If you have no idea who best-selling mystery author Richard Castle is, you haven't been watching ABC's "Castle" starring Nathan Fillion. And if you haven't, shame on you. Aside from the fact that Fillion is in it, "Castle" is a refreshing change from the endlessly intense police procedurals and CSI: Whatevers that load up the screen. "Castle" is attitude-TV, the latest progeny of the Rockford Files-Columbo-Murder She Wrote school of detective shows where the actual crime is secondary to watching the stars be wiseasses at each other as they solve it.

Castle is an internationally famous mystery writer who has killed off his main character and needs a new idea. Enter NYPD Detective Kate Beckett, working on a case in which the murder scenes resemble scenes from his books. Castle discovers his new muse — hard-as-nails, intelligent, beautiful Beckett — and uses his pull with the mayor to  hang around the department for "research." Just about everyone on the show shines, but if nothing else watch it for Fillion's charm and the novelty of finally seeing him on a show in its second season.

Through the first season we saw newly-inspired Castle write his new book, "Heat Wave." And then ABC and Hyperion Books actually published the thing, which presents a problem.

We've been told, over and over, that he's a world-class writer, right? So there's a certain level of expectation for the book. Can we, reading it, believe that a best-selling writer wrote it?

The answer is yes, but that writer is Dan Brown.

The concept of the book itself is just what I was hoping for. Clearly inspired by his own situation, Castle wrote about Det. Nikki Heat and the world-famous reporter (Jameson Rook)  who's allowed to follow her around thanks to a favor from the mayor, as they work to solve the murder of a big shot developer. You can see where bits and pieces from the show crept into his writing, even whole scenes at times such as the high-level poker game Castle tricked Beckett into, and that's a 208-page easter egg for the fans. It's written from Nikki Heat's perspective, so it's like you're seeing what Castle thinks Beckett is like (or at least an idealized version of Beckett). The dialogue is crisp and funny, the plot is as good a mystery as any I've read, and the characters have their own personalities hiding within the cliched mystery-novel conventions.

But the style of the book gets on my nerves. Like Dan Brown, "Castle" not only tells you what someone is doing, but why they are doing it, every step of the way, like color commentary.

Kimberly gave her the name of a doctor, Cory Van Peldt. Yes, it was the truth, she said, and yes, it was the same doctor she's seen this morning. Heat had her spell his name and wrote it on her pad along with his number. Kimberly said she met him when she went in for a facial assessment two weeks ago, and they had this magic thing. Heat was betting the magic was in his pants and in his wallet, but she knew better than to say so. She prayed Rookhad the same sense.

As long as things were in a hostile vein, Nikki decided to press on. In a few minutes she would need Kimberly's cooperation with the photos and wanted her to think twice about lying, or be so rattled that she'd do it poorly if she did. "A lot of things can't be taken at face value with you."

Instead of someone telling you a great story, it's more like they're telling you about a great story they saw. And that's how "Heat Wave" is written, start to finish. Rarely are we ever granted the luxury of just reading what's happening and using our own imaginations to wonder about motivations. Over and over we are told, not shown.

Thing is, Dan Brown is a hugely best-selling author for some reason I can't understand, so Castle's "Heat Wave" may be exactly what America wants on its bedside table.

I love the show. I love the characters. I love the concept of the book, the people in the book, the meat of the book, basically everything about the book but the book itself, which is kinda disappointing. I think Fillion coulda done better.

You can decide for yourself, ABC has several chapters online for free. Personally, when it comes to TV tie-in novels, I prefer Lee Goldberg's "Monk" books. But this was a decent effort and a nice complement to the series, as well as a great thing to take to Nathan Fillion autograph signings.

Edited to add: What I really want to see now is Beckett, on the show, reacting to reading this. It's a pretty obvious wish-fulfillment story and a hell of a come-on…

"Heat Wave" is available in hardback, for  the Kindle and other eBook readers, or as an audiobook, which, amazingly, is not read by the author. ABC, what were you thinking?

And he'll talk about anything. No topic is too personal, every aspect of his life gets put out there for everyone to see.

So by now you'd think I'd have a pretty good handle on what he was like in person, right?

I came in late to the SModcast, the weekly podcast Smith records with his longtime friend and producer Scott Mosier, mostly because I never listened to podcasts of any kind until fairly recently and besides, I'd heard all his stories, right? But I got a better car stereo, and an iPod Touch, and I started working out and needed something to distract me from the unpleasant chore of making my body move around, and so when I did look for podcasts his was the first I grabbed. And I learned two valuable lessons.

First, the polished storyteller Kevin I saw on stage telling oft-told tales of Hollywood with the confident ease of long practice did not prepare me for the giggling Kev spinning wild and almost unspeakably deviant fantasies which he then hilariously acts out, with Mosier and other familiar View Askew faces like Walt Flanagan, Bryan Johnson and Malcolm Ingram. His remarkably tolerant wife Jen and daughter Harley even make appearances. Smith is more than a little like his character Randall in the way he pushes and pushes at a situation, making it worse and worse until you finally give in, whereupon he makes it worse.

Second, it's a really bad idea to be holding a lot of weight over your head at the Y when Kevin starts doing Harry Potter's voice, explaining to a panicky Ron that screaming "Forgeticus!" after fumbling with a half-awake Harry under the covers in the Hogwarts dorms really doesn't work. (Mosier: It's called "being on the down low, Ron") Nor will the average elderly Y-goer understand why you're trying desperately not to lose it as "Harry" tells Hermione to try gulping some gillyweed before oral sex to hold her breath longer.

This is Kevin Smith at his most raw, when he's coming up with ideas right there in the company of the people who make him laugh. And his new book, "Shootin' the Sh*t With Kevin Smith: The Best of SModcast," on sale tomorrow, is a transcript of some of the best segments. You do lose some of the impact without the sound effects, the fake voices and the background music, but it's still funny and utterly wrong as hell.

Did Helen Keller have a sex life? Did Smith recently have sex with his wife's leg? How long would Smith and Mosier last on the Lost island before they started looking good to each other? Would Scott Mosier perform a sexual act on a dying fan, at the fan's request? What if the Make-A-Wish Foundation forced him to do it? What's up with the Godzilla Jesus movie, or Stalin's monkey soldier army, or bukkake eggs, or why Kevin was willing to let Alanis Morrisette get mugged.

In his previous book, New York Times bestseller "My Boring Ass Life," Smith gave us a peek into his life. This time he lets us into his brain.You might want to wear waders, but don't miss the trip.

Get it from Amazon, or order a signed one from Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash, or take a shot at winning a free copy in my "Which Kevin Smith Character Would You Nail?" contest.

NSFW excerpt after the jump:

From SModcast number 45
Lost and Bukkake Eggs

KS: If we were in Lost, and there was nobody else…

SM: On the show, or if we were actually trapped on the island?

KS: It’s like Lost, but the plane that went down, we were the only two survivors.

SM: Okay, so we’re stranded on an island.

KS: We’re stranded on an island. That island. But there’s only two of us, so the Others don’t bother with us, they’re not a threat or anything like that.

SM: They just watch, and snicker.

KS: Yeah, they’re just like, “Let’s watch and see how long it takes for these two to fuck.” If we were lost on the desert island, and, how long have they been lost? At least half a year, in TV time?

SM: Something like that, yeah.

KS: Like, in real time, it’s been three, four seasons, but I think it’s only like…

SM: I thought it was like a hundred and ten days.

KS: Something like that. Um… We’re on the island with no hope of… we don’t know if we’re ever gonna get rescued, we don’t even have hope like these fuckers, like every once in a while they find a plane or some such shit…

SM: Yeah. What, we never leave the beach?

KS: Yeah, we’re always just like, “Let’s stay here!” Or you’re like, “Let’s go hiking!” and I’m like, “Fuck that, let’s stay here in case somebody comes. Plus, hiking sucks.” So, we’re just living on the beach and shit, and maybe every once in a while you go out and run into a polar bear, and you’re like, “There’s a fucking polar bear on the island!” And I’m like, “I told you you should stay on the beach!”

SM: I mean, I don’t think I’d be doing recreational things. It would be more like, “I’m gonna go try to get us some food.”

KS: I’m like, “Alright, I’m down with that.”

SM: If I ended up on an island, I might introduce the idea of like, “I should hike to a vantage point, where we can see most of the island, ’cause maybe there’s something, anything on there, as opposed to staying on one beach; two, I would hike into the interior to try to find food. You would have to deal with fish.

KS: Like, catching them?

SM: Yeah, but also eating them.

KS: Yeah, that’d be tough for me. I mean, I guess if you’re hungry you’d fucking do it.

SM: We’d have to create fire. I would actually, there would be a part of me that would be like… I love the idea of us standing around, trying to figure out when we’re going to fuck each other.

KS: That’s what I’m talking about. How long would it be before we were like, “Alright, we’re gonna…” Well, first off, let’s take it to the first level. Do you jerk off on the island?

SM: Sure.

KS: Do you do it privately? Do you do it while I’m sleeping?

SM: Uh…

KS: Or are you like, “I’m going on a hike,” and it’s like a three minute hike and you’re like, “I’m back!”

SM: I’m just behind a tree, five feet away, you can see me…

KS: Finding a knot on a fucking palm tree and shit, drilling it… You do jerk off? Do you jerk off in the ocean, underwater, or is that like, salt water on your dick?

SM: Um…. Maybe I would do it there. I don’t know where I would do it. I think that there would be… initially, my thing would be food and shelter.

KS: Right.

SM: And I would think I would use masturbation as more of just a…

KS: Tension reliever?

SM: Yeah, like, you know, after a long day. I mean, it’s pitch dark, it’s not like there’s lots of light.

KS: It’s true.

SM: I could be in the same room, and you wouldn’t see it.

KS: Yeah, I’m like, “What is that noise?” “Nothing. Go back to sleep.” “I’m not sleeping.” “Just — you didn’t hear nothing.”

SM: “You don’t see nothing, you don’t hear nothing.”

KS: “Get lost.” I’m like, “We are lost!”

SM: I’d probably do it in private.

KS: Mmm. How long… how many years do you think it’s before you’re like, “Let’s fuck.” Or, do you ever get to that point, or is it too weird? You’re like, “We’re too…I don’t want to ruin the friendship.”

SM: It would be a strange… I think it would have to be something that you would have to experience. On the outset, I would be like…

KS: “Never!”

SM:Well, it wouldn’t occur to me that… like, at this point… I think you would have to go through the experience, because at this point off the top of my head, my initial reaction is that one, I would think about surviving…

KS: Right.

SM: And getting rescued. Not to avoid fucking you.

KS: Right, right. I mean, I’m starting to get a little hurt, my feelings are hurt.

SM: I’m just sending out all these messages, “Please rescue me so we don’t have to fuck…”

KS: “I’m within a month of fucking this fat pig and I don’t wanna do it. Please, help us get unlost.”

(More here)

In the beginning, there was Peanut Press. One of the oldest e-book publishers and sellers (and by oldest, I mean almost 10 years old, ancient by e-publishing clocks), they built up a good rep, got bought by Palm to become Palm Reader and then eReader, and then finally getting bought by Fictionwise (which just got bought by Barnes and Noble!). eReader has been around forever, is what I'm saying, and they've built up a solid and dependable program that works on possibly more hardware than any other. eReader is available for Palm, Pocket PCs, Symbian phones, your Windows, Mac or OQO desktop, the iPhone and iPod Touch (shown), and as of this week, the Blackberry, all for free.

Pros:

The experience. eReader has had a lot of time to get it right,
and they're just about there. Books load quickly, paginate easily to
your specifications, and look good on the screen (assuming, of course,
that you can read comfortably from a small electronic screen without
your eyeballs melting). If your device can handle such things, you can change the orientation from portrait to landscape for easier reading.
eReader also has an AutoScroll feature that
allows you to let the words scroll past you at your desired speed if
you wish (AutoScroll isn't available on the iPhone version. but they make up for it with a handy piechart graphic next to the books in your library to let you know at a glance how far along you are in each one). While you're reading you have the full screen, but a single touch brings up a variety of options.
The convenience. eReader allows you to personalize just about
everything, from the colors and font to the line spacing and margins
and page turn animations. If you prefer tapping to turn pages it can,
and if you prefer a gentle swipe it'll do that, too. Place bookmarks,
make notes, search for words throughout the entire text, use the
built-in dictionary, switch from black-on-white to yellow-on-black with
a single touch, and enjoy yourself.
The content. eReader reads eReader books, readily available by the thousands from eReader's own bookseller site, ereader.com, and from Fictionwise.com as well as from other sites such as Baen Books. Right now eReader is having a $9.99 sale on all New York Times bestsellers. There are also plenty of free programs to help you turn your own unsecure content into eReader docs.
And eReader has the least annoying DRM of any e-book retailer I've ever
seen. When you buy a book, it (securely) encodes your name and the
credit card number you've assigned into your hardware so that to open
the e-book you've purchased, you have to enter that information. Just
once, and then it remembers for future books (so future DRm is still
there but you don't have to deal with it) but people are less likely to
send copies around the Intenet if they have to include their own credit
card info along with them.

The cons:

I've been using eReader as my e-book reader of choice for almost a
decade, on a variety of handheld devices up to and including my current
iPod Touch, and there are still a few drawbacks. The biggest one is
that eReader reads only eReader files, so no TXT, HTML, PDFs or other popular
formats (although I understand it will soon support ePub files). If you
want to read something you have to convert it to an eReader file first,
and that can be annoying.

And the eReader on my iPod Touch is even trickier as I can't just move
files over to it the way I could with my Palm. This isn't specifically
an eReader problem since Apple won't let anyone just move files
over willy-nilly — it would somehow bring about the premature
destruction of the Earth, I understand — but troublesome nonetheless.
You can easily connect to eReader and Fictionwise to download books
from your online bookshelves, and both of them offer free sonline
storage for any of your personal books you want to be able to get. You
can manually enter any URL where downloadable books are available, and
you can grab them from your personal home Web server or other location. 
But you'll have this problem with almost any iPhone e-book reader.

After all these years I find I still prefer it to the iPhone Kindle or Stanza apps,
and I didn't buy my iPod Touch until I made sure that this single program was
available for it. Stanza comes close, but the insistence on chapters bugs me, I prefer swiping the screen to tapping, and many of the preferences I've gotten used to in eReader require more hunting and tweaking in Stanza. 

That may not last. Stanza offers more options for downloading books and reads more formats (including the eReader one), and that's darned attractive. Can't I just shmoosh them together and get the e-book reader I want?

Check out eReader for just about any handheld device you own, and see what you think.

Before the Kindle app came along, Stanza was the big dog in iPhone e-book reading. And with good reason.

It's free. It does what it does with minimum fuss, with easy-to-understand menus and directions. Once you use it once you've pretty well got it figured out. And getting books from the Web, from a variety of places, is quick and easy. And it's free.

Pros:

The convenience. Download Stanza from the iTunes store and most of your e-book reading is now covered. Stanza can read DRM-free Amazon Kindle files, Mobipocket, Microsoft LIT,  PalmDoc, Microsoft Word, Rich Text Format, HTML, and PDF, as well as eReader files in both secure and unsecure formats.  Tap the screen to turn a page and you're off and reading.
The experience. Once you're actually in the book, it's pretty much the same as every other e-book reader. The font is crisp, the page-turning animation can be changed to a sliding effect or turned off completely, it saves your place and lets you add bookmarks, and you can search for words.
The customization. Don't like something about Stanza, you can probably change it. You can change text size through the settings or on the fly with the iPhone's pinch and unpinch gesture. You can change the background color, line spacing, margin widths, alignment, you can even change the cover of the book you're reading if you prefer a different one.
The content. Stanza allows you to connect easily to several major e-books sites such as Fictionwise.com, ereader.com, Manybooks.net, and more. Best might be Project Gutenberg, which has thousands of public domain books ready for you to nab for free, and Stanza handles searching and downloading from Project Gutenberg with ease.

The cons:

Not a lot, really. Stanza is a well-designed program.

I do have a few gripes, though. Stanza breaks books into chapters (presumably for faster loading) but that means you can't easily jump around or search inside the entire book, and the scroll bar isn't always very responsive even within the chapter. Getting your personal content into Stanza on your iPhone is a pain, but that's the case with every iPhone e-reader app (Stanza offers a free desktop app that works as a server for you to download from, or you can upload your content to a personal space at Fictionwise.com). And I prefer swiping to tapping for my page-turning, not an option here.

But other than that, I like Stanza. If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, so will you.

In this world, the greatest swordsman is called Number One, so signified by his headband. He can be challenged for supremecy by anyone but they must be wearing the Number Two headband to do so, and competition for it is fierce. In season one Afro's father was Number One and was murdered before his eyes. Afro spent his life training to become Number Two (he did) and challenge his father's killer (he did). So far, all well within anime parameters.

In Resurrection Afro learns the hard lesson that vengeance never ends, as many of the children and widows of the victims he left behind like gum wrappers in the first season come after him. Chief among them is Sio, voiced by Lucy Liu, who is settling into a lucrative career playing crazy-beautiful swordfighters. Her plan, with the demented help of mad scientist and neuro-Weeble Professor Dharman, is to bring Afro's father back to life so she can torture him to death more slowly this time and pay Afro back for the pain he's caused. She's also accompanied by Kuma, a savaged samurai held together with science and a big teddy bear head, and assisted by a series of whacked out warriors with varyign degrees of sanity and cybernetic implants.

Afro Samurai is based on the original art and story telling of manga artist Takashi Okazaki, but you don't need to be familiar with it to appreciate "Resurrection." Can't hurt, though, and it's worth seeking out.

There's blood and fighting and blood and amazing artwork and blood and hilarious interjections by Ninja Ninja, who knows exactly how to puncture a tense moment ("Hey, Afro… Why you got to walk directly into every trap?") which means, if he really is Afro's inner voice made visible, that Afro is seriously messed up. And fun to watch.

Afro Samurai: Resurrection premieres 10 p.m., Jan. 25, on Spike TV. Check out the website here for video clips, a chat with Samuel L. Jackson, and the trailer.

Neil Gaiman ("Sandman," American Gods," "Coraline") has dipped into Rudyard Kipling's well and created The Graveyard Book, a timeless story of an abandoned young boy raised by someone other than his parents. In this case, a graveyard full of ghosts. It's not a bad life, really.

Bod, as a toddler, escaped from the murders of his family to find safety and guardianship surrounded by haunts and crumbling headstones. They teach him well (although some of the lessons are a few hundred years out of date) and through Gaiman's seemingly effortless prose we watch him face wonders and dangers: a magical Danse Macrabre, the ancient Indigo Man under the hill, a new living friend, the carnivorous ghouls, and, most dangerous of all, the man Jack who killed his family and still seeks to finish the job.

The Graveyard Book is a fast read, which is good because before you read it to your child you'll want to devour it yourself. It takes a graveyard to raise a child.

Only one of the stories in Beedle is referenced in Deathly Hallows.
That's "The Tale of the Three Brothers," and it's joined by "The Fountain of Fair
Fortune," "The Warlock's Hairy Heart," "The Wizard and the Hopping Pot"
and "Rabbitty Babbitty and Her Cackling Stump."

Advance sales are strong, as you'd expect. There's a $12.99 hardcover edition coming out this week, massively discounted at just about every retail outlet. And Amazon is publishing 100,000 copies of a $100 collector's edition.

The most collectible edition would be one of the seven illustrated, hand-written copies of Beedle Rowling had made last year. Six went to close friends, and one was sold at auction (to Amazon, for a magical $4 million) to benefit The Children's High Level
Group, a charity she helped found in 2005.

Net proceeds of Beedle will help institutionalized
children in European countries including Romania, the Czech Republic,
Georgia, Moldova and Armenia.

The Serenity blueprints from QMx were stunning, no question. Insanely detailed, carefully thought out, presented as beautiful art prints suitable for framing.

Only… they're kinda big to play with. And kinda pricey to pass around the gaming table, especially when Cheetos are involved (and they always are). Also, they're sold out.

So QMx produced a smaller version for reference and general fun. And, QMx being QMx, they added 23 more pages of material on top of that, everything you ever wanted to know – details, history, markings, marketing – Firefly-class transport Serenity. I can't wait for you guys to flip through the new stuff in here.

And so I won't, I'll tell you about them instead. Let's go page by page. First you get an intro by science fiction author Orson Scott Card – um, sorry. From curator Orison Scard, Aries Commonwealth, Ezra — on what a ship like Serenity means to us.

Next is a copy of Serenity's dedication plaque, sort of. Each page has detailed descriptions of the contents, including some backstory here and there, and the provenance of this plaque is a bit dodgy.

Then we have the original 10 sheets of blueprints. Above you can get an idea of the relative size of the reference pack compared to the original blueprints. The sheets of the reference pack come packaged loose, with a spiral binder included if you'd like to attach them together.

After the blueprints is a page of preliminary Serenity insignias leading to the final one painted on the ship, and a page of metal plates used throughout Serenity. SerenityStuff regulars will recognize these; a set of the actual labels was sold through The Prop Store of London for a pretty decent price. (The pictures below are of both sheets side by side)

Then we get the bridge display screens. Designed by Serenity graphic designer Geoff Mandel, they depict the ship's systems status, a sensor array of the area, the Miranda screen River brought up, and a celestial navigation screen. When you watch the movie you get a sense of it, but you never really get a good look at the amount of work that goes into these displays. Here you can see it all, and here's all four.

A lot of work went into making the Serenity look real. Part of that came from the attention to detail in the such minor things as industrial details seen on the walls, on cargo, and on the mule. Here's a selection of them, along with a handy illustrated list no passenger should be without: which doors go where. You won't mistake an airlock for the head more than once, but the shape and color of the doors can help you avoid a nasty misstep.

The insignia on Inara's shuttle remains something of a mystery. The symbols suggest medical transport, and I'm not sure Inara's ministrations would qualify, life-saving though they may be. The mystery isn't explained here, but you get a nice look at them. And at the mule, which includes an explanation for that pesky missing rear seat.

The next section includes historical documents depicting the grabnd history of this noble little deathtrap. You may recognize the artwork style, it's by our own Ben "Whitefall" Mund. Below is a flyer for the new 2459 Firefly, and the Cortex doc "Doing the job: How the Rim Was Won," which explains how ships like the Firefly opened up the Rim.

Now we get to the behind-the-scenes stuff. How was the Firefly invented? Fortunately QMx has retrieved confidential documents from the Allied Spacecraft Corporation concerning their new line of practical, even whimsical boats for the settlers expanding outwards. And the design for the Firefly Series 1, by Firefly graphic artist Tim Earls.

There's also a hardcopy transcript of the popular mechanics trade column, "Boost Your Boat." Informative and funny, it's filled with tips on improving your Firefly, their durability, and why you can still see them on the stunt circuit. The next page is another great full-page design, this one of the Firefly Series 2.

Even the best-maintained ship needs some extra work now and again, and this work order from Honest Austin's Used Boats and Salvage proves that attitude and sweetness get you better treatment than most. And there's the confidential design of a Series 3 ship outfitted for military use.

Finally, a glimpse at one of the engineer's tablets to find out all the specs and capabilities of the proposed Series 4 ship — two modular cargo bays, passenger dorms instead of berths, a little more comfort where it's needed. And there's a design here as well.

It's not too much of a stretch to say that the Firefly series of boats made colonization possible. No frills, dependable service made for inexpensive crafts that served folks well. Excellent for transporting goods and families, and for those who want  more independent way of life.

Now I am not unbiased — my name does appear in the beta list thanks yous — but I think anyone would say this is a wonderful piece of work. Incredible images by the original designer of the Firefly ship and from the graphic designer for "Serenity," along with imaginative and fun background material by QMx guy Andy Gore and brilliant Browncoat Ben Mund, this pack is perfect for Serenity RPGing, arguing over episode details, reference for your fanfic, or just lying out and using as conversation-bait for friends who have inexplicably missed your subtle hints to watch the greatest show ever made.

The Serenity Blueprints Reference Pack, full-color, 33 pages, goes on sale at 10 p.m. EST, tomorrow night (Nov. 16), for $29.95. It'll be available from QMx – where you can get more info and check out a photo gallery, and you can get even better images from the Serenity Blueprints Reference Pack backgrounder PDF — and from any resellers smart enough to stock up. 

Dark Horse's biggest hit of 2006 is now available in a special-edition hardcover!

Joss Whedon, the pop-culture mastermind behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer, bridged the gap between his cult-hit Firefly TV series and his Serenity motion picture with this three-issue miniseries.

Penned by Whedon and Brett Matthews, a Firefly show writer, the ragtag crew takes on a scavenger mission with the promise of a big payoff. Only too late do they realize the gig is orchestrated by an old enemy eager to remake their acquaintance.

* Sporting a new cover by Adam Hughes, this oversized collection shows off the work of penciller Will Conrad and colorist Laura Martin, and the array of pinups by phenomenal guest artists. In addition, over a dozen backup pages delve into the work and art behind the scenes-original material assembled especially for this hardcover edition.

And it is all that. Beautiful new cover — where's the poster for this, Dark Horse? — and the production and colors are great. If you peek under the slipcover you'll even see a nice Serenity logo on the book cover. All the stories and covers* from the original 3-issue, 9-cover series are here, as promised, and Nathan's intro from the paperback collection came along for the ride. All well and good.

My problem with the book? The extras.

They're not new. None of them. You get Joss' pre-production memo "A Brief History of the Universe, Circa 2516 A.D.," which is funny and very revealing abgout the underpinnings and history of the 'verse, and some stunning production artwork which are truly wonderful to look upon. At least, that's what I remember thinking when I first saw them all in the Serenity Visual Companion from Titan Books.

Hey, Dark Horse? Serenity fans tend towards the obsessive — trust me on this one, note the name of my site and imagine the mail I get– and an awful lot of us bought the Serenity Companion. You know what would have been a great thing to put in your collection?

Joss and Brett's script, or even a portion of one. Their notes back and forth. Pencils of the finished pages. Character studies by the artists. Ship and cast pinups from other comic artists. New interviews from just about anybody involved with the comics about their involvement. Even an essay on how this became your hottest seller would have been good, and even the slightest, roughest peek at the next Serenity mini-series would have brought Browncoats by the scores to the bookshelves. Stuff that only you have, that we haven't already seen.

* Update: Didn't notice this until Simon from Whedonesque mentioned it, but the hardcover doesn't have all the covers after all. Simon's and River's are combined, and Book's is missing altogether. C'mon, Dark Horse, that's just sloppy.

The book is a great collection that will make a great gift for Browncoats and new fans alike. I highly recommend it, especially if you still haven't read the mini-series or don't own the Serenity Companion. But it could have been so much more. The best thing about it, to me, was the great big "1" on the spine. I can't wait for "2."

(By the way – whomever has the rights to Joshua Middleton's artwork of Inara's costumes and the Companion House? Please release them as prints. Please.)

Available now at TFAW.com or your local comic store, coming soon to Amazon and bookstores everywhere.