YOU WOULDN’T RECOGNIZE A CUNNING PLOT IF IT PAINTED ITSELF BLUE AND DANCED ON THE TABLE SINGING “CUNNING PLOTS ARE HERE AGAIN!” Hilarious what-not-to-do “Batman” takedown by Sean Collins. Plot-oriented writers should read this one.

In other comicsy news, that Lying in the Gutters link below has “New X-Men” rumors that intrigue me. Scott Summers is by far my favorite X-character, and I got into NXM in large part because so far Grant Morrison has totally had Scott’s number but good. (The first NXM issue I read was, I think, either “Brimstone and Whiskey” or one of the issues flanking it.) So the fact that Morrison is fighting to make permanent, non-refundable, non-retconnable (YAY!) changes in the character definitely catches my eye. Hmm hmm hmm!

Have I mentioned that I know you care about this stuff? Anyway, the first link really is of interest to non-X-fans who want a good “Mark Twain on James Fenimore Cooper”-style beatdown. The other one not so much.