I think of the comic book industry like a quirky town, and I love it when the new people show up. I love it when the big money types walk in - the Teknos people and the Virgins and the Crossgens. Come on in, boys and girls - bring your cash and hire my friends.

I think it’s great when book people show up - either authors (like Michael Chabon and Jonathan Lethem) who long to write a few comics or executives who are curious about leaving the musty book world for a dip in the superhero pool. And I really love it when actors pop up, and either lend their name to a comic or take a more active role.

The number of actors dabbling in comics seems to have increased as Comic Con International has grown and attracted tons of movie and TV people, eager to pitch or acquire comics for potential development deals. It’s only natural - execs are snapping up comic book properties for movies and TV left and right, actors want a job, and a comic is a relatively inexpensive way to get yourself in front of those deal-makers. It’s cheaper than mounting a non-Equity play and easier than organizing a reading.

The list of actors with comic book properties reads like a Who’s Who of the A-B-and-C-list: Roasario Dawson, Seth Green, Mark Hamill, True Blood’s Michael McMillian, Star Trek’s Zachary Quinto, Kevin Smith, William Shatner, Steven Colbert, Nicholas Cage, and Heroes’ Milo Ventimiglia.

And now Tyrese Gibson has jumped into the pile, armed with some modern technology.

Very smartly, he’s using Twitter to keep his fanbase (180,000+) up-to-the-minute. There’s just one problem - as noted retailer Brian Hibbs pointed out recently - Gibson’s fans are not comic book fans and don’t frequent comic book stores, so all they can do is flop around digitally and defend their hero anytime they spot a hint of negativity on the internet. Sensitive much?

Tyrese’s project, Mayhem, debuted this month from Image Comics, written by Gibson, Mike Le and William Wilson and illustrated by Tone Rodriguez. It’s clear what Mayhem is - it’s a calling card; the digitally-colored equivalent of a YouTube video that Tyrese is hoping to turn into a movie with him as the star. I have no quibble with that. I know what it takes to put together a comic book from initial concept through script, art, coloring, printing and distribution, so if anyone wants to do it, for whatever reason, more power to them.

Mayhem #1, unfortunately, offers nothing new. A vigilante dresses up in a costume to bring down a crime boss, graphically uses big guns and knives to get his points across, has some religious issues, and has a female partner who has a secret. There’s a lot of gunplay; so many people get shot in the face it feels like someone’s got a little fetish going on. And there’s a big surprise at the end. It’s way too similar to countless other comics that the industry has seen regularly for the last 20 years - Grifter, Deadpool, Punisher, Deathstroke: The Terminator, Cable, you name it. As a potential movie property, it feels much better than any movie starring Steven Seagal but much less than any movie with Jason Statham. That’s not to say that someone will never option Mayhem for a movie, but its chances for success seem limited.

I wish Mayhem were a better comic book. I really do. A lot of hard work from a lot of people goes into making one of these things. I’d love to see any of these actor-based books succeed because I want their fanbases to show up en masse at local comic book stores, pick up their comic of choice and be intrigued enough to grab a couple of other titles (it’s hard to walk out of a comic book store with just one issue of anything). But the odds are against it. Batman and X-Men fans aren’t going to rush out for something like Mayhem and Tyrese’s fans aren’t - in big enough numbers - going to rush to their local shop to pick up Mayhem and grab a Batman or a Jennifer’s Body or a Rasl while they’re there. That’s too bad. It would help the industry if some new readers could come into the market and spend a few bucks. So it’s really too bad that Tyrese Gibson’s 180,000 Twitter followers could only generate 9,729 comic book sales nationwide (just above Fathom, and just below Helblazer, according to John Jackson Miller’s The Comics Chronicles). And it’s too bad that Mayhem #1 will be the only issue I pick up.