4 Fun Comics-Related Links

The Beat put up a funny post about the 'Brokeback Pose,' a.k.a. the stereotypical superheroine pose where you can see the heroine's breasts and bum at the same time.


More controversial imagery from an industry imbued with it: Every Day Is Like Wednesday highlights 8 Inappropriate Pictures from one of Marvel's "Appropriate for ages 9 and up" Comics.


I was born a few years too late to enjoy this particular cultural touchstone, but Maxim's 12 Superheroes Who Should Be On '70s Vans makes me wish I was around when the airbrush artist was king.


And if I could only pick one link for you to click? The Best Thing Ever's review of Yotsuba&! If you're not already reading this book, carrying this book, and pushing this book on every customer with good taste that walks through your bookstore's door, NOW'S THE TIME TO START.

Recommended Viewing:You Should Judge A Book By Its Cover

Pilfered with pride from We Sing Sin.

Book News, In Brief

THB and Heavy Liquid creator Paul Pope just won the 'Silver Dildo' for Sexiest Art at the first annual Fleshbot Awards. You can peep some of Pope's work here.


FOX 6 News reports: 'Man Burglarizes Christian Bookstore, Stealing $8.' Jesus, I guess Bible bookstores aren't doing much better business than us sin-filled shops.


1990s comics superstar Peter Bagge recently posted a comic strip about the extreme reactions Ayn Rand's work inspires in today's politically polarized populace. It's called 'Will Everyone Please Stop Freaking Out Over Ayn Rand?!?'


Further proof that the publishing industry isn't looking for 'The Next Big Thing,' but instead, 'The Last Big Thing,' Little Brown has inked a five book deal with Lemony Snicket author Daniel Handler...for five new Lemony Snicket books.

Go, Look: 11 Films About Writing

StumbleUponUs.com has either one-upped the typical Top 10 list, or fallen two short of the fabled baker's dozen. Whichever, the flicks picked are all great...well, except for Shakespeare In Love.
Writers looking for an excuse not to write -- this one's for you. Go, look!

Adaptation News: No Prose Purists Allowed!

Will Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson be donning the black and gold tights required to play Captain Marvel's arch nemesis, Black Adam? Um...maybe.


Sometimes the best way to introduce a link is to just quote the linked-to article's title: J.J. Abrams Finishes Reading Dark Tower, Decides Not To Adapt It. Ouch.


Jerry "Mick Jagger's ex-wife" Hall is set to star in a BBC adaptation of Martin Amis' 1984 novel, Money. As the last time anyone anywhere gave a damn about Ms. Hall was sometime in the mid-eighties, this sounds like the perfect fit.


I know one movie I won't be watching! Winona Ryder and Barry Pepper will star in the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie When Love Is Not Enough: The Lois Wilson Story. The ten-tissue telepic is based on the 12-step book by William Borchert.


Stephenie Meyer will appear on Oprah this Friday to talk millionaire to millionaire about the upcoming New Moon film. For uncomfortable kicks, will someone in the audience please ask O why she never chose a Twilight book for her Book Club?


A bankruptcy judge has ruled that Warren Beatty's suit against the Tribune Co. can go forward. Beatty is suing the bankrupt corporation over the TV and movie rights to Dick Tracy, while the Tribune Co. probably just wants to stop Beatty from making any more sh*tty Dick Tracy films.

Go, Look: 60 Ways to Read Watchmen

The Trouble With Comics has compiled a super-long, super-smart list of sixty distinct thematic, artistic, historical, and humorous angles with which to approach Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' classic comic book mini-series. (Via: CBR)
Go, look!

An Indie Bookseller's Job Is...

... akin to those folks working at Plimoth Plantation. We're a living, breathing memorial to the "good ol' days," only instead of period pilgrim clothes, we dress in coffee-stained cardigans.


...the three Rs: Restaurant recommendations, restroom attendant, and real life MapQuest to the nearest Borders.


...to write down recommendations so that 'customers' can purchase your store's staff picks elsewhere.


...to act as the Wile E. Coyote to the online shopper's Roadrunner. Chase, chase, chase. Fail, fail, fail.


...the first line of defense against poorly put together print-on-demand books.


...to fake smiles, interest, and aesthetic approval.



...list making, link blogging, Twittering trivia.



...sorta depressing when you really stop and think about it.

Book News, In Brief

The Guardian UK imitates the impotent ire of indie British booksellers, b*tches about How Waterstone's Killed Bookselling.


Holy crap. Bookstore employees have rights? And they stand up for them? Publicly? And in the press? Wait, why wasn't I told about this?


Mr. Rogers was an inspiration to countless puppet-loving, trolley obsessed, postman-fetishizing kids. So why the hell are they defaming his memory with this stomach-churning statue?


Admission time: Do you want to know the reason I started dedicating Tuesday's posts to writing links and Thursday's to adaptation news? So I could break up the days between Sarah Palin posts. That said, it's been almost 24 hours. Here's the "leaked" details of Palin's "roguish book tour."


Crain reports that Amazon flew out "a dozen of New York's top literary agents" last week. The point of this powwow? To reassure the agents that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is "not trying to destroy publishing as we know it." Check your favorite agents' Twitter feeds to see if they were part of this whorish pilgrimage.

Parental Advisory: Kids Lit Links

YourTango.com offers an easy out to easily embarrassed parents: Use Kid Lit to Teach Your Kids About Sex. (Via.)


The Telegraph UK proclaims 'Comic books are good for children's learning!' (But then, they spell 'color' with a U, so what do they know?)


My favorite new time-killer of a blog? Curious Pages, a self-described hub of "recommended inappropriate books for kids."


A former vicar turned bestselling children’s author has accused the Church of England of being “largely irrelevant” and a “spiritual arm of New Labour.” (But then, he spells 'labor' with a U, so what does he know?)

Quick Question

If we had a drag queen dress up as Sarah Palin for a reading and 'signing,' would you attend? And more importantly, would you buy a book?

Tuesday's Tips for Flailing Writers

Rewriting the rewritten for the umpteenth time? Kidlit.com wonders, How Much Revision is Necessary?


Don't worry, R. Crumb -- jerking off to your own work isn't one of Fuel for Your Writing's 8 Nasty Writing Habits You Should Quit.


While some lucky sonsofb*tches were having sex with their teachers, you and I were picking up the 7 Bad Writing Habits You Learned in School.


Hope for the dying and decrepit: Writers Digest's Publish Your First Book After 50. (I mean, you're still gonna die, but at least you'll die published.)


You're a name on the internet and a celebrity in the blogosphere. Chris Anderson tells you how to turn that exposure into book sales.

3 Choice Tweets

@McMer314: Amused that the health care bill is about as long as Harry Potter 5. Except that people actually read HP5. http://bit.ly/JQqWG


@vromans: Linda Bukowski said that Charles cried at the end of Star Wars. "It was something about Chewbacca."



@theBDR: I was going to take my daughter to the public library today, but, you know, socialism...


(Oh, and by the by, we're on Twitter, too.)

The Cover Art of Superstar Graphic Designer Rodrigo Corral

The name Rodrigo Corral may not fire off any synapses in your brain, but a quick look at some of his cover art will surely set your sense memory atwitter. Dude not only did the cover art compiled below, he's also responsible for the covers to James Frey's infamous A Million Little Pieces and Junot Diaz' Pulitzer Prize-winning The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. To see more of Corral's book covers, as well as some of his magazine work, click here. For a 5 question interview with Corral, click here.
















Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk
Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President by Justin A. Frank
















Him Her Him Again The End of Him by Patricia Marx
How to Think Like a Great Graphic Designer by Debbie Millman
















Rant by Chuck Palahniuk
Here's How I See It, Here's How It Is by Heather Henson

Book News, In Brief

Glenn Beck: Cry-baby, paranoid conspiracy theorist...and thriller fic's #1 sales booster?


Find out if the rumors about Robin are true. Queersupe has compiled an A-Z list of gay comic book characters.


Do it for Johnny! Er...make that, "Do it for money!" Outsiders author S.E. Hinton plans to cash-in with a li'l comics work.


Sarah Palin's book tour kicked off Nov. 1, and she's purposefully avoiding cities with predominantly Democratic voters and early civil rights adopters. For a detailed itinerary, click here.


Single mom? Check. Nearly broke? You betcha. Novel rejected by multiple publishers before a surprise bidding war resulted in a million dollar book deal? Is there any other way? Well, that settles it. Rebecca James is officially this month's 'Next J.K. Rowling.'