ABC has ordered a TV pilot for a show based on Stumptown, the Portland-born graphic novel published by Oni Press, it was reported yesterday afternoon. Jason Richman (Bangkok Dangerous, Bad Company) will write and executive-produce the pilot. 

The four-volume noir comic—the first installment came out in 2009—follows a no-nonsense but flawed private investigator named Dex Parios. Parios, an Army vet with a gambling debt, is trying to solve the disappearance of a wealthy casino manager's granddaughter. The moody story begins with an abduction beneath the St. Johns Bridge. 

Series writer Greg Rucka was thrilled about the news of the pilot. "I am not involved with the production, though I’ve spoken extensively to those involved and they absolutely get it, which is a delight and pretty much everything one could hope for," Rucka writes in an email to Portland Monthly. "I’m excited about this, and I’m optimistic, and I’m most of all glad to see [artists] Justin Greenwood and Matthew Southworth’s hard work validated in this way, never mind everything that Oni Press has put behind all of us to make the book happen." 

"I'm excited to see the pilot come together and see how it resembles and how it differs from the stuff Greg, Justin, and I did in the books—how the creative team translates it," says artist Matthew Southworth, adding that they'd been in contact with the producers about a possible show for a couple months. "And it's a great excuse to show off the blue-collar beauty of Portland, which is so different than the town Portlandia showed the rest of the world. So as a fan of Portland, I'm really looking forward to seeing the city showcased so prominently."