Little, Brown Inks Snicket Deal with Handler

Daniel Handler, who had a long and successful run with his Lemony Snicket-penned A Series of Unfortunate Events series at HarperCollins, is moving to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in a five-book deal. Under the agreement, Handler will write four Lemony Snicket titles in a new series, with the first due out in 2012. Before that series hits, LBYR will release a Handler young adult novel in 2011 that will feature full-color illustrations by Maira Kalman.

Eddie Campbell’s Life-Sized Comics

Emerging from the British small press scene of the 1980s, Eddie Campbell has since produced a body of thinly-veiled autobiographical comics featuring his stand-in character “Alec” (the pseudonym has been dropped in recent years). These works are distinguished visually by Campbell’s fluid, pen-and-ink technique, which marries the observed realism of classic continuity strips with the loose efficiency of a courtroom sketch artist (a vocation Campbell has practiced).

Comics Programming Grows at the Miami Book Fair

After adding a full slate of programming focused on comics and graphic novels for the first time at last year’s fair, The Miami Book Fair International, scheduled November 8-15 in downtown Miami, returns with new additions to its slate of comics events, panels and workshops.

Del Rey To Publish ‘The Talisman’ as Comic Book Series

In what may be a first at a major trade book publisher, Del Rey Books is releasing its first serialized periodical comic, an adaptation of Stephen King and Peter Straub's The Talisman. The series will be released under a new imprint called Del Rey Comics.

Maid in the U.S.A: Kaoru Mori’s ‘Emma’

In 2006, when CMX, DC Comics’ manga imprint, released volume one of Kaoru Mori’s Victorian Era manga series, Emma, American manga readers had their first taste of Japan’s fascination with both maids and romance. Three years later, Emma will come to a close in December when CMX releases the final volume in this series.

Comics Briefly

Alien Legion Comes to Movies, Returns to Comics; Brian Bendis to Teach Comics Course; James Kolchalka Exhibits "Little Paintings"; This Week @ The Beat; and This Week @ Good Comics for Kids

Panel Mania: Alec: The Years Have Pants (A Life-Sized Omnibus)

Alec: The Years Have Pants (A Life-Sized Omnibus) is a collection of Eddie Campbell's autobiographical comics told from the perspective of his alter-ego, Alec MacGarry. The book is indeed life-sized in its scope, depicting the progression of his life from youthfull pub-crawls to the responsibilites of adulthood. Alec will be released by Top Shelf in December.

Review: Stir: Mixing It Up in the Italian Tradition

Barbara Lynch, chef-owner of Boston’s No. 9 Park, delivers a gorgeous, mouth-watering book that will delight her fans. She offers an ample selection of starters, including quick chicken liver pâté and brioche pizza dough; hearty soups and salads; a substantial section on pasta; fish offerings including pan-fried cod with chorizo and clam ragout; and poultry ranging from lemony breaded chicken cutlets to spice-rubbed roast goose.

Cooking the Books with Luisa Weiss

Cookbook editor and food blogger Luisa Weiss recently sold a memoir, My Berlin Kitchen, to Viking. On her blog, The Wednesday Chef, Weiss explained, “I'm moving back to Berlin and I'm writing a book, about Berlin, about my life, about cooking and home and family and love.” She talked to PW from her office at Stewart, Tabori and Chang, where she’s wrapping things up before departing for Berlin.

Vook Launches First Cookbook

The new Emeryville, Calif., company that blends text and video last week announced the arrival of its first cookvook, The Breakaway Japanese Kitchen by Eric Gower, which Kodansha first published in 2003. The vook features recipes and professionally-shot videos showing Gower preparing contemporary Japanese dishes such as roasted hamachi with miso-apricot glaze and udon with herby pesto. For $5.99, viewers can stream the vook from the Web or download it to their iPhone or iPod touch.

The Best Food Books of 2009

Last week’s issue of PW listed our editors’ picks for the best books of the year. Five out of the 100 were books about food: Ad Hoc at Home, Born Round, Gourmet Today, Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy and Momofuku. While we’re the first to agree those books deserve props, here are 10 more (plus 10 honorable mentions) from this year that also warrant attention.

Recipe Report: Crème Brûlée from French Feasts

Crunchy, creamy, sweet and a little burnt—who doesn’t like crème brûlée? The iconic French dessert is actually easy to make, and, if you do it right, entails firing up a blow torch for a little drama. This recipe, from French Feasts: 299 Traditional Recipes for Family Meals & Gatherings by Stéphane Reynaud (Stewart, Tabori & Chang), is simple and elegant.

Short Order: November 9

In this issue's round-up of cookbook-related news, pierogi lovers celebrate The Veselka Cookbook; a food-centric series of discussions, readings and tastings takes place in New York; Diane Sawyer greets her sister-in-law, Su-Mei Yu on air to talk Thai recipes; Pioneer Woman signs on for a memoir, a new cookbook and two kids' books; Californians party for My Nepenthe; and Eleven Madison Park gets a book deal.

Comic Book Reviews: 11/9/09

Riordan Sets His Sights on Egypt

Like his Lightning Thief star Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan is a demigod—at least in the eyes of his readers. With the release next May of the first title in his new middle-grade fantasy series, about ancient Egypt, he is set to become a pharaoh, too. In The Kane Chronicles, Book One: The Red Pyramid, kids will meet Carter Kane, 14, and his sister, Sadie, 12, descendants of Egyptian magicians who battle gods accidentally released in the present...

Back To The Future: Tor.com Buys Book-Size Webcomics to Serialize

In an unusual acquisition deal, Tor.com, an experimental Macmillan website/publishing venture focused on launching original science fiction, fantasy and comics, has acquired web-only publishing rights to two full-length 192 page graphic novels and will serialize them over 6 months through the Tor.com website.

Marvel Makes Theirs iPhone

The growing array of comics available for iPhones got a Hulk-sized addition last week when Marvel Comics, the leading US comics publisher, announced deals with four iPhone applications. Comics both recent and classic are now available for download from Comixology, iVerse and Panelfly. Scrollmotion, another leading app for iPhones that distributes books, will also have Marvel Comics available.

Boom! Studios’ Mark Waid is Unstoppable!

Mark Waid started out in the superhero camp, as an editor at DC and then as a freelance writer, shaping such iconic series as The Flash and Captain Marvel. Now, as editor-in-chief of independent comics publisher Boom! Studios, Waid is transforming the paradigm of monthly comics publishing.

Life in Comics: The End of Adolescence?

In 2004, Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Michael Chabon gave the keynote speech at the Eisner Awards. Speaking about the maturation of the industry, he referred to some of the excesses of the 1990s as comics "adolescence": "An excess of desire to appear grown up is one of the defining characteristics of adolescence. But these follies were the inevitable missteps and overreachings in the course of a campaign that was, in the end, successful."

Comics Briefly