While wild child River Tam had obvious mystery to her character on the Joss Whedon series Firefly, the far more subtle, and more interesting questions centered on Shepherd Book. Was he really a man of the cloth? Why did he have Alliance identification? Didn't he know an awful lot that seemed incongruous with his calling? Well now we'll all know.

In process now, expected to come out in 2009, is the Whedon-driven comic The Shepherd's Tale, the story behind the mysterious man who boards Serenity on Persephone, having left the Abbey behind. Ironically, the impetus for the creation of the comic was the actor who plays the character of Book, Ron Glass.

  He apparently is constantly asked about Book's history at convention appearances, and demanded that Whedon share some of the nitty-gritty to help him out.

Tale will be in a three-issue series, similiar to the 2005 series Serenity: Those Left Behind, which takes place between the end of the series and the film Serenity, and Serenity: Better Days from May 2008.

Meantime, there's Jim Kreuger's Serenity: The Other Half, available online now for those who can't wait for Kreuger to unravel the mysteries of the man with the incredible growing hair. Was Jubal Early right? Stay tuned to find out if Book is really a Shepherd--or what?