NIkki Finke has all the details on New Line head Robert Shaye making up with Peter Jackson so that finally there shall come a HOBBIT movie.

The two Hobbit films – The Hobbit and its sequel – have long been stalled. Now they are scheduled to be shot simultaneously, with pre-production beginning as soon as possible. Principal photography is tentatively set for a 2009 start, with the intention of releasing The Hobbit in 2010 and its sequel the following year, in 2011.

SEQUEL???? WTF? Is that the one where Fingon rescues Maedhros from Morgoth and has to cut off his hand? Personally, we would like to see ONE Hobbit movie! One nice tidy Hobbit movie with Thorin and Elrond and Smaug. But I guess they need to leave in Bombadil this time by including Beorn and so on and split it into two? Whatevs…Hopefully Ian McKellan will be back as Gandalf!

According to Finke, Shaye had to make nice with Jackson to keep his job after THE GOLDEN COMPASS tanked. Jackson won’t direct the Hobbit since he’s busy on TINTIN and so on. Sam Raimi’s name is still being tossed around.

Art by and copyright The Brothers Hildebrandt.

In HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, one of the most important clues to defeating Voldemort comes in the form of a book left by Dumbledore to Hermione Granger — a volume of instructional fables entitled TALES OF BEEDLE THE BARD. The book has never been printed…and won’t be, but it exists — author J.K. ROwling has hand made and written seven copies. Six will be given to people closely associated with the making of the Harry Potter books. The seventh was auctioned off last night. It was expected to go for around £50,000. Instead, it went for £2,000,000. That’s like $4mil at current exchange rates.

Each of the seven copies is bound in brown Morocco leather and mounted with different semi-precious stones.

A dedication written in the front of the book says: “Six of these books have been given to those most closely connected to the Harry Potter books during the last 17 years.

“This seventh copy will be auctioned, the proceeds to help institutionalised children who are in desperate need of a voice.

“So to whoever now owns this book, thank you - and fair fortune be yours!”

The new owners — London fine art dealers Hazlitt Gooden and Fox — are pleased with their purchase, and Rowling is “ecstatic” to have raised so much money for charity.

UPDATE: The book was actually purchased by Amazon.com. They have set up a page showing the book and other neat stuff. — MLC

INCOGNEGRO is an upcoming graphic novel by novelist Mat Johnson and artist Warren Pleece, the latest in Vertigo’s line of literary yarns. It’s a noirish mystery about a light-skinned journalist who goes undercover in the South of the ’30s to unravel a murder and stop a lynching. The book went out for some blurbage, and Johnson’s fellow novelists obliged with praise.

“Mat Johnson’s thoughtful writing and the moody realism of Warren Pleece’s art make this nasty bit of tarnished Americana come alive like a prodded snake. An exciting, disturbing piece of work.”
—George Pelecanos

“A talented writer of both fiction and creative nonfiction, Johnson’s publications have established him as an important new voice in the African American tradition.”
-Walter Mosley

“Ingenious, enlightening and powerful.”— Paul Theroux

“Mat Johnson has done it again, namely written a deep story of pain and laughter that probes the complex dynamics of white supremacy in America. Don’t miss it!”
—Cornell West

“Though entertaining as hell, Incognegro transcends mere entertainment and enters the realm of relevant art. It kicks graphic ass!”—John Ridley

DC provided us with a three- page preview, so you can see what the fuss is about. The book comes out in February.

Mpre upcoming books from DC via pr:

DC Comics concludes its look at new collected editions and other titles for Summer 2008 with titles scheduled for release in July and August. These include collected editions from the DC Universe, Vertigo and WildStorm, as well as new manga from CMX and original works from Minx.

Titles from the DC Universe include THE FLASH: THE WILD WESTS HC, collecting the first of Mark Waid’s new FLASH tales, SUPERMAN AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES HC, written by Geoff Johns, and the ALL STAR SUPERMAN VOL. 2 HC.

Vertigo titles on this list include DMZ VOL. 5: THE HIDDEN WAR TP, the latest collection from Brian Wood’s hit series, and THE SANDMAN PRESENTS: THE DEAD BOY DETECTIVES, collecting Ed Brubaker’s classic 2001 miniseries for the first time. Highlights from WildStorm include the the WORLD OF WARCRAFT VOL. 1 HC and WILDSTORM: REVELATIONS.

Minx continues with JANES IN LOVE, the sequel to THE PLAIN JANES, and CMX features the return of KIKAIDER CODE 02.

This information may be subject to change, and should not be considered final.

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Very tragic news as best sellling novelist Terry Prachett has revealed that he is suffering from a rare case of early onset Alzheimer’s :

The 59-year-old writer made the announcement Tuesday through a web posting to fans on the website of illustrator Paul Kidby, who has worked on many of Pratchett’s Discworld titles.

Terry Pratchett…was Britain’s biggest selling contemporary author until the massive success of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. Pratchett’s books have sold more than 45 million copies around the globe.

“I would have liked to keep this one quiet for a little while, but because of upcoming conventions and, of course, the need to keep my publishers informed, it seems to me unfair to withhold the news,” Pratchett wrote in a message titled “An Embuggerance.”

In addition to the immensely popular Discworld series, Prachett co-authored Good Omens with Neil Gaiman, and several of his novels have been adapted into comics form.

Yet another NYT #1 bestselling author is scratching that graphic novel itch; this time it’s Diana Gabaldon, author of the OUTLANDER series, which has some 15 million copies in print. She’ll pen a new yarn for Del Rey.

Del Rey, an imprint of Ballantine Books at the Random House Publishing Group, announced today that it will publish an original story set in the world of Diana Gabaldon’s bestselling Outlander series, written by Gabaldon herself and illustrated in full color by award-winning artist Hoang Nguyen. The project was acquired by Betsy Mitchell, editor in chief of Del Rey, in negotiations with Gabaldon’s literary agent Russell Galen.

The new story, starring Gabaldon’s beloved characters Claire Randall and Jamie Fraser, opens with Murtagh, Jamie’s godfather, awaiting the return of his godson to Scotland, and the fulfillment of a vow made years before. The graphic novel will be approximately 192 pages and will publish sometime in 2009. Gabaldon’s upcoming new Outlander novel, An Echo in the Bone, is expected to publish that year as well.

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We mentioned this in a comment, but thought it was worth a more prominent item — it’s pretty much a banner week for American comics on Bookscan, as American GNs take 3 of the top 10 spots, including Dark Tower at #1. And Buffy is “bubbling under” as they say, at #11. Here’s the entire top ten:

1. Dark Tower The Gunslinger Born (Marvel Comics)
2. Fruits Basket: Volume 18 (Tokyopop)
3. Heroes Volume 1 (Wildstorm)
4. Naruto: Volume 24 With Sticker (Viz Media)
5. Naruto: Volume 27 With Sticker (Viz Media)
6. The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier (America’s Best Comics)
7. Naruto: Volume 23 (Viz Media)
8. Naruto: Volume 25 Viz Media)
9. Naruto: Volume 26 (Viz Media)
10. Naruto: Volume 22 (Viz Media)

Of course, don’t get us wrong, it’s a spectacular showing for perennial champ Naruto, and Viz absolutely dominates the chart, as usual. However this strong showing (and ongoing strong sales for all four books we just mentioned) are a definite sign that America’s top three publishers are finally figuring out this bookstore thing, and getting the distribution and visibility that they need to make these books sell up to their potential. And remember — all but Buffy are $20+ hardcovers not $9.99 (or $7,95 in the case of Naruto) paperbacks — Dark Tower beats Fruits Basket in dollars 4 to 1.

Also in the top 50: the Don Martin collection, 52: Volumes 4 and Marvel Zombies vs Army of Darkness.

And now cue Dirk to complain in five, four, three………..

Here’s that manga publishing pact we were talking about yesterday, as scooped by PW’s Calvin Reid: Tor Books has signed up Seven Seas to produce a line of 6-8 manga a month:

Science fiction and fantasy publisher Tor Books announced plans to enter the U.S manga market by creating a new manga imprint with Seven Seas Entertainment, an independent publisher of original and licensed manga, manga-inspired prose titles and illustrated juvenile fiction based in Los Angeles. The new venture will release original manga titles, but also plans to compete for top Japanese manga licenses such as the first volume of the Takashi Okzaki’s popular Afro Samurai manga series which it will release in August 2008. The Afro Samurai manga is the basis for the popular Spike TV anime series that premiered in 2007 and features the voices of actors Samuel L. Jackson, Ron Perlman and Kelly Hu.

Lots of connections on this deal which was put together by “Tor publisher Tom Doherty, Macmillan v-p of merchandise and sales Steve Kleckner and Seven Seas founder and president Jason DeAngelis.” Kleckner was ones the sales guy at Tokyopop so he knows manga. Macmillan (which owns Tor)also distributes Hill & Wangs non fiction GN line, and First Second; they also distribute D&Q and NBM’s ya Papercuts line — so this gives them a full range of graphic novel genres, soup to nuts.

Buzz, Balls & Hype is a book marketing blog aimed at booksellers and librarians. It’s just added Diamond Books sales manager John Shableski as a blogger every other Tuesday, and in his first outing he delivers what could be called the basic stump speech for comics advocacy:

Graphic Novels are “The New Rock and Roll.” That’s a pretty audacious line to brand onto this new entertainment format but calling graphic novels “the new rock and roll” is probably the most accurate description I can think of.

For those of you who have just begun hear or read about graphic novels, here’s some history. The term graphic novel is something that the late, great Will Eisner gets credit for and, as the legend has it, he used the term as a pitch to get his book A Contract With God published. It was a long-form comic book that he knew wouldn’t get a second thought if he told the publisher that it was indeed a comic book.

It’s sort of GNs 101, but if you have a call to go out on the road and preach it, brother, you may pick up some talking points.

Speaking of the NY Times, there were several women-in-comics related posting that went around over the last week or so that we thought worthy of their very own round-up. First, Gail Simone was profile in the New York Times, a prestigious achievement for anyone. However the phrase “She is the first woman to serve as “ongoing writer” (to use the industry’s term) in the character’s 66-year history.” did seem to be fudging it a bit, as Johanna pointed out: Both Trina Robbins and Mindy Newell wrote WW in the past.

For what it’s worth, the article istelf seems to read “…the first woman to serve as ‘ongoing writer’ (to use the industry’s term) in the character’s 66-year history.)”

Since the writer is a known comics fan, I like to think he put that parenthetical in there to perhaps acknowledge that there may be some dubiousness to the claim.

That said, if the claim is that Simone is the character’s first “ongoing” writer, that would explain why Trina Robbins isn’t being counted since her Wonder Woman contributions were a mini-series and an original graphic novel, not part of the ongoing series. So excluding Robbins makes sense on a technical, semantic point-of-view.

Less clear is why Mindy Newell should be overlooked. Perhaps it’s because her contributions were collaborative (at least on the post-Crisis Perez-era Wonder Woman; I’m not sure if she was the only writer credited on the pre-and-during-Crisis issues she wrote.) Which is still a bit unfair, but there you go.

Steven Rowe in The Beat’s own comment section, makes a case for two previous writers:

Of course both Joye Murchison (1945-1947), and Dann Thomas (1983) were ongoing Wonder Woman writers even before this. You could argue that Thomas was the less famous of a writing team, but Murchison’s stories were solo…..

None of which is a knock against Gail, who is easily one of the most successful comics writers this decade. But it does tend to point out the “There can be only one!” attitude towards female scripters in the superhero biz, as well as how easily previous milestones can be forgotten.

§ Johanna is back with a look at the first year of the Minx line .

Is the line a success? I don’t pay attention to sales figures much, so I don’t know how well the books are selling either in the direct market or in the bigger bookstore field. That they’re doing a second year says to me that they still are optimistic about the idea. I’m guessing the books are most popular among schools and libraries, since they’re classically styled stories (teenage girl learns life lesson) that are easy to justify for purchase. I have yet to hear anyone really excited about them, though, in any market.

(The comment section reveals some Minx Year Two news, as well.)
David Welsh also looks back, and examines the sales patterns between direct market and bookstore sales.

This prompts another response from Johanna:

DC, as a company, may not want Minx to be too successful, anyway, because it would put the lie to many of the pieces of received wisdom that they’ve been comforting themselves with all these years. And their strong relationship with the direct market makes it difficult to be successful in the bookstore market, because it’s seen as disloyalty to their “core customers”.

As for our own viewpoint, the Minx line would have to be called at most a modest success at this point, but one that DC clearly does have belief in for another year. We’d still like to see more actual feedback from the target audience, however.

Newsweek writes up SHOOTING WAR, the new graphic novel from Grand Central, presents a slideshow of Milton Caniff art, and looks at the graphic novel booklet:

“Shooting War” is an example of a growing industry. Over the last five years the graphic novel market has more than tripled, with sales of book-format comics growing from $100 million in 2001 to $330 million last year, numbers that are noticed in a publishing industry that has been flat over the last several years. “The market for graphic novels has exploded. There aren’t a whole lot of categories that have shown that kind of growth in decades,” says Calvin Reid, a senior news editor at Publishers Weekly who has covered the comics and graphic novel industry since the 1980s.

There are a bunch of events and radio appearances to promote the new Shooting War graphic novel this week, and here they are:

NPR’s Bryant Park Show
Monday, November 19, 8:00 AM, EST
WNYC 93.9FM, New York, NY + iTunes

Air America: Rachel Maddow Show
Monday, November 19, 7:30 PM, EST
XM 167 + iTunes

Book Signing Barnes & Noble
Monday, November 19, 7:00 PM
4 Astor Place, New York, NY, 10003

U.S. Book Launch Party
Monday, November 19, 8:00 PM - ?
Sutra Lounge, 16 1st. Avenue (Just above Houston)
No cover, DJ, Drink specials til midnight
Co-sponsored by Smithmag.net and JahFurry.

Tuesday, November 20, 1:00 PM
Midtown Comics
200 W. 40th St., New York, NY, 10018

Tuesday, November 20, 8:00 PM
Comic Book Club @ People’s Improv Theater
154 West 29th Street, New York, NY

From Publishers Lunch today, announcement of an American arm for Egmont.

You cannot stop the Dabel Brothers! Despite having been through Image, Alias, Devil’s Due and Red Eagle Entertianment and Marvel with their line of licensed fantasy comics, they are back at the biggest house yet: Del Rey.

Dabel Brothers Publishing and Del Rey, an imprint of Ballantine Books, have announced a new agreement for distribution of Dabel Brothers graphic novels into the trade book market.

In spring 2008 the popular literary comic book publisher will launch comic book adaptations of three major properties: New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein: Prodigal Son; Jim Butcher’s bestselling The Dresden Files; and George R.R. Martin’s Wild Cards. The graphic novel versions, to be distributed by Del Rey, will go on sale in summer/fall 2008.

The long-term arrangement will result in broader distribution for their graphic novels than they have had in the past, explains Ernst Dabel, President of Dabel Brothers Publishing. “While we will retain our autonomy and continue to operate as an individual company, we expect the Del Rey sales team to greatly expand our reach into such markets as libraries and independent bookstores.”

He added, “Dabel Brothers titles have done well historically in the comic book stores and in the book chains. We’ve had great success with George R. R. Martin’s The Hedge Knight, which was one of the bestselling graphic novels of 2004. Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter, published in July, is already one of the bestselling graphic novels of 2007. Most of the titles we’ve published have debuted in the top 200, and that was accomplished as a comic book company, with a narrow focus on the markets we knew. We’re extremely excited about our future now that we are working with Del Rey.”

Ballantine Books currently releases graphic novels under the Villard, Ballantine, Del Rey and Del Rey Manga imprints. “Graphic novels are one of our fastest-growing areas of publishing,” commented Scott Shannon, Associate Publisher of Del Rey, Mass Market and Licensing. “Dabel Brothers Publishing produces quality work that deserves a wide audience and we’re pleased to be able to provide broader distribution for their projects.” The deal was negotiated by Del Rey Editor-in-Chief Betsy Mitchell.

We were hanging out with some people in the graphic novel biz earlier this week and the subject of the new DARK TOWER hardcover from Marvel came up — this book has shipped a LOT of copies and could even be a national bestseller based on the name of Stephen King. Shocker there, eh? It was also discussed that graphic novels in bookstores are not just competing with other graphic novels — they are competing with Danielle Steele and other Stephen King books in the eyes of readers who are not fans.

In our continuing obsession with charts, graphs and rankings, we checked the Top 10 best selling graphic novels on Amazon to see where they ranked in books overall. Of course, Amazon’s sales rankings are as capricious and mercurial as anything, (and tend to be a tad more nerd-centric than brick and mortar sales) but it’s a good way to pass a cold evening. Amazon’s overall rankings are in parentheses,

1. Stephen King’s Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born by Peter David (Author), Stephen King (Author), Robin Furth (Author), Jae Lee (Illustrator) (#63)

2. Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography by David Michaelis (Author) (#111)
[Not a comic, oh well.]

3. Heroes, Volume One by Various (Author), Tim Sale (Illustrator) (#136)

4. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier by Alan Moore (Author), Kevin O’Neill (Illustrator) (#145)

5. Snakehead (Alex Rider Adventure) by Anthony Horowitz (Author) (#183)
[As far as we can make out, this isn’t a graphic novel either. There IS an Alex Rider gn, but this isn’t it. Oh well.]

6. Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume 1: The Long Way Home by Joss Whedon (Author), Georges Jeanty (Author), Andy Owens (Author), Jo Chen (Author) (#197)

7. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney (Author) (#286)

8. The Perry Bible Fellowship: The Trial of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories by Nicholas Gurewitch (Author) (#453)

9. The Absolute Sandman, Vol. 2 by Neil Gaiman (Author), Dave McKean (Illustrator), Colleen Doran (Illustrator), P. Craig Russell (Illustrator), Shawn Macmanus (Illustrator), Kelley Jones (Illustrator), Alisa Kwitney (Introduction) (#484)

10. Dancing With Werewolves: Delilah Street, Paranormal Investigator by Carole Nelson Douglas (#502)
[Not a graphic novel.]

Amazon’s ranking change every hour, so this is just a snapshot of one particular Thursday evening. Our analysis? The graphic novels that are ranking high on the Amazon chart are selling respectably. For comparison, Naruto #24, the top selling manga on USA Today’s charts came in at #1,578. As we said, bookstore and online sales patterns are completely different.

Random House will produce four prose tie-ins to next year’s IRON MAN film, according to this PR:

Random House’s Keith Clayton has
acquired world English rights from Marvel Entertainment to four books
based on their iconic Super Hero Iron Man.  Two books will be direct
tie-ins to the Iron Man film from Marvel Studios, including the
official adult novelization of the movie and a nonfiction title
featuring an inside look at the upcoming film as well as material on
the creation of the character and his history in the comic book world.
 They will be released in the weeks prior to the film’s U.S. debut on
May 2nd, 2008.  Two books will be original Iron Man novels,
focusing on the classic Iron Man character, and will be released at a
future date.

Dan Goldman is off to England for some events promoting the new published version of SHOOTING WAR:

Monday Nov. 5, 1:15pm
Live Radio Interview
Books Café, BBC Radio Scotland

Monday Nov. 5, 7:15pm
Live Television Interview
Channel Five News’ Evening Show

Tuesday Nov. 6, 7:00pm
Live Talk at Comica 07 Festival
“IRAQ: THE GRAPHIC WAR, TODAY AND IN 2011″
Institute of Contemporary Arts

BTW, you can read an excerpt of SHOOTING WAR at Vulture.

Dan Goldman is off to England for some events promoting the new published version of SHOOTING WAR:

Monday Nov. 5, 1:15pm
Live Radio Interview
Books Café, BBC Radio Scotland

Monday Nov. 5, 7:15pm
Live Television Interview
Channel Five News’ Evening Show

Tuesday Nov. 6, 7:00pm
Live Talk at Comica 07 Festival
“IRAQ: THE GRAPHIC WAR, TODAY AND IN 2011″
Institute of Contemporary Arts

BTW, you can read an excerpt of SHOOTING WAR at Vulture.

Yes this is hype, but Justin, Pete and Alex put on a very entertaining show with great guests from both COMIC worlds, and Booth Boy is always there to save the day. Remember to get $5 off with coupon.

COMIC BOOK CLUB NIGHTMARE FACTORY SPECIAL

Hosted by Justin Tyler, Pete LePage, and Alex Zalben

Tuesday, October 30 @ 9:30 PM

Featuring: Stuart Moore (The Escapist) Joe Harris (Darkness Falls) Michael Gaydos (Alias) & Colleen D0ran (Sandman)

Tickets: $10 tickets in advance / $15 tickets day of show $5 off with the promo code CBCCMX

Online: ComixNY.com Phone: 212-524-2500

COMIX NY 353 West 14th St. Just East of 9th Ave.

Check out our website: http://www.popcultureshock.com/cbclub

Check us out on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/comicbookclub3

The show is sponsored in part by Midtown Comics (www.midtowncomics.com)!

Check out this animated trailer for THE NIGHTMAE FACTORY

MySpace continues it’s prominent comics promotions with this animated trailer for THE NIGHTMARE FACTORY graphic novel. The trailer is based on “Dr Locrian’s Asylum” by Joe Harris and Ted McKeever. It’s pretty astonishing what these kids can do with their computers these days!

Hype alert! PW has a series of breakfast discussions under the banner “Think Future” that look at publishing trends and developments with movers and shakers. The next one covers graphic novels and it features John Cunningham (DC), Dan Frank Pantheon), Rich Johnson (Yen Press), Joe Quesada (Marvel) and Bill Schanes (Diamond). I’ll be co-moderating with Calvin Reid and it should be worth getting up for. Ticket information in the jump.

COMICS & GRAPHICS NOVELS
HARNESSING THE POWER OF VISUAL LITERATURE

As the web, mobile content, social networking and video games become the language of youth culture, many feel that graphic novels will become an even more important tool for literacy and education. Our panel will explore the growing impact of comics and graphic novels on the book market and will discuss the latest domestic and international trends in comics publishing.

* What is manga mania and how has it changed the U.S. book market?
* Will sales continue to grow and where?
* How can publishers maximize sales through bookstores and through the comics shop market?
* How will the growing interest in comics as an educational tool affect schools and libraries?

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The Post That Wouldn’t Die continues to captivate the blogosphere, and many of my private conversations. My mom called to say she enjoyed it, which was nice. Eddie Campbell, ties it in with a larger thesis of conservatism breeding homogeniety in comics.

Frank Santoro author of STOREYVILLE, pipes up independently, and I would be overjoyed if his comments were substitued for mine, because he says what I was trying to say in a paragraph:

I feel like I need to be careful here because I’m not saying that I don’t like the new crafty, abstract work that was in evidence this year — I’m simply taking note that there is something new going on. And I like it. The work is beautiful. I do, however, lament the absence of strong characters in this new trend. Whether the comic is well-executed or dashed off what I notice is there isn’t much of a story or any real characters to identify with. There’s no distance, no mediator between the artist’s intention and the reader’s comprehension. I know I’m over-generalizing here. But it’s sort of like abstract painting, which I love, but often leaves me wanting more. Yet the work is usually so visually stunning that one has to hope that the craft and narrative elements will start to balance out. And, ultimately, I hold out much more hope for this approach to making alt comics than the rehashing of every Clowes, Ware, or Tomine story of the last 15 years.

I don’t mean to taint Santoro as an ally — he just happened to notice the same thing I’ve been noticing.

Of course for every person who shares the same concerns, there are the continuing grossly unhelpful over-generalizarions such as the reduction of my argument to “Chris Ware hates storytelling comics” . The worst offender is undoubtedly this guy who, shamefully, actually thinks he agrees with me . No you don’t, and just go away.

Independently, The Comics Journal crowd goes on for 14 pages over Craig Yoe’s yearly lament that “the kids can’t draw.” The Golden Age of comics truly was Roy Crane, and Craig and I probably agree on that.

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The First Second blog is featuring essays on comics creation by comics creators every monday. The topics so far have ranged from where authors get ideas to the book market to poetry in comics. This week, Leland Myrick
talks about poetry and comics:

During the panel discussion in San Diego, I got quite a few questions from the audience about the process I went through with my :01 graphic novel MISSOURI BOY. I had mentioned in my introduction on the panel that each chapter in MISSOURI BOY had begun life as a poem, none of which (except for the last chapter) were meant at the time of their writing to be anything but poems, poems to be put away in a drawer somewhere or possibly to be read aloud to friends and family at a poetry reading.

Previously, Derek Kirk Kim checks into his bookstore sales.

The Telegraph profiles Posy Simmonds, who we are told, is read by millions in the UKm thanks to her long running newspaper strip POSY, and books GEMMA BOVARY and the upcoming TAMARA DREWE.

Posy Simmonds, the writer and cartoonist, lives in a quiet Georgian square between King’s Cross and Islington in London. From her window you can see a flicker-book of railings and sycamore trees and, if you crane your head, the Post Office Tower, closer than you might imagine. Today a man in white overalls is spread-eagled across some scaffolding, painting the woodwork. Two cars are parked in the road outside: a Volvo four-by-four and a low-slung, gunmetal-grey 1970s Citroën DS.

TAMARA DREWE, which is based on Hardy’s FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD, is out in November in the UK. We couldn’t find any official word of a US edition, but it will be available in Canada.

Following the bombshell of Albus Dumbledore, Hogwarts headmaster, coming out of his magical slocet, perhaps no group is so stunned as Christians who had taken the Harry Potter series’s religious theme to their bosom. Travis Prinzi writes a very smart blog looking at Potter from the Christian perspective, and the reaction has been explosive in his comment section:

The problem I’m having with my Christian brothers and sisters is the way in which so many are sitting up nice and high, evaluating and judging Rowling’s version of Christianity, which she freely admits she struggles with, and condemning her for it. Rowling is not a preacher. She is not an ordained minister. She is not writing theological treatises. She is a writer, struggling with her faith, and giving us a story that tells that struggle. She never claimed to be an evangelist, and she’s been quite clear in saying that she was not setting out to do what Lewis did with Narnia.

Prinzi’s sensible advice: nowhere in the books does Dumbledore state his fondness for Judy Garland, so you are still free to view him as the Albus of your own imagination.

More: Colleen Doran, Carla Speed McNeil and Fancois Peneaud (among others) discuss Dumbledore.