TVSquad

Jennifer Love Hewitt is dead serious about her new gig as a comic book creator, and her first title is set for release in November.

Jennifer Love Hewitt's The Music Box from IDW Publishing is a 10-issue anthology series involving a mysterious music box that causes strange occurrences for the people who possess it. It's not necessarily the most novel concept, as cursed objects passing from one person to another is as old as The Monkey's Paw. It's all in the execution.

And, Hewitt will have a role to play in that, too, as the issues will be co-written by Hewitt and veteran comic scribe Scott Lobdell. The first issue will showcase painted art by Michael Gaydos. Other issues will feature artists such as Casey Maloney (G.I. JOE: The Rise of Cobra), Adam Archer (Friday the 13th), and Joe Rubenstein.

G.I. Joe and Transformers climbed to their lofty perches atop Hollywood's food chain from their iconic beginnings on 80's television.

Now, IDW Publishing is helping to bridge the gap between those classic 80's shows and their 21st Century big screen adaptations with new series of digital comic books based on the adventures of Snake Eyes, The Baroness, Optimus Prime and Megatron.

Made especially for online devices like iPods and the iPhone, these digital comics should be a welcome site for hardcore fans of the original TV hits as they're not blown away by the CGI-driven movie adaptions. Yes, the animation of those after-school cartoons was about one frame every four minutes, but they had such purity and charm to their morality plays.

In honor of our Buffy/Angel week of Retro Squad, it's only fitting that I finally give some updates on what's going on with each series with respect to their continuation in comic-book form. I'll throw in a little 'Serenity: Better Days' for good measure.

Let me warn you right now that I'll be revealing quite a bit about each series below. So, if you haven't read them yet or want to wait to read the books for any plot points, stop reading now. I'll be writing about the entire series of each, not just the most recent.

First up, Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Season Eight.

It's been a while since my last review of a Buffy season eight comic, and since then there's been other developments in the TV-on-comics front (we should have a category for that). Rather than dedicate separate posts to this news, I'll round everything up here, at least this time around.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer - season eight - Issues #10 & #11
These were stand-alone "episodes," unlike 'The Long Way Home' and 'No Future for You'. A few things are revealed here that help keep the Big Bad of this season in play. Willow has even more power than we could have realized in past seasons, and an unexpected person has a crush on Buffy. I really liked 'A Beautiful Sunset' (#11) more than any other issue, with a great moment where one of the main, masked antagonists is almost revealed. Classic Joss writing.

A new multi-part series kicks off March 5, written by veteran Drew Goddard.

Brian Lynch wants to ask you some questions about Angel. Not familiar with the name? Well, Brian is the co-author of the upcoming Angel season 6 comic coming soon from IDW Publishing, and he wants some of your input for potential entry into the series.

Three of the questions pertain to the original five-season run of the show. For instance, Lynch would like to know what other Angelverse character you'd like to see as a puppet other than Angel himself (who became one during the last season). Brian would also like to know who your favorite baddie was from both Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Finally, who do you think was the most under-appreciated character in Angel. Lynch clarifies what he wants by stating that characters such as Lorne or Wesley should not be included. He's talking about a character that has largely been ignored by fans.

You can reply to these questions at either the IDW discussion boards or at the Whedonesque website. You can also express you opinions here in this very blog.