Mysteries, Models, and Murder!

As both a mystery writer and comics fans, I think whoever came up with this is a genius: The upcoming comic book mini-series Models, Inc. is a murder mystery starring the runway models of the Marvel Comics universe. When Millicent Collins ("Millie the Model") is the prime suspect in the murder of a set designer, her friends Patsy Walker (Hellcat) and Mary Jane Watson (the ex- Mrs. Spider-Man -- long story) team up to clear her name.

As reported by the TODAY show: "Fashion and comics aren’t as incongruous as they may sound. Back in the '60s, while boys were discovering then-new heroes like Iron Man, girls were enjoying female-oriented characters like Millie the Model, who had been juggling romance and career going back to the '40s." Comics news site Newsarama gives readers a rundown of the various divas' comics history.

The mini-series even guest stars a real-life fashion icon, Project Runway's Tim Gunn, who jumps into Iron Man's suit of armor to help out.

Here's the official description from Marvel: Fashion Week is always a hectic time for models, and this year is no exception. Between escaped wolves, robbery attempts, and overly friendly police officers, Mary Jane Watson, Patsy Walker, Jill Jerold, Chili Storm and Millicent (Millie the Model) Collins are testing the limits of their endurance. But when a brilliant young set designer is found murdered with three bullet holes in his back, and Millie proves to be the prime suspect, the models are forced to play detective in order to save one of their own!

"At heart, it's a murder mystery," writer Paul Tobin tells Comic Book Resources. "It's almost Agatha Christie/Nancy Drew, but with very pretty ladies, and set in the Marvel Universe ... within those parameters I tried to remain true to the models' characters, which are fairly whimsical."

Models, Inc. hits shelves the last week of August.

Links:
'Project Runway' star turns Marvel superhero (TODAY)
Dressed for Action (New York Times)
The Models of Marvel's Models, Inc. (Newsarama)
MAKE IT WORK: WRITERS TALK MODELS INC. (Comic Book Resources)

2009 Thriller Awards Winners

On Saturday, July 11, 2009, the International Thriller Writers announced the winners of their literary awards at a gala celebration in New York City.

ThrillerMaster Award: David Morrell
In recognition of his vast body of work and influence in the field of literature

Silver Bullet Award: Brad Meltzer
For contributions to the advancement of literacy

Silver Bullet Corporate Award: Dollar General Literacy Foundation
For longstanding support of literacy and education

Best Thriller of the Year: THE BODIES LEFT BEHIND, Jeffery Deaver
(Simon & Schuster)

Best First Novel: CHILD 44, Tom Rob Smith
(Grand Central Publishing)

Best Short Story: "THE EDGE OF SEVENTEEN," Alexandra Sokoloff
(Published in Darker Mask)

For a complete list of nominated authors and the previous year's winners and nominees, click here.

Photos from ThrillerFest 2009 on Facebook from VJ Books and Matt Bronleewe.

International Thriller Writers Inc represents professional authors from around the world.

Best Mann: "The tank's cracking!"

Now up to installment #21 of Best Mann For The Job. If it seems like this whole car chase is taking weeks, that's because this is written as a daily comic strip ... and published on a weekly schedule. Frankly, you're watching the original pilot as we're still making it.

What's great about the slower schedule is it gives Erica and me a chance to watch as we go and fine-tune it. For example, once the bank robbers reached the Interstate and were on their way to Hope Falls (which is where the series is actually set), we simply stayed with them and never saw this turned-over gas truck again. However, Erica suggested we let the emergency play out -- and I scripted a couple additional strips to the sequence. (Which, in a daily newspaper, would be a couple days ... but on our current publication schedule means a couple weeks.)

Best Mann For The Job stars Grace Mann, a woman with a complicated past who returns home to become sheriff of Hope Falls, Tennessee. We like to think of it as a cross between a rural Dick Tracy and Gasoline Alley. (Or if you prefer, T.J. Hooker and Northern Exposure.)

Latest strip exclusive at TitleTrakk.com
Missed an episode? Catch up at StudioWell.com

Watch the trailer on YouTube at Channel StudioWell

Become a fan on Facebook

More comics by Chris and Erica at StudioWell.com/Comics

T.J. Hooker: "Vengeance is Mine" (Minisode)

Leonard Nimoy guest stars as Hooker's old partner!

T.J. HOOKER "VENGEANCE IS MINE" (Minisode)


Bonus: BEST MANN FOR THE JOB (Trailer) 1:59


TV Opening Credits:
AGATHA CHRISTIE'S GREAT DETECTIVES
BARNEY MILLER
CHECKMATE
DRAGNET
THE EQUALIZER (w/ CALLAN)

The Buzz (Jul 11)

What folks have been reading at Learning Curve:

01. Best Mann 1.20: "Consider them armed and dangerous!"
02. Shalhoub on MONK: 'Everything does come to an end'
03. Universal Press merges with Uclick
04. Mystery TV Themes: NBC MYSTERY MOVIE
05. Mr. Monk and the Final Season
06. Watch WALLANDER online
07. TV Themes: THE AVENGERS (plus THE NEW AVENGERS)
08. ARE YOU MONKISH?
09. The Great Debate: MARVEL or DC?
10. Mystery TV Themes: HARDY BOYS / NANCY DREW
11. Basic questions for writers
12. Publishing news: Digital Media Edition! (Jun 26)
13. The BookScan problem
14. 'Monk' returns Aug 7
15. Trailer! BEST MANN FOR THE JOB
16. Archiving BEST MANN
17. Spotlight: PENULTIMATE ADVENTURES
18. Well Read Newsletter 2.1 Summer 2009
19. Crime TV on DVD
20. Sherlock Holmes: The Trailer

Publishing news (July 10)

A roundup of links from the world of publishing - including a book deal for ABC's fictional sleuth Richard Castle, the serialization of a long-lost whodunit by Graham Greene, how Elmore Leonard writes all those books, and why Wonder Woman still needs permission to fight domestic violence in Kentucky ...

ABC to Publish Novel Tie-in For Hit Show Castle (Book Blog)
Long-lost Graham Greene work to be serialized in the Strand (L.A. Times)
Elmore Leonard: Making It Up as I Go Along (AARP)
Road Dogs is a Dog (A Writer's Life)
James Patterson Sets World Record (GalleyCat)

Wonder Woman Vs. Domestic Violence in Louisville (ComicNews.Info)
500,000 Print Run for Unmasked: The Final Years of Michael Jackson (Publishers Weekly)
Sentinel kills book by South Carolina governor Mark Sanford (Publishers Weekly)
Google’s Book Deal Being Investigated By Justice Dept (Resource Shelf)
Burning Bridges For Sale (ComicNews.Info)

Comic Strip 'Baldo' to Raise Diabetes Awareness (Editor & Publisher)
Terry Moore's Omnibus in Paradise (Comic Book Resources)
Get free chapter of Looking for Calvin and Hobbes (The Daily Cartoonist)

Justice League to meet Muslim superheroes The 99 (Comic Book Resources)
JAMIE S. RICH KNOWS WHY “YOU HAVE KILLED ME” (Comic Book Resources)
L.A. Times cuts Sunday comics from eight pages to six (L.A. Times)

Are You There, Amazon? It's Me, JA (A Newbie's Guide to Publishing)
Amazon dropping price of Kindle 2 (GalleyCat)
Mr. Monk and the Kindle (A Writer's Life)
You Can Become a Kindle Millionaire, Part 5 (A Writer's Life)
Creators Syndicate Brings Comics to iPhones (Editor & Publisher)
Why mobile is the future of comic strips (Fierce Mobile Content)

Related link:
Watch CASTLE on ABC
Shalhoub on MONK: 'Everything does come to an end'

Universal Press merges with Uclick

Big news in the world of comic strips (and syndicated content): traditional media's Universal Press Syndicate and new media's Uclick have been combined to form a single syndication and licensing arm of parent company Andrews McMeel Universal. "This historic move brings together two industry leading companies to create a dynamic new organization," says company founder, chairman, and president John McMeel, "capable of supporting today's renowned creative talents and the superstars of tomorrow, propelling them to new levels of popularity and success, as well as looking to the future by creating new distribution channels and outlets for this beloved art form."

Since 1970, Universal Press Syndicate has discovered and brought to global markets many of the most popular humor, games, and editorial features in newspapers -- including Calvin and Hobbes, The Far Side, Doonesbury, Garfield, For Better or For Worse, Cathy, and Ziggy. UPS also handles James Bond, Judge Dredd, Modesty Blaise, and Manga: TokyoPop Presents - Undertown, plus advice features Dear Abby, Ask Dr. Weil, Focus on the Family and The Motley Fool, and columnists Roger Ebert and Ann Coulter.

Uclick, created in the late 1990s, distributes comics, text features, and games on desktops, the Web, and mobile phones. Its GoComics.com portal (lauded by the Daily Cartoonist) features the largest collection of comics anywhere on the Web, with more than 200 traditional comic strip and cartoon features from multiple syndicates and self-syndicated artists. The extended GoComics family includes Dick Tracy, Gasoline Alley, Annie, Liberty Meadows, Wizard of Id, and newcomer The Cardinal.

Following the reorganization, Andrews McMeel Universal now has two major branches: Universal Uclick and Andrews McMeel Publishing, a leading publisher of humor, gift, general trade, cookbooks, and calendars (including the two most expensive New York Times Best-sellers on record, The Complete Far Side and The Complete Calvin and Hobbes). The combined muscle of the two divisions gives Andrews McMeel Universal a unique position to offer access to multi-channel distribution for authors and artists.

Links:
Press release: Universal Uclick: Driving Content Services and Syndication in the 21st Century
Kansas City Business Journal: Andrews McMeel combines Universal Press, Uclick; Uclick CEO Edwards resigns

Best Mann 1.20: "Consider them armed and dangerous!"

We're now up to the 20th installment of Erica's and my drama/mystery series, Best Mann For The Job. Those with a keen eye may have noticed our subtle tribute to the legendary Osamu Tezuka (1929-1989), the first cartoonist to apply cinematographic techniques to Japanese comics.

In our original outline for this first arc of "Best Mann For The Job," our plan for the bank robbers was to simply have them jump in the car, get shot, and then lose their pursuers. But -- given what's coming up when they reach Hope Falls and cross paths with Grace Mann (who is, after all, the star of our series) -- we realized how much it would raise the stakes if these guys really caused some damage ... and, in the process, were more desperate themselves.

Once we hit upon the idea of stretching out the car chase, bringing in the gas truck and all, it brought to mind that Mr. Tezuka's artistic breakthrough is said to have occurred when he expanded a dramatic racing sequence in 1947's New Treasure Island. As such, it seemed appropriate to tip our hat to the man who went on to create Astro Boy, Black Jack, and Kimba the White Lion -- and transformed Japanese comics and animation. (Which, in turn, rampantly influenced so much here in the West, as well.)

Best Mann For The Job stars Grace Mann, a woman with a complicated past who returns home to become sheriff of Hope Falls, Tennessee. We like to think of it as a cross between a rural Dick Tracy and Gasoline Alley. (Or, for you couch potatoes, a cross between The Andy Griffith Show and Northern Exposure ... with a little T.J. Hooker thrown in.)

Latest strip exclusive at TitleTrakk.com
Missed an episode? Catch up at StudioWell.com

Watch the trailer on YouTube at Channel StudioWell

Become a fan on Facebook

More comics by Chris and Erica at StudioWell.com/Comics

Basic questions for writers

My agent, the lovely and talented Chip MacGregor, regularly answers questions about the business of writing at his official blog. Recently, he took on a slew of basic questions, ranging from manuscript word count to what to expect from a potential agent to the definitions of buzzwords ...

Basic Basic Basic Questions
More on the Basic Basics
One More Look at Basic Basic Questions

Related links:
The BookScan problem
Endorse this!
The changing face of traditional mystery fiction
Romancing book readers
Publishing: some good news, and some bad news

Publishing news: Digital Media Edition! (Jun 26)

Amazon.com, Digital Publishing and Jeff Bezos (TIME)
Don’t ‘iTune’ Us (Newsweek)
Where will we be in five years? (Chip MacGregor)

You Can Become a Kindle Millionaire, Part 2 (A Writer's Life)
You Can Become a Kindle Millionaire, Part 3 (A Writer's Life)
Should E-Books Be Cheap? (A Newbie's Guide To Publishing)

Audiobook App Tops iPhone App Store Books Category (Publishers Weekly)
Google Books Upgraded (Publishers Weekly)

Penguin Launches Online Network (Publishers Weekly)
Harper Uses Mobile Tech to Sell Print YA Novel (Publishers Weekly)

The BookScan problem

As we watch the infrastructure of publishing collapse into a smoking hole, it's difficult not to see a connection to the industry's seeming overreliance on the sloppy numbers provided by BookScan.

Recent posts on the subject:
Author alert! What you don’t know about BookScan can hurt you (The Book Deal)
What You Need to Know about Bookscan (A Writer's Life)
The Lie that is Bookscan (All That's New(s) from A to Z)

The worst is that part where "BookScan numbers are like an author’s credit rating." Because a credit rating is primarily a result of choices made by the consumer -- but BookScan numbers are a result of a lot of stuff completely out of the author's control. (Choices made by the publisher, the distributor, the retailers, and a hundred other factors in the marketplace.) To saddle the poor author with all that is either stupid or lazy.

Related posts:
By Any Other Name ...
The Names Have Been Changed to Protect the Mid- to Low-Selling
Should You Self-Publish?

Shalhoub on MONK: 'Everything does come to an end'

Actor Tony Shalhoub talks to Hollywood Exclusive about filming the final season of USA Network's Monk:

"We've all agreed there’s only so much you can mine out of this character. Nobody wants to move into the area where it starts to feel stale or the quality starts to drop. Since everything does have to come to an end, we want it to happen in the right way, where we’re in control of it, not a situation where the plug gets pulled. I think it honors the audience this way."

Full story: With 'Monk's' Days Numbered, Shalhoub Getting Nostalgic/Is Series Work Losing Its Luster for Neil Patrick Harris? (Creators Syndicate)

Related:
'Monk' returns Aug 7
Crime TV on DVD
Watch WALLANDER online
The next 'Level' of thriller fiction
Mr. Monk and the Final Season
Watch CASTLE on ABC

75,000 visitors!

Today, Learning Curve welcomes its 75,000th visitor! Readers have come from all over the world -- the last 10 visits alone included surfers from Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom, the Ukraine, and Australia.

This is as good a time as any to take a look at what folks have been reading here lately:

THE BUZZ AT LEARNING CURVE
01. Watch WALLANDER online
02. Mr. Monk and the Final Season
03. GEEK ALERT: ULTRAMAN '66
04. Mystery TV Themes: NBC MYSTERY MOVIE
05. TV Themes: THE AVENGERS (plus THE NEW AVENGERS)
06. The Great Debate: MARVEL or DC?
07. Marvel Comics: ARE YOU IN OR OUT?
08. Mystery TV Themes: HARDY BOYS / NANCY DREW
09. MONK therapist Stanley Kamel found dead
10. MySpace vs. Blogger
11. Mystery TV Themes: It Takes A Thief
12. Publishing news (June 19)
13. 'Monk' returns Aug 7
14. Trailer! BEST MANN FOR THE JOB
15. Archiving BEST MANN
16. Spotlight: PENULTIMATE ADVENTURES
17. Well Read Newsletter 2.1 Summer 2009
18. Crime TV on DVD
19. Sherlock Holmes: The Trailer
20. Endorse this!

Publishing news (June 19)

Another week's worth of links from the world of publishing, including a face-off between Michael Connelly and Janet Evanovich ... USA TODAY's plan to start running comics (in a way) ... authors who solve crimes ... and more. (Digital publishing news will be posted as a separate entry.)

FICTION
PT 1: Michael Connelly and Janet Evanovich: Author One-to-One (Amazon Omnivoracious)
PT 2: Janet Evanovich and Michael Connelly: Author One-to-One (Amazon Omnivoracious)
2009 Barry Award Nominees (Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind)
Learning Library Gives New Insights into Big-Name Authors (International Thriller Writers)

Cozy Mysteries with Authors as Sleuths, Pt. 1 (of 3): A-D (Cozy Mystery List Blog)
Cozy Mysteries with Authors as Sleuths, Pt. 2 (of 3): E-L (Cozy Mystery List Blog)
Cozy Mysteries with Authors as Sleuths, Pt. 3 (of 3): M-Z (Cozy Mystery List Blog)

COMICS
Superman to leap off these pages (USA TODAY)
Webcomic Unravels a Colonial-era Forensic Mystery (Booz / Allen / Hamilton)
New Webcomic Announced: Mystery Solved! (Mystery Solved!)
Washington Post Writers Group to launch Fort Knox (Daily Cartoonist)
Who are the top subscribed comics on GoComics.com? (Daily Cartoonist)
Kidjutsu: A Kid-Safe Site for Webcomics (Publishers Weekly)
Links: Farewell, MySpace (Digital Strips)

MARKETING / BIZ
Social Networking: Unlocking Behavioral Disorders (Wildfire Marketing)
Scalejacking (Seth Godin)
Textbook Rant (Seth Godin)
A Dozen Questions about Writing Conferences (Chip MacGregor)
Sandra Confesses: "I'm a Facebook Flunky!" (Chip MacGregor)

'Monk' returns Aug 7

TV news site thefutoncritic.com reports that the eighth and final season of Monk kicks off August 7 on cable channel USA Network. Also on the network, the fourth season of Psych kicks off the same night, Burn Notice airs its mid-season finale August 6, while Law & Order: Criminal Intent and In Plain Sight conclude their current seasons August 9.

Related links:
Crime TV on DVD
Watch WALLANDER online
The next 'Level' of thriller fiction
Mr. Monk and the Final Season
Watch CASTLE on ABC

Best Mann 1.17: "What are you trying to do -- KILL US?"

TitleTrakk.com has posted the latest installment of Erica's and my crime/mystery comic Best Mann For The Job. The series stars Grace Mann, a woman with a complicated past who returns home to become sheriff of Hope Falls, Tennessee. We like to think of it as a cross between a rural Dick Tracy and Gasoline Alley. (Or, for you couch potatoes, try a cross between The Andy Griffith Show and Northern Exposure ... with a little T.J. Hooker thrown in.)

Latest strip exclusive at TitleTrakk.com
Missed an episode? Catch up at StudioWell.com/BestMannForTheJob

Watch the trailer on YouTube at Channel StudioWell

Become a fan on Facebook

More comics by Chris and Erica at StudioWell.com/Comics
Tooncast Best Mann For The Job on your blog or website!

Publishing news roundup (June 12)

More news from the world of publishing, including the discovery of two unpublished Agatha Christie stories starring Poirot, Robert Liparulo signs 30,000 books, and Dick Tracy gets his own statue:

Lost Christie Stories Rediscovered (Publishers Weekly)
HC uncovers lost Agatha Christie stories (Bookseller)

Elmore Leonard: A conversation with James Mustich (Barnes & Noble)
What Elmore Leonard Tells Us About Character Ownership (Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind)
Elmore Leonard: It Never Gets Easier (A Writer's Life)

Robert Liparulo to sign 30,000 Books (International Thriller Writers)
Between The Lines with David Baldacci (International Thriller Writers)
The Wind-Up Charlie Bird Parker Chronicles (GalleyCat)

Dick Tracy statue to stand guard over Naperville Riverwalk (Chicago Tribune)
Scourging the Underworld: Rick Remender Talks Punisher (Comic Book Resources)
Aguirre-Sacasa Talks Marvel Divas (Comic Book Resources)

Soapbox: How to Be A Great Local Author (Publishers Weekly)
10 Questions about Proposals (Chip MacGregor)
Five Questions Writers Are Asking (Chip MacGregor)

COOL-ER eBook Reader: the Future of Book Publishing? (GalleyCat)
$99 iPhone Rocks E-Book World (GalleyCat)
Scroll Motion Brings 1M Books to New iPhone (Publishers Weekly)
You Can Become a Kindle Millionaire (A Writer's Life)
More on the Amazon Kindle (A Newbie's Guide to Publishing)

Trailer! BEST MANN FOR THE JOB

Archiving BEST MANN

Erica and I feel like we're starting to find the rhythm for BEST MANN FOR THE JOB. (We now have the first 100 strips outlined!) If you need to catch up, we've created an archive page on our site -- just click on over to StudioWell.com/BestMannForTheJob.

We also got a nice write-up from the comics news service CCI:

Husband/Wife Team-Up Works Well
A new weekly web strip entitled Best Mann For The Job is being produced by crime fiction writer Chris Well and comics veteran Erica Well of Tennessee USA. The comic stars Grace Mann, "a woman with a complicated past," who has returned home to be her small town's new sheriff. "We like to think of it as a cross between a rural Dick Tracy and Gasoline Alley," explains Chris, who co-writes the series with wife/artist Erica, a former staffer for DC Comics and creator of The Miller Sisters comic strip. "Not only is Grace the new sheriff, her dad is the town minister and her mom will soon run for mayor," Chris adds. "As the series progresses, we hope to explore the friction that can happen among the three offices -- the law, the church, and the state." In addition to the Best Mann website, there is also a Best Mann fan page on Facebook. (CCI News)

Spotlight: PENULTIMATE ADVENTURES

With the relaunch of StudioWell.com, we're highlighting all the content. Our June spotlight is Penultimate Adventures -- a zany mash-up of superheroes, sci-fi, romance comics, home security, and snack advertisements. We even added a brand-new pop-up text commentary track -- if you're using Internet Explorer, hold your mouse over the images and the words should appear. (Firefox users: To read the commentary, control-click each image and check "Properties." You'll find it under "alternate text.")