Celebrities writing comics isn't exactly new. Kevin Smith took over writing duties on Daredevil in 1999, and he's been knee-deep in the comics world ever since. Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance has had great success with his series The Umbrella Academy. Rosario Dawson co-created the miniseries O.C.T.: Occult Crimes Taskforce, and Milo Ventimiglia has produced the series Rest and Berserker. But we're seeing an increasing trend toward celebrities lending their words and their names to original comics creations.

One celebrity book just out this summer is Tyrese Gibson's Mayhem, and it exemplifies one of the darker aspects of this trend. Mayhem is a bit of a generic comic, following a masked hero who battles the gangs and drug dealers of Los Angeles, but that hasn't stopped Gibson from aggressively hawking his book across the Internet and at this past summer's Comic Con. Gibson, who is credited as one of three writers on Mayhem, tends to sell the book on the strength his recommendation as a famous person rather than its plot. And his marketing tactics — which has included calling people who criticizing his book "haters" — has induced more than a little eye-rolling and prompted Gibson's own marketing director to quit (David Brothers has a great rundown of Mayhem's marketing missteps at 4thletter!).

But Mayhem is about to get a lot of competition in the celebrity comic books field. Oni Press is set to publish Frenemy of the State, co-written by actress Rashida Jones. Jones' book is about a socialite who gets into trouble with the law and agrees to work as a spy in order to stay out of prison. And in early 2010, we will see We Will Bury You, a tale of zombies in the roaring '20s written by Heroes' speedster Brea Grant and her brother Zane.

So are all these celebrity comics just a bid for movie deals? There's certainly that component to it. Dawson already has plans to make (and star in) an adaptation of Occult Crimes Taskforce, though she's still looking for a studio. Gibson has said in interviews that he has no current plans to make a Mayhem movie, but he's made no secret of his desire to take on a superhero role. And Universal Pictures has already acquired the rights to Frenemy of the State; Jones is co-writing the screenplay, but says she's too old to play the lead.

But hopefully there's some love of comics and storytelling at play as well. When Grant was first cast in Heroes, she said she was a big fan of comics, and credited her brother with getting her hooked on The Invisibles. And Emma Caulfield of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame has a passion project that seems unlikely to see the big screen. She's writing Contropussy, a webcomic about a streetwise cat and her often ill-fated animal acquaintances (the most recent plotline featured a Kill Bill-inspired sequence with a sword-wielding bunny rabbit), which she also plans to turn into an animated online series.

Perhaps "I'm going to write a comic" will eventually become the new "I want to direct" in Hollywood, with actors exploiting comics' built-in storyboards to pitch their own projects and build their own roles. But in some cases, celebrities may be recognizing comics as an accessible way to make the transition from performer to creator. Of course, all this may simply be symptomatic of the increasingly blurry lines between various media. After all, while many comic book creators hope to have their books adapted for television or film, publishers can also tap celebrities to adapt their existing projects as comics. Dark Horse has already recognized that potential; the publisher has geek queen Felicia Day adapting her online series The Guild in dead tree format.

Given our love of Fuller's Pushing Daisies, as well as his sterling work turning Heroes around these past few weeks, you'd think that the writer/producer taking on a new Trek series would be a no-brainer, but as he explained to Sci-Fi Wire, that's not necessarily the case:

It's sort of a pipe dream, like, "Wouldn't it be great if I could do that?" Those decisions are held by other people, so I've just said I'd love to do it. It's something that was very pivotal to my childhood and growing up. There's nothing official... I have a very specific take I'd like to do, but no official conversations have been had. I know CBS owns the rights to the television series. Everyone will probably want to see how the movie does, and I think it's gonna be huge. I'm just lighting a little Star Trek candle in the window and hope it comes to pass one day.

And what kind of Trek would he like to deliver? He's not saying much, but we're definitely interested in what he does have to say:

I'd love to do what Ron Moore did with Battlestar Galactica, which is redefine an existing franchise, knock down certain barriers of perception and make it accessible to a broader audience... I want Rosario Dawson. She would be an interesting lead that wouldn't have to be a captain. I just find her infectiously charming. The captains are always so tough in terms of who they would be. There's ethnicity, gender and all these factors to consider. Angela Bassett as a captain would rock my boat, though.

CBS may not be the most sci-fi-friendly network out there, but if the movie's as big a hit as everyone expects it to be, I can't believe that they wouldn't at least consider a new series, and I can't think of anyone who'd want to do it more than Fuller. Who do we have to beg to make this happen?

Bryan Fuller explains his ideas for a new Star Trek TV series [SciFi Wire]

While I've previously called Gemini a poor-man's Blade Runner, after watching the first two episodes, it looks like the only thing it takes from that sci-fi classic is the premise. Korda is a military cyborg (known as a SIM) that was built in secret with a handful of others. After fighting for his country, he and a bunch of other man-bots go AWOL. Korda shacks up with NYC detective Diaz... which is exactly where Gemini begins.

The Gemini story is told entirely from the point of view of Diaz, who's played by Dawson. Each episode is a series of video "transmissions" sent from Diaz's PDA to an unknown recipient, and with this PDA as almost the cornerstone of the project, whether people will get annoyed with the letter style story-telling completely rests on their believing in this "near-future" PDA device.

Her first transmission puts the couple in Paris, where - surprise! - Korda has popped the question, but streetwise Diaz has second thoughts. Why? Maybe because she lied to him about being a cop, and when Korda got naked and surprised her with flowers, she almost shot his head off. So she had to tell him about being an undercover police officer, and Korda then told her that he had a pacemaker. She proceeds to tell her unknown friend how much that freaked her out but, I'm sorry, but I think being a secret cop would trump that particular argument on the weirdness scale.

But that's not important, because they're in love and in Paris... which you can tell because of the cheesy background on her PDA (which I hope they ease up on in the future). But it's not all cheese and wine in France, sadly; Diaz gets the feeling that they are being stalked, and then a lot of strange things start to happen to her boytoy, like having seizures and then trying to strangle her.

Anywho, Diaz starts to freak out and pick up on little clues to Korda's secret lifestyle, because, you know, she's a cop and all. Which is where the first two episodes end. It's mostly background work to give you a feel for each character, but already you can start to see where they will be tying in the ARG/video game component. For example, when Diaz finds yellow goo in the bath after Korda is finished using it, she holds it up to the screen. Immediately the PDA begins to analyze the bio-materials of the goo. Breaking down clues like the goo will be one of the many mysteries you get to crack in the ARG, according to Executive Producer Brent Friedman.

Friedman, who is writing and producing with Electric Farm, explained that each property and story is going to open up different opportunities for how you can interact with Gemini. After they debut the first four episodes (two next week, and another two the following week), the ARG begins on Friday the 29th. In the game, audience members, "can become a Gemini Agent," according to Friedman, "so you can get recruited and face the same moral choices [as the characters]. When you join Gemini Division through the ARG, you get your own PDA [and] the longer you spend on the site and on your PDA, you get widget upgrades. So it enhances your experience. We want to be able to replicate the way Anna uses her PDA on the show. You're going to be sent on investigatory missions that will ask you to find different things that will lead you to different sites."

Gemini isn't entirely new territory for Electric Farm. Before Gemini, they released Afterworld, the scifi post-apocalyptic YouTube series that had a small but loyal cult following. But this new NBC webseries is a much larger undertaking - especially when you add the famous leading lady, embedded product placement, mobile video game, and planned comic book.

After the first two premiere weeks of Gemini new episodes will be released Mon through Thursday (around 50 episodes are planned for the season) and every Friday the ARG will be updated. There's original material filmed just for the ARG as well, so you'll be able to explore deeper into the Gemini world.

While I commend NBC for making better web-product than the awful Heroes mailman drek, it's doing to be interesting to see how this plays out. It very well could be the future of television. And with the rise in video game success it wouldn't be a colossal surprise if ARGs became the new way to watch original material. As for the series itself, it's hard to say if it's entertaining. The first two clips felt like filler, and if this is what they're trying to sell the world on, they may want to throw in a little more drama besides Nick Korda's almost-naked surprise. It's wonderful having good actors carry the weight of the storytelling on their shoulders, but right now it's all sizzle and no steak, and in order for something like this to really explode, I fear they should have given the viewers a little bit more to chew on.

The series premieres tomorrow.

The trailer ends with terrible bald actors (a hallmark of NBC's online programming) urging Dawson to choose the right side. But as Dawson's presence in this webisode seems to demonstrate, making smart decisions may not be her strong suit. Also I'd like to place a memo to Hollywood: stop reusing the Sin City CG backgrounds now. I don't care if you just bought a new Mac and really want to try out the fancy new imovie, the backgrounds just look cheap and unappealing.

The series - which will run on NBC.com in 50 four-minute webisodes starting next month - doesn't have the most original set-up in the world. Short version: Dawson plays a detective investigating the death of her fiancee, only to discover that it leads to a shadowy conspiracy that involves genetically engineered terrorists called Simulants. What it lacks in newness, it's planning on making up for in cheapness, apparently:

Gemini Division will feature a mix of live action scenes and animation. The animation may be a low budget way of handling some of the action scenes and special effects.

Admit it: you can't wait already. But there's more - NBC is already planning to roll out an online game complete with "bonus scenes" based on the show as a way to further hook fans into sticking with it. I can't work out if that's confidence or desperation at this early point, but let's face it - It couldn't be any worse than Occult Crimes Taskforce.

Have You Heard Of The Gemini Division? [Mania]