LOS ANGELES — Having plundered comic books for decades, Hollywood is giving a little back.

Studios are increasingly turning their properties over to illustrators and writers before movies are released to generate Internet chatter, early fans and anticipation within the all-important comic-book community.

The latest comic comes from "Push," the sci-fi thriller starring Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning that opened last Friday. Wildstorm, a division of DC Comics, has created a six-issue series that fleshes out the movie's plot about expats with supernatural powers.

And a magazine rack-full of other movies are here or on the way:

The first comic in a four-part prequel, "Star Trek Countdown No. 1," hit shelves last month in anticipation of May 8's "Star Trek."

"Terminator Salvation," starring Christian Bale, gets a four-issue prequel before the movie arrives May 22.

"G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" invades screens Aug. 7, but not before a four-issue comic-book series hits stores.

The comic reach extends to television and beyond. Some crime shows such as "CSI" have their own series, as do "Fringe" and Joss Whedon's defunct show "Angel." Even the video game "World of Warcraft" has a comic book to develop characters — and promote the next game upgrade.

For movie prequels, it's all part of the $40 million brand-building campaign studios typically launch for every commercial film released. And comics are a financial drop in the bucket; a studio could print hundreds of thousands of comics for less than $1 million.

In some cases, the comic books take on a life of their own. In 2007, IDW Publishing created a "Transformers" series expected to sell 50,000 issues. Instead, it sold more than 1 million copies.

"It's a great way to flesh out back stories and create references for the movie," says Hank Kanalz, Wildstorm's general manager. "You can watch the movie without reading the comic book. But you'll have a better experience if you do."

Comic devotees can be tough to please, though. They snapped up the "Jumper" prequel and helped drive last year's film to $80 million.

But they rejected both the paper and celluloid versions of 2007's "Southland Tales," which did just $275,000.

And stars can be a fickle lot.

"I won't say who the actress was, but one star of 'CSI' wanted her breasts slightly enlarged for the comic book," says IDW publisher Chris Ryall. "I was surprised because, you know, women in comics are already usually pretty ample."