EDMONTON - A local graphic novelist could have a comic book hitting the big screen.

Cowboys & Aliens, co-written by Edmontonian Andrew Foley, has caught the eyes of Iron Man director Jon Favreau and film star Robert Downey Jr., who are interested in turning it into a movie.

"It is really exciting just to get the exposure," Foley said yesterday from his west Edmonton home.

The sci-fi western graphic novel was created by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg of Platinum Studios Comics and co-written by several authors, including Foley.

Iron Man screenwriters Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby have been working on an adaptation since last summer.

"As far as it goes, between (the screenwriters) and Favreau and Downey, it's pretty much a Hollywood dream team," said Foley, 39.

Cowboys & Aliens is set in the Old West, among natives and settlers, when aliens crash land and attack.

Foley said though the project is in the early stages, Downey has expressed interest in the film.

"Hollywood works on buzz, so every once in awhile they let out that somebody's interested, then all of a sudden people think it's happening," said Foley, a professional comic book writer since 1997.

"Hopefully it gets things done and if the movie gets made, it's one step forward in my career."

Meanwhile, another pair of Edmonton comic creators is in the running to be published by DC Comics.

Robert Burke Richardson and his wife Kuen Tang are hoping to get their comic Absolute Magnitude published.

Foley estimates about 30 to 40 comic book authors are active in the city.

"There's actually a fairly solid little comic creator community building here now."

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