George Gene Gustines examines the concepts from TV which are now being used in comics , like “Show runners’ and “seasons.”

¶In “Countdown,” a new weekly series from DC Comics that began this month, Paul Dini, who worked on ABC’s “Lost,” is serving as head writer.

¶The new “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” series from Dark Horse is being promoted as the never-produced Season 8 of the “Buffy” television show and is written by Joss Whedon, Buffy’s creator, who is credited as the comic’s “executive producer.”

¶Marvel Entertainment is also adopting the “season” mentality — a fresh number of issues and then a break — on high-profile series like “Ultimates” and “Young Avengers.”

¶Platinum Comics has adapted television’s “show runner” concept, used to describe the top writer-producer on a series, into a “comic runner” for their Web-only titles.

We did like this from Platinum:

Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, the chairman of Platinum Studios, which offers Web-only and traditional printed comics, conceived the position of “comic runner” to help produce his company’s online titles.

“The comic runner is basically an entrepreneur who is running a small business,” he said. Mr. Rosenberg called it a “tough job” that required the ability to get comics from idea to final product regularly.

The comic runner must also be the spokesman for the property, helping to make decisions about publicity, merchandising and television or film development.

In olden days, this was often called being an “self-publisher” or an “editor”" but we’ll take the fancy modern title, too.