Taking a page from the Kick-Ass playbook, Ken F. Levin has mustered Kevin Spacey's Trigger Street Productions, Michael De Luca and Jason Netter to help independently finance and produce an adaptation of Garth Ennis' horror comic Crossed.

As Variety notes, director Matthew Vaughn took a similar route with Kick-Ass after studios passed on the $28-million film. It opens today in the U.S.

Debuting in 2008 from Avatar Press, Ennis' creator-owned Crossed follows survivors of a zombie-like plague that causes those infected to carry out their most evil thoughts and desires -- murder, rape, arson. Carriers of the virus are known as the Crossed because a cross-like rash appears on their faces.

The initial series was written by Ennis and illustrated by Jacen Burrows. A second series, Crossed: Family Values, will be written by David Lapham and drawn by Javier Barreno. A script by Ennis reportedly is being shown to potential directors.

Levin is developing two other Ennis comic-book properties: the long-discussed Preacher, and The Boys, based on his Dynamite Entertainment series with Darick Robertson.

Dana Brunetti will oversee Crossed for Trigger Street, which will be key to securing financing. De Luca (Blade, Ghost Rider) will producer through his Sony-based company, while Netter (Wanted, Preacher) will work through Kickstart Comic Art Studios.