Graphic Novel Reviews
The Pretender – The Centre Chronicles
All the secrets about the origin of the Centre and all things Pretender.
I have never read or even seen a GN and wasn’t sure how this would go. I don’t mind it though, the pictures are catching, striking, bold and dramatic. The storyline is very interesting, a great way to start the GN off and I am excited for its release date so I can buy a copy to read. It is exciting to see a new medium for tP and I LOVE that its showing us the Centre’s past.
It’s looking very good. I love the character design and art direction. The writing seems top notch as well. I’m psyched for the official release now, can’t wait.
I liked it. Thanks!
This is great! I really can’t wait for the whole thing! The drawings are very good and the storyline so far is intriguing! Well done!
What a tease fellas and Jenna! I want more! Great job and great start to the story. I can’t wait to read it in its entirety. Something else Pretender-related to look forward to. Thanks for the preview! ♥
I haven’t read too many GNs, so I was a little unsure what my initial reaction to the Pretender: the Centre Chronicles would be. I was so surprised at how phenomenal it is- Jeffrey Henderson’s artwork is superb and Jenna Busch’s storyline is mysterious and historical- a wonderfully intriguing combination! I loved the multiple story lines present in the preview… it’s great to explore Little Miss Parker’s backstory (and, of course, the inclusion of the bunny is fantastic!) as well as the secrets and lies that form the foundation of the Centre. I really enjoyed how the story tied in with the tidbits of background we received in Rebirth and I am sitting on pins and needles waiting to read the rest! tP: tCC is a truly marvellous addition to the Centre Universe!
Off to an excellent start. As a comic book / graphic novel writer myself, I know the amount of work that went into each page, and it’s very well done. It’s hard to keep a story moving, but this clips along nicely, and the idea of having Little Miss Parker bookending the various stories of The Centre’s history is certainly enjoyable. Looking forward to the rest, and more to come beyond, I’m sure.
WOW! It’s short, but it sure takes you in the story in a heartbeat. Since the title was revealed, I could’nt wait to find out more about the Centre’s origins. These few pages hooked me to the story. I love Miss P earsdropping. Nazis involved? Eva Peron? So awesome. Catherine Parker sometimes made me think of Evita : charitable woman married to a very powerful man who built orphanages and hospitals, and who was taken away too young. Seeing her all Miss Parker-like is very interesting. Secret life of a role model?
Bravo Jenna Busch and Jeffrey Henderson. You truly deserve your place among the tP team. I love the illustrations. I was worried about the passage from tv show to comic book, but it looks like it won’t be an issue. And like I said earlier, the story is very promising.
Thanks for all you great work guys!!
Ten pages are not a lot, but it’s a great beginning. And it makes me want to read the rest of the graphic novel now. So mission accomplished. Little Miss Parker (who is so cute with her bunny), Eva Peron, Nazis, the Centre’s origins… This will certainly make for a great story!
I love a good graphic novel. I’ve been looking forward to this series ever since I first heard it was going to chronicle the history of The Centre. The 10-page preview was short but I enjoyed reading it. Jenna Busch and Jeffrey Henderson have done an exemplary job of transferring The Pretender TV series into the graphic novel format. I know little of Evita Peron, other than that she really existed. She seems like an confident character and it’s fascinating that she has ties to The Centre. I am confused about one thing though – if this series covers the history of The Centre, why doesn’t it begin with the origins? Or, as I suspect, is this series going to feature non-linear storytelling? All in all, I found the preview intriguing and it piqued my interest for the rest of the story. Jenna’s writing skills are solid and Jeffrey’s artwork is well done. Great work! I can’t wait to read more!
If this is the preview I can’t hardly imagine how the full thing is going to be – this is great. I’m hooked and I’m not usually a fan of comics. The story is intriguing and the art work is amazing. Congrats to the authors.
I love it. Great story and we only got the glimpse. I can’t wait to read the whole thing!
This really surprised me. As a non-GN person, I will admit to not being too excited about the prospect of a GN. After seeing this though, I might have to revise that opinion. This was very exciting and an intriguing start, cannot wait to see the entire thing! I absolutely enjoyed it. Only a single complaint: there wasn’t enough!
I am impressed with how much detail is revealed in only 10 pages! And the fact that it ties in with historical figures fixing The Centre’s back-story even more so in real-time makes it all the more intriguing. All in all, the visuals, narrative and characters revealed so far are well-written and definitely leave a thirst for more!
I too am not a GN reader! I too wasn’t a book reader! Is there something else that I’m not into that you’re going to pretenderize and have me do a 360 back flip and get sucked into? Totally can’t wait for more of both! Thanks for being soooo loyal to us fans!
I’ve been curious like hell. The very beginnings of the Centre. Miss Parker in the middle of all the trouble to come – so it seems. The first ten pages made me even more curious and I’ll enjoy the wait ‘til I got my own exemplar in my hands. So far, I definitely like the style and the mood of the graphic novel. Great job done. And it’s quiet cool, that as I started over again with a change of place – moving in with my long-term distance relationship, tp is again there with me. Starting something new while keeping up with the past. Love that fact a lot.
Great start! This has me anxiously anticipating more! Thank you guys for bringing Jarod back!
I must admit that i’m not a great fan of comics, but the story seems really interesting and intriguing and i love the art work, so sure i think i will buy a copy, ’cause i’m curious. Compliments to the passionate authors
Writer and Artist
The Pretender: The Centre Chronicles
Meet the writer and the artist of the graphic novels series.
Jenna Busch

Jenna Busch is the Entertainment Editor for Fan Voice and co-hosts ‘Cocktails With Stan’ with the legendary Stan Lee. She’s covered all things geek for sites like Zap2it, After Buzz TV, Screen Crave, Inside Horror, Huffington Post, AOL, Popeater, Newsarama, JoBlo, Blastr, UGO, IGN, Moviefone, SheKnows, Coming Soon, Screen Junkies, Famous Monsters and Geek Week, Inside Horror and more. Member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) and a board member of the Broadcast Television Critics Association (BTJA). She has appeared on ‘Attack of the Show’ and the premiere episode of ‘Tabletop’ with Wil Wheaton, Grant Imahara and Sean Plott, a guest on ‘Geek DIY’ with Bonnie Burton and a winning contestant on Jace Hall’s ‘Fan Wars.’ She has two stories in the comic anthology, “Womanthology,” and is about to publish a full length graphic novel. She’s been a guest host on G4’s Fresh Ink, PODCrash, Full of Sith, GeekNation, Schmoes Know, My Geek Lady, ComiCenter, JoBlo Movie Podcast and more. A New York transplant living in Los Angeles, Jenna has been on many sides of the entertainment industry. Makeup artist (don’t stand too close, or she’ll glue something to you), actor (stopped because she felt that replacing body parts with silicone was the first step towards becoming a cylon), and finally writing, which allows her to work in her pajamas.
You can find Jenna on Twitter @jennabusch and on her blog at girlmeetslightsaber.blogspot.com. You can read her work at Voice.Fan.TV.
Jeffrey Henderson

An award winning illustrator and storyteller, Jeffrey Henderson’s career has included a wide- ranging assortment of comic book, videogame, animation, advertising and feature film projects. Some of Henderson’s major film credits include: ‘Twilight/ Eclipse’, ’30 Days of Night’ and the upcoming ‘Crossbones’ with David Slade, ‘Inception’ for Christopher Nolan and ‘After Earth’ with M. Night Shyamalan, to name just a few.
He has also worked with Sam Raimi on a number of projects, including ‘SpiderMan 3 & 4’, ‘World of Warcraft’ and most recently, ‘OZ, The Great and Powerful’.
He has taught courses on storyboarding and visual storytelling at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA, as well as The University of the Nations in Kana, Hawaii.
Mr. Henderson is also an accomplished voice actor, (SAG/ AFTRA), and a successful singer/ songwriter, (ASCAP). He has contributed vocal performances, songs and music to a number of film, TV and videogame projects.
“Good Morning Kalifornia”, the debut record from his band, The Wrongway Saints, will be released this fall on !Viva La Biscuit! Records.
He lives in Los Angeles with two little super- villains disguised as housecats and entirely too many guitars.
You can find Jeffrey on Twitter @PlanetHenderson, on Tumblr at http://planethenderson.tumblr.com and at http://www.planethenderson.com/




Jun 6: Graphic Novels Meeting with BOOM!
We have a meeting at BOOM! about Pretender Graphic Novel(s)
They are a fun site!
The Pretender Returns As A Comic By Jenna Busch
Somewhere in the late 1990s there was an odd moment in my life. I sat around visiting with my parents and my older brother. My brother and I are very different. He’s the off-roading, gun shooting, get drunk and party type. I’m more of the plus hotel, fine art, sipping whisky and conversing type. My folks are blue-collar, do-it-yourself, poker night couple. But we have two things in common, we all love football and that one weird night in the late 90s we discovered that we all liked the TV show The Pretender. It was a show about a man who could be anything trying to help people in trouble and discover who he is while he runs from a mysterious group calledThe Centre. Jarod, played by Michael T Weiss was a genius that could flawlessly assume the role of any job/career. He had been taken from his parents as a child and raised/mentored by Sydney played by Patrick Bauchau. Once Jarod had escaped, he became hunted by Miss Parker oddly enough played by Andrea Parker. Jarod used his abilities to try and figure out who he is and help others. It was a well written and acted show that played the mystery angle well but maybe lasted a season too long. Think Mr. Spock meets MacGyver with an Bourne Identity background.
The character of Miss Parker was an interesting one that started off as the sexy antagonist but grew into her being just as involved and manipulated by the Centre as Jarod. Her past was just as muddled in mystery as his. So it makes sense that when series creators Steven Long Mitchell and Craig W. Van Sickle decided to get back into the universe, Miss Parker’s history would be a place they’d choose to explore. Besides their announced novel The Pretender: Rebirth, there will be a 6 part graphic novel series called The Pretender: The Centre Chronicles that details the origin of the Centre and how that affected a young Miss Parker. The novel is scheduled to be released October 7th. The creative team for the project is interesting in that both the writer and the artist have acting backgrounds. Jenna Busch will write the series. Jenna has worked in comics on Archetypes, Ladybird and contributed to the Womanthology, also an editor for Fan Voice Entertainment and has written for the Huffington Post, IGN, Comic Soon,AOL and JoBlo. She is an actor, singer and former make-up artist. “To us Jenna is the Blond Miss Parker.” Says Steve Mitchell. “Her insights into dynamic, strong female characters and her twisted sense of story telling made her the perfect person for this project.”
Craig Van Sickle added, “We’re thrilled and lucky to welcome Jenna into the Pretender family as we give the brand a new Rebith through Novels and Graphic Novels and hope to have her involved in both.” “I’m thrilled to be a part of The Pretender universe,” says Busch. “I loved the show and Steve and Craig have been so wonderful during this process. I’m a lifelong fan, so it’s a huge honor to be able to contribute to the story.” The creators released the sketch of the cover to the first issue from artist Jeffrey Henderson, who will do all the covers and art direction for the series. Henderson has worked for Marvel, DC and Image comics, as well as doing storyboards for films like 30 Days of Night, Twilight: Ecllipse, Spider-Man 3 and 4, and Oz the Great and Powerful. He’s also an actor , voice over artist and musician.
For more information on the new graphic novel series or the new novel, check out https://www.thepretenderlives.com Original article can be found on Bleeding Cool here.
THE PRETENDER Returns in Novels and Comics, Writer Announced
THE PRETENDER Returns in Novels and Comics, Writer Announced



Busch: Actually, the one I’m doing is going to be a prequel of sorts, though the idea of someone being able to change their identity is actually going to be a big part of it. I can’t say exactly how at the moment, but there is a clue in the cover art. I know. I’m a tease.
Our Pretender Mission Statement
In the tale of the Pretender, Young Jarod was taken against his will and held away from the world by forces larger than he was. Yet during his captivity, he never gave up hope that his fate would be freedom one day – to return to the world to continue the amazing journey we call life.
The story here is very similar. A little over a decade ago, forces larger than tP and for reasons that really don’t matter, made a decision that kept the saga of tP locked away from the world – just like Jarod was.
We know loyal fans were disappointed and yes, so were we. There was so much more to tP that all of you wanted to know and that we wanted to explore.
But there is good news.
Just like Jarod who, after decades of confinement, finally escaped the Centre and ran away to be free, so too has tP itself. After being locked away for so many years, tP is finally free to return to the world and continue life’s adventure.
As fate would have it, we have regained the rights to give tP the Rebirth it deserves. We can now reinvigorate tP for as long as you want – and no one can ever lock it or Jarod away again.
After thinking long and hard about the best way to bring the tP back, we’ve come up with several different ways to reawaken our much-loved saga for both faithful fans and new fans alike.
First, tP will be reborn as a series of novels enabling us to delve much deeper into the characters’ hearts, minds, souls, and lives in a more revealing way that the limitations of a weekly TV series could never allow for.
Second, we’ll add graphic novels to the mix, fleshing out even more provocative details of the early years of Jarod, Miss P, The Centre and much more, leading to…
Third, be it cable/broadcast TV, a Netflix model series and/or a series of Pretender feature films – tP will then be taken to a whole new level with familiar faces and new characters as well.
You have always been loyal to tP and we want you to know that we’ll always be loyal to you.
The Pretender has found freedom – and an amazing journey into life is about to begin again!
The Rebirth of The Pretender will blow your mind.
Steven Long Mitchell
Craig W. Van Sickle
Los Angeles, CA
July 2013