Not many actors have the experience of their first live-action film role becoming one of the greatest heroes ever to grace the silver screen. Follow that by practically disappearing from sight and creating an incredible career as a voice-over actor and you have one of the strangest careers in the history of the entertainment industry. This is, of course, the path of Mark Hamill, from Luke Skywalker to voicing The Joker. The man is nothing short of a God to geeks, who has also written graphic novels and directed a documentary about comics back in 2004. He has been all but absent from the feature film world in the last decade, excluding Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back of course, but now he's ready to get back into features. He just won't be doing it as an actor.

Speaking at a panel held in Los Angeles this past Saturday, Hamill announced that wheels have begun turning on a project based on one of his comics and that he'll be directing. Unable to give solid details about the project (we'll hear about that come time for the Cannes Film Festival), speculation from The Wrap suggests that it will be an adaptation of The Black Pearl, a five-part comic series the actor wrote back in 1996. The story is of a man named Luther Drake, who, while following a woman home, prevents a kidnapping and is labeled a vigilante by the tabloid press.

Though it will likely see a title change, less it upset the Pirates of the Caribbean people, the project is intriguing and could easily be updated for modern times. Hamill stated that the story was less about crime fighting than it was about sensational journalism, which has become a major issue with the growth of the 24-hour news system (remember the Balloon Boy?) Despite rising so fast in the industry, Hamill has always been a genuine and hard working actor and it's hard to wish him anything other than success.