Actor Jackman to pen comic series

Jackman will star in a film exploring the origins of his X-Men character

X-Men star Hugh Jackman is to co-write a new comic book series with a writer of the Wolverine adventures.

The Australian actor, who plays Wolverine in the film franchise, will write Nowhere Man with Marc Guggenheim, who also penned Amazing Spider-Man.

Jackman said that he hopes the stories, about an era when men trade privacy for security, will become popular enough to be turned into a film.

The star is due to be seen in an X-Men prequel, Wolverine, next year.

Jackman's production partner John Palermo told Variety magazine that the main protagonist of the new comic series would have echoes of Will Smith's character in I Am Legend.

He added that the concept would be transferred to both the video game and movie arenas.

'Compelling'

The comic books will be produced for Virgin, while co-writer Guggenheim made his name writing for Marvel Comics.

"I've had so much fun in the graphic novel world with the X-Men franchise that I wanted to get even more involved," said Jackman, adding that he wanted to create a "compelling" character.

Films based on comic book characters have provided Hollywood with some of their biggest hits in recent years, including Batman and Spider-Man in addition to the X-Men films.

The first was released in 2000, and the series has made more than $1 billion (£500 million) in box office returns.