Remember when The History Channel was just D-Day Invasions, tank battles and old guys talking about shooting Nazis?

That changed with shows like American Pickers and Pawn Stars.

And it’s going to be a little different tonight (December 2; check local listings). Author and comic book writer Brad Meltzer (DC Comics’ Identity Crisis & Dark Horse’s Buffy The Vampire Slayer) is the host of a new reality TV series called Decoded, about solving some of history's mysteries.

Of course, this is the modern era so it won’t be a bunch of gray-haired white people sitting in leather-bound conservatories holding court and being intercut with archival footage of beachheads and bombing runs.

Nope. Meltzer and his gang of historians have made it a race.

The premise seems simple enough: in each episode, the History Channel will give Meltzer one of 10 great mysteries and he and his team (Scott, McKinley and Buddy) will have to solve it before the show’s over.

(I kinda think they'll succeed, or at least come up with a plausible explanation.)

Mysteries include the ever-mysterious Lost Confederate Gold, plus stuff like Presidential symbols and the inside of the Statue of Liberty. And not every solution is aliens or Freemasons.

So they promise.

Here’s the promo from the History Channel website with lots of other nice videos to watch as well.

Here's a short interview with Meltzer about his show.

In a classic example of decent cross-promotion, Meltzer’s got a new book coming out in January, a thriller called The Inner Circle.

I love histories and mysteries and this mash-up of Amazing Race and National Treasure knows me too well. I’m in.

And while I can't say for certain, I think Meltzer might be the only thriller writer/comic book writer/reality TV show host out there right now.

[Artwork: Brad Meltzer, dressing up for TV]