In 2009, it was announced that the Wachowskis and Circle of Confusion were producing an animated feature of "Shaolin Cowboy", subtitled "Tomb of Doom", written and co-directed by Darrow, and animated by Madhouse. Darrow spent a year living in Japan and working on the production which was halted after the American financers, The Weinstein Company, backed out. Around half of the footage was finished, and some of the completed scenes and pencil tests were shown at San Diego Comic Con in 2012 and Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo in 2015. The film was supposed to feature a sequence animated by Masaaki Yuasa. In 2012, "Shaolin Cowboy" resumed publication at Dark Horse with a 96-page book stylized as a pulp magazine containing a Shaolin Cowboy prose story written by Andrew Vachss (with whom Darrow has had a working relationship dating back to the early 90s) with spot illustrations by Darrow, a prose story by Michael A. Black with spot illustrations by Gary Gianni and one-page strips written and drawn by Darrow. The book was followed by "The Shaolin Cowboy", a four-issue mini-series subtitled "Shemp Buffet" for the collected edition, and "The Shaolin Cowboy: Who Will Stop the Reign?", another four-issue mini-series, which incorporated some the visual ideas from the unfinished animated feature.