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Benderspink has acquired film rights to "The Straw Men," a crime thriller by Brit author Michael Marshall Smith, along with rights to the comic adaptation by Zenescope Comics head Joe Brusha.

The book, the first in a trilogy, follows a detective brought out of retirement to solve a series of bizarre murders connected by dark conspiracy.

"Straw Men" will be produced by Chris Bender and JC Spink. Zenescope's Brusha and Ralph Tedesco exec produce.

Smith's novel "Spares" is set up with Vertigo producing, and his short story "One of Us" has been in development at Warner Bros.

Benderspink's working with Spyglass on romantic comedy "Leap Year," set to start shooting in March with Amy Adams starring. Its adaptations of comicbooks and graphic novels include "A History of Violence," "Pet Robots" at Disney, "Y: The Last Man" at New Line and "Pencilneck" at Lionsgate.