to Grindhouse it up a little and go tongue-in-cheek.

Singleton’s 2 Fast 2 Furious star Tyrese Gibson has been attached.

Read It: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

MORE PICKS
Scott Pilgrim – A slacker/part-time bassist in Toronto falls for a delivery girl, but must defeat her seven evil ex-boyfriends in order to date her. Edgar Wright’s film, starring Michael Cera, is due out June/July 2010.
Kick-Ass – A high-school kid with no powers decides to become a real life superhero, only to find it’s a rough road. Comic-Con footage showed it does what it says on the tin.
Hack/Slash – Another rumoured leading role for Megan Fox, this time as a punky ‘final girl’ who offs numerous slashers instead of running and screaming.
Jonah Hex – Yet another role for Megan Fox, this time as leading lady to Josh Brolin’s scarred outlaw in the wild west. It’s out in 2010.

These are the best graphic novels I could find being given the movie treatment. Are there others that deserve to be included? Which are you looking forward to most? Leave your thoughts in the comments.