Shane! Come back! It has been six years since the screenwriter behind LETHAL WEAPON and THE LAST BOY SCOUT (he also co-scripted THE MONSTER SQUAD) wrote and directed KISS KISS BANG BANG, and 15 years since his previous scripting credit (THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT), but Black is back and Warner Bros. has hired him to direct a live-action adaptation of the Japanese manga series DEATH NOTE.

Deadline got the exclusive that Black will oversee a script that’s being written by Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry, his accomplices on DOC SAVAGE (which Black plans to direct for Sony). Written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata, DEATH NOTE was originally published in Japan and later collected in 12 trade paperbacks that have sold more than 38 million copies worldwide. The story centers on Light, a student who comes across a mystical notebook that has the power to kill any person whose name he writes in it. Light then decides to launch a secret crusade to rid the streets of criminals, and is pursued by a famous FBI criminal profiler known only by the alias L.

DEATH NOTE was previously turned into live-action and animated films (the former by GAMERA director Shusuke Kaneko and Hideo Nakata), an animated TV series, novels and videogames. “It’s my favorite manga, I was just struck by its unique and brilliant sensibility,” Black says. “What we want to do is take it back to that manga, and make it closer to what is so complex and truthful about the spirituality of the story, versus taking the concept and trying to copy it as an American thriller.”