Lee put some time into 'Traveler'

Arguably the biggest comic event of the year continues with the recent release of "

The Traveler

" from BOOM! Studios - the latest collaboration between legend

Stan Lee

and the upstart company.

As was the case with last month's "Soldier Zero," it is unclear how much input Lee had with the creation and direction of "The Traveler." But his fingerprints are again unmistakably on the character.

The Traveler is a mysterious masked hero with time-traveling abilities who stands in opposition to the Split-Second M, super-powered assassins from the future, who we soon learn have powers related to the fundamental forces of the universe. One is electromagnetic, another decays matter, another has one too horrible to be revealed yet. The Traveler has to combat them all.

With Lee joining forces with Mark Waid, the series takes the tired time-travel genre and tweaks it to create a complex, action-packed thriller with a unique twist that'll keep fans guessing where things are going until the final page.

Waid is a perfect choice to join forces with Lee. Like the accomplished octogenarian, Waid has made a name for himself writing about characters that readers can relate to, putting them in challenging situations and adding a bit of humor. It's also always clear who the good and bad guys are. All of that is on display in the pages of "The Traveler".

Toss in an air of mystery surrounding the main character and it's clear that this book has all the ingredients of a winner.

Wow! Raven to TV

Variety has reported that The CW is developing a series based on the DC Comics character Raven.

With "Smallville" in it's last season, many expected the network to greenlight another comic-book-based series. However, the belief was that they would choose a high-profile character known to the general public, like Bruce Wayne or Wonder Woman - the latter character has a series in the development stages but has yet to be picked up by a network.

Few characters have a lower profile than Raven, who has starred in only one solo limited series in the comics and has been a supporting player in various "Titans" incarnations through the years.

Changes at DC continue

On the publishing side, DC continues to make changes. Friday afternoon brought more news of comings and goings.

Sadly for Comics Guy, this included publicity manager Alex Segura announcing his departure from the company. Segura helped Comics Guy a lot in bringing info to the readers of this column and he will be missed. Also on Friday, DC announced the hiring of Amit Desai as Senior Vice President, Franchise Management, for DC Entertainment. On Thursday, Mark Chiarello, one of the driving forces behind Wednesday Comics, was promoted to VP Art Direction & Design.

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