A big week for writer Matt Fraction, who’s just nabbed a couple deals to see his comics turned into movies.

He’s just inked a deal with producer Rick Alexander (MGM’s Adventures in the Land of Zametherea) and manager-producer Jeff Krelitz to turn two of his co-creations, Casanova and Last of the Independents, into movies. A major A-list actor is already mulling over the lead in Casanova, an adventure-caper about a thief-turned-spy, which Alexander promises will evolve into a "mega-budget, effects-intensive action spectacular." (He says he’s aiming to unleash the "spectacular" during the Fourth of July weekend 2010.) This is merely the first of what the producers hope will be a Bond-type franchise. Casanova "[will] live on but be played by a different actor each time out," says Krelitz, who notes that the duo will hire a scriptwriter only after securing a star and director. As for the swaggering bank-heist thriller Independent? It already has a screenwriter — that’d be newcomer Alex Litvak — so producers are currently shopping for a director with hopes of an early 2009 shoot.

As the opening day of San Diego Comic-Con International looms ever closer, it seems only right to turn the spotlight on a webcomic that draws from the world of comic books and toy collecting — the often-overlapping fan cultures that have long provided the backbone of the comic convention scene. With that in mind, this week’s interview subject is David Willis, the author of one of the toy scene’s most popular webcomics, Shortpacked!

Since ending his celebrated series It’s Walky! in 2005 and turning his full attention to Shortpacked, Willis has managed to elevate his semi-autobiographical account of the lives of toy store employees to a prominent role in collectible toy culture  — so much so, in fact, that Willis currently produces both the original, ongoing Shortpacked series and a special version of the comic for Toy News International, one of the most popular toy news sites on the ‘Net.

While much of the series chronicles the oddball cast of characters who work at the toy shop where the series’ main character, Ethan, earns a paycheck, the series often detours into commentary on superhero culture, contradictions and fandom, and rarely shies away from poking fun at the fan culture it calls its own.

I spoke with Willis about the origins of Shortpacked, his decision to "pull the drama tag" in the series, and what toys are on his must-buy list for this year’s Comic-Con.

COMICMIX: Can you tell me a bit about the reason you started Shortpacked? I know it started out semi-autobiographical, but what elements of your life at the time inspired you to run with Shortpacked and end It’s Walky!, your previous series?

DAVID WILLIS: It’s Walky! was coming to its natural end, and I wanted to try something different. I’ve collected toys for most of my life, but what really spawned Shortpacked! was working for a few years at Toys "R" Us. So much of retail work is spoofable. Laugh at the "Customer Protection Rackets" in Shortpacked! all you want, but they’re real. They’re just called something slightly nicer.

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