What a crazy week with all this talk of Watchmen prequels, re-shoots on Jonah Hex, and DC’s big impending announcements of film projects and possibly a new Publisher. Marvel will have to sell itself again just to keep up! Let’s see what’s out and about.

Amazon Vs. Books: If you’ve been following the slap-fight between Amazon and Macmillan, you already know that they’re fighting over ebook pricing and Amazon pulled Macmillan’s books from their site. Amazon lost the PR battle and has agreed to put the links back. John Scalzi has what I think is the correct take on the matter. His books are published by Tor, which is a division of Macmillan, and the fight cost him, and many other authors, their sales. Read what John says.

The Beat: Heidi MacDonald is an old pal from the pre-blog era and runs one of the must-click sites on the web, The Beat. She’s recently moved to a new location and if you haven’t updated yet, do so now. And try to get in on all the Watchmen sequel and prequel stuff!

Progressive Ruin: One of my other happy stops each day is Mike Sterling’s hugely entertaining website that’s just gotten a brand new Wordpress design courtesy of Mike’s mad interweb skills. The guy runs one of California’s premiere comic book stores, Ralph’s Comic Corner in Ventura, and also a blog. How is that even possible?

Overstreet: My buddy J. C. Vaughn has just let loose the cover to Overstreet’s offering for Free Comic Book Day (May 1, for the comic book calendar markers among you). It’s a text and comic hybrid by J. C. and artist Gene Gonzalez. According to J. C. “The Overstreet Guide To Collecting Comics FCBD 2010 Edition tackles comic book collecting, grading, storage, conventions, prices, and more. It showcases the issues facing new collectors and experienced enthusiasts alike.”

Glenn Dakin: The British cartoonist and writer has a new young adult book out now in the UK: Candleman. It’s getting some nice reviews, so we should all pay a little attention. After all, Egmont UK calls the book “an English Batman.” I say, old chum, well-played!

Rowland B. Wilson was a terrific cartoonist and illustrator and a mainstay of the publishing business in the 1970s. If you know him, you’ll want to see Michael Sporn’s terrific samples of Wilson’s work. If you don’t know him, get acquainted.

Alcoholics: “This is my husband, Tom. It sure was no fun for him having a drunk for a wife.” Beer is just the gateway drug to more beer, and before you know it your house is on fire. There’s a complete set of the old Alcoholics Anonymous comics over at Crack Two. They’re as dramatically turgid as a comic from Jack Chick and as dry as a nice martini. Also, in related news, having a drunk for a wife can, in fact, be fun for awhile.

Steve Geppi: The Gepster is now on Facebook. Won’t somebody please friend him? His mood today: “Non-returnable.”

Raquel Welch: Is it wrong to want to curl up with a large-breasted pillow I bought from a comic book?

That’s it for the interwebs. Enjoy the clicks!

[Artwork: Rorschach from Watchmen, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons, and more importantly corporately © DC Comics]