EXCLUSIVE: Darick Robertson, co-creator of The Boys comic books and exec producer on the TV series, is joining a new superhero universe.

The comic book creator, producer and illustrator will become a co-producer and writer Crestar and the Knight Stallion, hooking up with Detriot-based Exxodus Pictures on the franchise. Robertson is coming off the fifth and final season of Prime Video’s superhero send-up The Boys, which starred the likes of Antony Starr, Jack Quaid and Karl Urban and was adapted for TV by Eric Kripke.

The plan is for Crestar is a universe spanning graphic novels and a planned live-action TV series – you can plainly see the parallels with the trajectory of the The Boys, which Robertson and Garth Ennis originally created as comic books before the series began in 2019.

Also attached to the project is Plot Point 1, the production company led by prominent Saudi filmmaker Hamzah Jamjoom (Rupture), who joins as a producing partner.

Exxodus’s Ajmal Zaheer Ahmad, Abdallah Jasim and Najam Syed created Crestar and the Knight Stallion, which they bill as “the first truly East meets West superhero universe developed for a global audience.”

Per the creators, Crestar universe is “an superhero action adventure” that “blends and bends genres” and “balances the hilarious and the heroic, the horrific and the heartfelt.”

The live-action series is planned to two homegrown heroes that hail from Detroit and Dearborn, Michigan. Crestar, a battle seasoned vigilante known as the Guardian of Detroit, finds a young man named Ali that he believes may be the world’s first superhuman and trains him to join him in his battle against corruption, tyranny and evil. Ali soon dons the Knight Stallion mask to fight crime, but has to balance his new life with his Arabic family life. Crestar, on the other hand, has never had a family at all.

The project is being led by a creative team spanning the U.S. and the Middle East, with Ahmad the co-creator, executive producer, writer and director. He will also star as the titular Crestar, with Jasim, a comedian, producer, and digital creator, co-creating the franchise and portraying Knight Stallion, the unlikely young hero.

The franchise’s first two graphic novels, Crestar and the Knight Stallion: The Legend Begins and Crestar and the Knight Stallion: Devil’s Night, will be released worldwide on Amazon beginning July 1, following initial comic book runs across the U.S. and Europe. Arabic-language editions are scheduled to follow later this year.

“I believe Crestar and The Knight Stallion supersedes the genre it lives within in that it ultimately brings forth a human story through extraordinary circumstances,” said Robertson, who co-created The Boys with Garth Innis and was an executive producer on the TV series and the upcoming Vought Rising. He penned Devil’s Night and is collaborating with Exxodus on future instalments.

“I enjoy writing these characters because of their humanity and real-world dilemmas: Getting a decent job, family conflicts, living up to the expectations of others and finding one’s way in a complicated modern world,” he added. “These characters are relatable and as result, very fun to be with as they go through their adventures. It’s not typical and it’s not predictable. I think translating from the comics to the screen will feel quite natural for that reason alone.”