For last week’s “Adapt This” column, I recommended Brandon Graham’s reimagined Prophet series adapted for the screen. (It’s based on a character Rob Liefeld created in the ’90s.) It’s a longshot, sure — but the first volume of this series feels like it has all the makings of a great sci-fi epic.

For those who aren’t familiar with it, the series unfolds far in the future, at a time when the human race is a distant memory on most alien planets. John Prophet awakes from cryo-sleep and sets off on a mission to awaken the last slumbering remnants of humanity around the universe and kick-start the Earth Empire all over again.

Here’s an excerpt from the column:

Any movie studio or television network intrigued by the franchise potential of a sprawling space epic need look no further than Prophet, Brandon Graham’s reinvented take on Rob Liefeld’s time-tossed hero, John Prophet. Darker and more alien than the “Star Wars” universe but offering a much wider world full of storytelling opportunities, Prophet is the sort of project that might not find a home with mainstream audiences, but is likely to find a loyal — and vocal — fanbase in the sci-fi set.

In fact, what works against Prophet as a mainstream project is likely the same thing thing that will make it stick out from the crowd and earn more attention from genre fans. The universe of John Prophet has moved beyond humanity, leaving very few human characters for its main character to interact with and making it the ultimate “stranger in a strange land” scenario. Still, there’s a case to be made that shows like “Farscape” and (to a much lesser degree) “Babylon 5″ both managed to connect with audiences despite having a predominantly alien cast of characters.

You can read the rest of the column at IFC.com.