Books

...or at least doing well on Amazon. As we know, these things are ephemeral and easily rigged, but as of last night it was in the Top 100 for books. Jeffrey Brown's gently humorous look at Darth Vader as a father to a young Luke Skywalker has gotten a lot of positive attention.

by Casey Burchby

-- One of the only fistfights I’ve ever been in was over Garbage Pail Kids – proof they were a dangerous influence, no? I was eight and a kid named Chad lived down the street. Chad was bad. His family was shady. Their house was overgrown; the lawn was a small parking lot. Chad was the kid I’d play with – maybe – if no one else was around. But Chad had had Garbage Pail Kids. So with some hesitation, I decided to do a little business with Chad. I had a card he was dying for. He promised me several cards in return for just that one. I jumped at the offer, which I knew was foolish. Little did I know Chad planned to welsh.

Lynda Barry: Girlhood through the Looking Glass is a new scholarly look at the esteemed cartoonist's work, especially as it related to girlhood. Written by Susan E. Kirtley, the book is available now. With Barry'swork in a variety of mediums - comics novel sand stage -- widely acclaimed, , a dedicated look at her work is long overdue. It's part of UPM's Great Comics Artists Series.

Oh, man... so much good stuff coming from Macmillan! And they're not even known for publishing graphic novels! Scan this list, and tell us what makes you squeel with joy!

Well, what were we just saying about comics adapting literary classics? Hope Larson reveals the cover to her A Wrinkle in Time adaptation and talks about some other projects that sound really cool, including a new comic she wrote with art by Tintin Pantoja, a short film she's directing, and a vegan ice cream recipe.

Jeffrey Brown's DARTH VADER AND SON is a book of gentle humor centering on the idea of Darth Vader as dad to a four year old Luke Skywalker. And amazingly, it is not only an officially licensed Lucasfilm product...but they even made a trailer for it with James Earl Jones reading a line or two.

I've already previewed Marvel and DC, so here are the other publishers, with titles MAYBE shipping this month!

Cursing the basketball gods because your bracket is broken? Searching for a tournament bracket which better suits your knowledge base? We present a multitude of 2012 non-sports tournaments, from popular culture, food, and corporate America!

It's been a while since we saw a new batch of cartoonist-inspired covers for Penguin Graphic Classics editions, all designed by Paul Buckley. But here you go. Mike Mignola on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness (which was adapted as APOCALYPSE NOW, for those who came in late).

Now available for pre-order, a new book by Eddie Campbell. This time his subject is finances.

Simone Lia's book of cute cat cartoons, FLUFFY, was one of the top sellers for Cape when it came out, and somehow, based on the title alone, we suspect this could top it:

Here it is, the stunning conclusion of new titles shipping in February! Since this is Oscars weekend, I've included some award winners below! Hugo! Edgar! Carnegie! Stoker! Even Shamus! (No, not that one!) Lots of adaptations! One is a comic based on a movie based on a prose novel!