new title which may not have anything to do with Jews or comics or Jewish comics

Long-time readers of this blog know that one of the rules of my blog is that posts must be relevant to the subject of the blog which is basically "comic books, comic strips, and graphic novels which have at least one identifiably Jewish character in them".

It is rare that I will allow a post which is off-topic.

However, since I'm the moderator of said blog ... I can actually do whatever the heck I want with it (subject to Blogger's rules of conduct, of course).

And, hey, there's the possibility of a free book if I do this properly & quickly. And - as my friends well know - it's hard for me to pass up a free book. That's partly why I joined Bookcrossing.

For the sake of this post, I will stretch the rule a bit and include posts that manage to contain both a "Jewish" term and a comic reference. I'm excluding this introductory section you've just read (that would be too easy, wouldn't it?).

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A few minutes ago, I was scanning the status area of Facebook to see what my Facebook friends are up to. Lo, and behold, I notice a cool "status" for my friend Saul Colt. For those who don't know him, Mr. Colt is a highly-connected guy (just look at all the Facebook and LinkedIn connections the guy has (500+? I don't think I even know 500 people!).

Long-time readers with good memories may remember that Saul is also the author & illustrator of an upcoming graphic novel simply titled Rope, which has the character Robin Goldman, described as "a young very pretty Jewish looking woman with thick curly hair and has her police badge clipped to her costume." I'd tell you more about the character ... or the plot ... or the themes ... or when the darned thing will be on the shelves ... but I'm limited to what Saul will actually tell me. Which is ... not very much, at the moment.

See? I've already used "Jewish" and "graphic novel" and my post isn't even done yet. But that was too easy, I'll throw in some more below.

So ... Saul's newest "status" reads "My friend and fashion mentor Andy Nulman is giving away 200 free copies of his new book. I read it and loved so jump in".

I followed his hyperlink to http://powrightbetweentheeyes.typepad.com/pow_right_between_the_eye/2009/01/200-free-pow-booksan-offer-you-cant-refuse.html and, as it turns out, all one has to do is be one of the first 200 bloggers to post about the book with a hyperlink (the one I just used) and a valid mailing address.

I wonder how many other Bookcrossers will try for a copy.

So ... the main title of the book is POW! Right Between the Eyes! How refreshing it is to see a book with the well-known comic book sound effect "POW!" (and it has the stylistic comic book font to go with it) even though the book itself has nothing to do with comic books. It's a buiness book (the subtitle is Profiting from the Power of Surprise).

Hmmm ... I also see that the author's name is Andy Nulman. You know the joke about how most people whose names end with "-man" are Jewish. I don't know if that is the case with Andy or not.

Whether or not he is a member of the tribe, I'm sure that the book is worth a look and I look forward to receiving my copy at :

UJA-Research
4600 Bathurst St., 3rd Floor
Toronto, ON
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