Comic Book Resources

Joe Casey and Joe Kelly, masters of televised monkey-fighting

Earlier in the week Advertising Age's Ken Wheaton jokingly wondered whether Frank Miller is working on Animal Planet's upcoming series Dark Days in Monkey City, whose promotional website has a definite 300 vibe.

Alas, no Miller. But it turns out that comic-book writers Joe Casey and Joe Kelly are involved in the show, which "is an intensely visual series that reveals intense tales of love, treachery, betrayal and triumph among several monkey characters," a la the successful Meerkat Manor, I presume.

According to a press release, the network brought aboard Casey and Kelly to develop the series, set in the deserted Sri Lankan city of Polonnaruwa, also known as ... Monkey City. Wait! There's more! There are rival monkey gangs, with names like the Temple Troop and Black Claws, who battle over "prime Monkey real estate"!

Dark Days is a fantasy world reminiscent of epic stories of antiquity but very much relatable to modern audiences," says the president of Animal Planet Media.

Joe Casey. Joe Kelly. Monkey fights. Monkey fantasy. Narration by John (Gimli) Rhys-Davies. I'm all over Dark Days in Monkey City.

The series debuts on Feb. 10.