Image Comics' fan-favorite series Chew is the latest indie comic to get the TV treatment. Showtime has acquired a pilot script for a half-hour comedy based on the deeply idiosyncratic cop story about a man who gets psychic impressions from the things (and people) he eats. Created by John Layman and Rob Guillory, the book has been one of Image's biggest hits of the last several years.Chew is set in a world where bird flu has killed millions, causing all bird meat to be declared illegal. Tony Chu is a cibopath, someone who receives psychic impressions from the food he eats, including who or what ever came into contact with it. He works for the FDA. It's all really funny and weird, and the series has of course been a big hit with readers and critics. Three trade paperback collections have been released so far, as well as a deluxe hardcover called the Omnivore Edition. Volumes 1 and 2 wound up on the New York Times' Bestsellers list and won the 2010 Eisner and Harvey awards for Best New Series.

Chew is repped for media by Circle of Confusion, the agency and production company behind AMC's The Walking Dead and FX's Powers, also based on hit indie comics. Directing and co-producing the project is Stephen Hopkins (Californication), working from a script by Terri Hughes Burton and Ron Milbauer (Eureka).

[Deadline Hollywood]