Co-story consultant for Fringe, Athena Wickam, reveals that reading the comic is not necessary to understand the story, however it does give viewers a peek into the future. Series creators, and a slew of Fringe staff writers are doing their part to make sure this is something that adds to the richness of the series.

Comic artist Tom Mandrake, best known for his work on comics Grimjack, The Spectre, and Martian Manhunter, is tapped to provide art for the first issue back-story, and other guest artists will later join in subsequent issues.

Fringe Comic Details

The six issues of the Fringe comic will tell its story in two parts:

• Part A – Back story of characters, Walter Bishop and William Bell
• Part B- Stand alone stories that feature a range of characters

The best part about this comic is that the first issue becomes available on August 27, before the Fox series begins on September 9.

Via Newsarama.com; wikipedia; Image with permission ©2008 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Mark Ben Holzberg/FOX

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Chemistry and the mechanical workings of the brain are the speciality of this unit, and in the book’s 397 pages is a chronicle of John Douglas’ 25 year career with the FBI. It is said to contain non-fiction with a case of unsolved murder.

Douglas is not only a former FBI agent, but is one of the first criminal profilers. His books and work on some high profile cases have been both instrumental and acclaimed.

The book “Mindhunter” offers some understanding of how to do a good profile as well as lends view into an explanation of why killers such as Charles Manson and others decide to commit murder.

Although this is a non-fiction book, it seems that the advice given is in the form of narrative since it chronicles the life of a real FBI agent, so I would not expect a textbook style of writing. However, if you’d like to know how a real criminal profiler thinks, this book may be perfect.

Via Wikipedia and Amazon.com; Image via Amazon.com

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What’s different about this comic is that it heralds the movie release, and gives the fans a bit of something extra in the Mulder and Scully mythology.

Written by Frank Spotnitz, and published by Wildstorm/DC Comics, the storyline takes place right in the timeline of the popular TV series. Frank Spotnitz says he wanted the story to be what all the fans are familiar with, which is the TV series, so they can jump right into the serialized version which has all the usual suspects, (and thankfully Mulder and Scully still working as FBI and on the X-files cases).

Artwork was done by Brian Denham, noted artist and illustrator for Marvel Comics. As you can see from Brian’s blog, Illcraft.com, he’s totally excited about this project. The “special” consists of 40 pages, is in color, and it seems it will be available for $2.99 on July 23 (and that’s $1.00 less than a gallon of gas here now)!

Via Comic Book Resources; Image via Morguefile

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Criminal Minds: Jump Cut and Criminal Minds: Killer Profile are two books written by famed mystery and tie-in writer, Max Allan Collins. Both books are available in paperback.

In Criminal Minds: Killer Profile, someone is committing violent murders in Chicago, and they are modeled after some of history’s most infamous criminals, such as Jeffrey Dahmer and David Berkowitz. Rossi is at the helm of this investigation, and must profile the killer with the team’s help.

Criminal Minds: Jump Cut is the first book in Collins’ Criminal Minds series, and was published in November 2007. It is much like watching an episode of the show, as it features a great plot and is faithful to the series. Of these two books, I find “Killer Profile” to be my favorite.

If you’ve read either of these books, what are your thoughts on them?

Images via Amazon

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