A fast one to open the weekend.

*The arrival of Friday means this week’s column is here. It’s sort of an expansion of my earlier comments on All Star Superman serving as a model for other superhero books; the timing is quite perfect, as DC looks to be thinning the ranks and doubtlessly making plenty of replacements. What better time could there be to shrug off the bondage of backstory and origin and the nostalgic replaying of Top 40 hits in the brain, and get around to newer things? The pieces may already be falling into place. Give it a look.

*Also probably worth a look is the newly revised and updated version of John Canemaker’s seminal Winsor McCay, both a biography and a coffee-table art book. Now it’s got new images, freshly uncovered notes and sketches, and improved image quality all around. A 272-page, 12.3” x 10.4” x 1.0” beauty, which can be found online for under $30 (the full retail price is $45). I’d forgotten this was coming out, but the new Entertainment Weekly (#851) made it their Editor’s Choice of the week for books, which caught my attention. Also found in EW and making me ill with need: Stanley Kubrick: Drama & Shadows, a collection of the famed director’s photography for Look Magazine - many shots were snapped when Kubrick was still in his teens. Too bad I don’t have even the $44.07 Amazon is asking, let alone the $69.95 cover price.

*And finally: Superman Returns teaser. Apparently, he's here to save our souls as well; nice Brando-powered nostalgia hook, but seeing as how I can't even remember the earlier films, I'm still not sold on any of this, including Brandon Routh, and I think 'selling' is the point of these things...