Battle stations, comic-book nerds: A possible TV adaptation of Neil Gaiman's 'The Sandman' is in the works.

This is probably a bad idea.

Of course, this adaptation is still in the early stages, and as is the case with most properties being developed for television, it's entirely possible (if not probable) that the project will never get made.

Still, there are quite a few reasons to treat the idea of a TV version of 'Sandman,' which tells the story of the Dream (or Morpheus) and his similarly powerful siblings, with extreme caution. I say that despite reading that 'Supernatural' creator Eric Kripke may take the lead role in the development of the 'Sandman' series.

Those who've read my work in the past will know that I'm a serious 'Supernatural' fan, and whatever ups and downs that show may have had over the past five seasons, Kripke's ability to mine the moral and emotional potential of genre fare has proved to be exceptional.

So it's not that I think Kripke (who isn't officially on board yet) isn't the right guy for the job. It's just that I'm not sure the job can or should be done. After the jump are just five of the reasons why I think a 'Sandman' adaptation is probably a bad idea.

It'll be a sad day for comic book fans when 'Smallville' ends its 10-year run after the upcoming season. Where else can we turn to for a look at the impossible, like people leaping tall buildings in single bounds or being more powerful than locomotives? The superhero on TV will cease to be.

But that doesn't have to be the case.

There are a number of comic book characters that can do extraordinary things, which would be easy to translate onto the small screen. The networks don't have to go all 'Iron Man' with their special effects to thrill the comic-buying public. Here's a look at some possible shows and thoughts on the tricks needed to pull them off ...

Apple's iPhone and iPod are emerging as the preferred delivery device for online comic books. They're portable, hand-held and feature vivid screens capable of delivering any necessary colors. You can use the touch screen to flip the pages back and forth.

An online comics website, Comixology, is a central point for scores of online comics available via iTunes' App Store, including several titles based on popular genre shows of the recent and not-so-recent past.

You'll find that 80's anime after school favorite, Voltron living here. Marvel's animation-influenced X-Men flourishes in multiple versions. The Middleman, a now-canceled creative comic-book inspired children's live action show, continues in iPhone form. In fact, The Middleman stories on Comixology were written to continue the TV show's storyline.

It's always odd when pop culture personalities show up in comic books. It's the print equivalent of the Harlem Globetrotters showing up on Gilligan's Island.

This comic book is from 1984 and features The Avengers meeting...David Letterman! He was on NBC back then doing Late Night and in the comic The Avengers go on the show. For some reason.

[via Pop Candy]

The modern poster-child for a show that's "gone too soon" is Jericho. The impassioned fans buried CBS under a ton of nuts, which got the show renewed for a shortened second season. Your mileage of the quality of that season may vary, but the fact remains that the fans did something none of these internet campaigns today will be able to.

What people don't realize is that when Jericho came back for the second run, the ratings weren't any better than when the first season ended. So when they cancel your favorite show and you start mailing in bizarre objects and setting up your web petitions because "it worked for Jericho," remember that the networks remember Jericho as well. They remember that it failed to find a sizable audience twice.

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.

One of Marvel's upcoming projects is a new direct-to-DVD animated movie called Planet Hulk. It's based on the comic story of the same name. It looks to be a pretty faithful adaption. I have read the original story and thought was good.

It's a huge story, though, and I doubt they'll fit all the details in a 90-minute movie (or however long it is). If the DVD has big sales, will Marvel release the sequel story in which The Hulk returns to Earth and fights the other Marvel heroes as a DVD as well?

Even though I liked Planet Hulk, there are other, better stories I'd love to see released as a DVD animated movie. Hey, DC, how about putting The Dark Knight Returns on a DVD (a real movie and not the cheap animotion Watchmen DVD)? Marvel, where's my animated movie of Marvel Zombies?

The trailer is after the jump so you can judge for yourself. Which comic storyline would you be interested in seeing animated?

[via Topless Robot]

Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, has been going to Comic-Con since 1977. That's before a lot of you were born and is so long ago that Lost used the year in their time travel story last season. TV Barn's Aaron Barnhart found Groening roaming the floor and buying comics and filed this video interview.

Bryan Fuller, whose departure from the writing team of Heroes was seen by some as a harbinger of doom for the troubled superhero show, recently announced that despite the cancellation of his triple Emmy Award-winning TV series Pushing Daisies, he plans to continue to the series -- as a comic book with DC.

Laura Hudson of sister site ComicsAlliance talked to Fuller at Comic-Con about what's in store for Pushing Daisies after it moves from TV to print, and after he mentioned an interest in superhero comics, she asked if he had any interest in writing superhero comics himself -- and he responded with an enthusiastic "yes!"

Since he's already got the hook-up with DC Comics, who knows what might be in store? Check out Fuller (after the jump) reading a copy of "Wednesday Comics" next to dapper DC VP of Publicity David Hyde, and check back for the video interview CA conducted with Fuller for more.

Just a quick note for those three civilized people on planet Earth who didn't use Google Thursday, the logo (or bug) on the search engine's home page went all Comic-Con International to celebrate the event.

Some of D.C. Comic's mightiest heroes (Batman, Wonderwoman, Green Lantern and Plastic Man) decorate the artsy "Google" for all the world to see.

Stay tuned for TV Squad's continued coverage today.

The Doctor Who franchise is jumping to a U.S. publisher for a new regularly scheduled comic book due to arrive in stores this week.

IDW Publishing, also the home for Star Trek, G.I. Joe, The Transformers and Angel comics, isn't the first American company to publish Who . Marvel was the home of Fourth Doctor Tom Baker's two-dimenstional adventures in the 1970s.

But those Marvel titles were written by Brits (including Alan Moore) for Brits. In a testament to Who's rebirth and international popularity, IDW's titles will be printed in the U.S. for an eager American audience -- while additional Who comics run in the U.K.

As Bob wrote the other day, NBC has assured fans that Heroes will be back next season. Isn't that great? Well, no, not to me. I would like to assure NBC that I have had it with Heroes. I'm exhausted and fed up. Do you feel like me? Do you have Heroes fatigue?

The changes have been detrimental to the original premise, ruining what was once the most exciting new TV show on the air since Lost. Quite simply, I don't like the new "book"; I don't like the characters that have been mangled beyond recognition; I don't like all the story lines that were dropped in favor of this new paradigm that has the government hunting down Matt and Peter and the other familiar heroes and treating them like terrorists. At the end of the last episode, I just felt bad about Heroes. What have they done to my show?

(S08E06) So we the audience get to learn a little more about Davis "Doomsday" Bloome. To begin, to no surprise to anyone, he's a killer.

It seems that this version of Doomsday (as opposed to the comics version) is more of a Jekyll and Hyde or the Hulk sort of scenario, where a man becomes an unstoppable monster. Frankly, it's been done and I'm hoping the end of the season leads to a better revelation than learning that Mr. Bloome is a monster, which we know already.