Dollhouse writer and consulting producer Jane Espenson raised the possibility of a tie-in comic while talking about her (wonderful) latest issue of the Buffy series to Newsarama.com:

I’m very busy with all of the other stuff, but if Joss decides that there are comic books to be done in the Dollhouse world, sign me up.

Intrigued, we asked Dark Horse Comics - the publisher of Buffy and Serenity, as well as the company behind Dark Horse Presents, the online anthology that's featured Dr. Horrible shorts as well as Whedon's original comic Sugarshock - whether Jane was hinting at something that we should be excited about. Buffy editor Scott Allie gave us the skinny:

I've been talking to Joss about Dollhouse comics since he first told me about the project. He said it didn't feel right for a comic yet, but that as the show established its identity we might do a book.

Feel free to insert your own "Establishing identities? Isn't that what the show's meant to be all about?" joke here; we're too excited at the idea of seeing some lovely Jo Chen paintings of the Dollhouse cast staring out at us from the shelves before too long.

Dollhouse (the television series) premieres February 13th on Fox.

Indie publisher Dark Horse Comics - home of Whedon's Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season 8 series - celebrate one year of their web-based anthology Dark Horse Presents this month with a special issue that includes the official first appearance of Whedon's new creation courtesy of Zach Whedon and Eric Canete, alongside new work from artist Tara McPherson and a brand new Umbrella Academy short from Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba:

The premiere of Dr. Horrible provides a fitting symmetry to the anthology's first year; the lead feature in its launch issue was another Whedon creation, the intergalactic girl band Sugarshock.

Captain Hammer: Be Like Me! [Dark Horse Presents]

First off, ignore the (cool-looking) cover featuring Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker and two other Jedi ready for action; that scene happens only as psychic dream in the opening pages of the book (see below) - the majority of this opener to the year-long story is all about setting the scene and introducing readers to characters and concepts that don't come from the movies. Luckily for "Expanded Universe" virgins like myself, it all follows well-known Lucas formulas pretty well, including a annoying comedy sidekick for the hero: Having the plot revolve around a prophecy makes a lot of sense, considering the movies' reliance on prophecies about balancing the force and all, but there's also an element of Indiana Jones in the way that our heroes are questing after an artifact that gets found by the bad guys first. Sure, there aren't any Sith to give us hot lightsaber action in this first part (Replacement zombie-like aliens the Mandalorians feels a little too generic and dull, right now), but it all zips by fast enough for you not to care: The dialogue is better than at least, oh, five of the movies - writer John Jackson Miller gets his derring-do on without the humorlessness of the last three movies - and the art strikes the right note of being cartoony but not distractingly so.

Dark Horse know what they're doing with their movie and TV comics - They're the ones behind Joss Whedon's awesome Buffy comics - and this is a pretty good launch for what could be a fun story for both Star Wars obsessives and those who just like reading about people shooting each other in space. After four issues of Knights Of The Old Republic, the story crosses into companion title Dark Times (set just after Revenge of the Sith) for two issues, then original trilogy-era Rebellion for two, before ending in Star Wars: Legacy - starring the descendants of Luke, Leia and Han - at the end of the year. If nothing else, you know you want to pick up the ones with 1980s Empire Strikes Back-era jumpsuit Luke, right...?

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic #25 - Vector part 1 [Dark Horse.com]