One of the biggest curses I can think to bestow on a movie is Brett Ratner’s direction. While a lot of people have excused the director for a fatally bad third X-Men movie, I haven’t. As the director he had the ability to shut down some of the preposterous ideas the studio was throwing at him in its effort to get the movie out to compete with former director Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns. He decided to tow the line instead of battle for a better picture, and I hold him responsible for that.

Needless to say, the notion of Ratner getting his hands on a movie like Blade Runner terrifies me. Fortunately, the movie that’s actually being trusted to the director isn’t a sequel or remake to the Ridley Scott classic sci-fi film. Instead it’s a movie adaptation of the comic book Harbinger which has been described as being “in the vein of a young Blade Runner” by producer Jim Milchan. Milchan will produce the adaptation along with Ratner and Jay Stern, according to Variety.

Published by Valiant Comics, the Jim Shooter created comic book tells the story of a young kid who develops mental abilities, making him a Harbinger (a human with mental powers). As he develops his powers, the kid finds himself in conflict with a powerful “Omega Harbinger,” who has used his abilities to build a corporate empire.

Unlike X-Men, which Ratner took over after Singer left the franchise (and after Matthew Singer left the third picture), Harbinger would give Ratner a shot at creating a super-hero movie franchise from the ground up. I can’t say I’m thrilled with the combination of Ratner and a super-hero franchise, but at least he’s not meddling with an existing franchise that has the fanbase of the better loved comics, although I have to hope Ratner will do well enough to appeal to the existing Harbinger fans. The last thing comic book adaptations need is yet another excuse to disillusion dedicated readers.