• A recent article on upcoming books at Wizard World devotes a whole section to the Kevin Smith-related books showing up this summer. It is indeed a Summer of Smith, with the new movie, new DVDs, and all these books on the way. Check it out:

Kevin Smith Summer

The Kevin Smith Summer continues as July concludes, with the first Image printing of Clerks. This black-and-white trade paperback features the art of Jim Mahfood and the team of Phil Hester and Ande Parks, who have risen to popular acclaim with their work on Green Arrow. This book has an all-new Jay and Silent Bob photo cover — sure to grab the attention of pop-culture savvy readers, especially with imminent release of Smith’s new film.

The Summer of Smith fully ignites in August with the release of Bluntman and Chronic. These stone-free superheroes are known to Smith’s fans as the alter-egos of his signature creations, Jay and Silent Bob, and have been featured prominently in Smith’s films. Written by Kevin Smith and drawn and colored (respectively) by the Powers team of Michael Avon Oeming and Pat Garrahy, this graphic novel is timed to tie in with the nationwide release of Smith’s new film, “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back!” The movie will be the subject of pieces appearing in mainstream television, print, and web venues, so expect this graphic novel and the line of merchandise coming from Graphitti Designs to bring new customers to store windows. Tune in, turn on, and watch out as new readers who wander in come back clamoring for more.

• Eliza Dushku continues to dominate the press, this time with an appearance on the cover of the new issue of Maxim. In the issue’s article on the 100 Hottest Women in the world, Shanon Elizabeth and Ali Larter are also mentioned. Eliza comes in at #10 on the list. You can find more information and pics online at maxim.com, where J&SBSB gets several mentions.
• An actual studio copy of Kevin’s first “Coyote Ugly” rewrite has turned up in a cinema store in the UK. Our scooper says:

We’ll be receiving copies of the screenplay to check out personally, and may have more to say about this in the coming weeks. At least something good may come out of that movie yet, which really was pretty horrible.

• As we all know, it’s too late to get the Judge Not documentary included on the Dogma DVD, sadly, but one reader has still started a petition of sorts to get the documentary seen. Hopefully Kevin will regain control of the 40-minute piece and present it elsewhere. To show your interest in seeing “Judge Not”, you can surf HERE.
• Producer Jon Peters has lost his lucrative production deal at Warner Bros. Could this mean that Superman Lives might have a new, better life under a different producer? Maybe they’ll convince ‘em to revive Kevin’s excellent script, after all. Stranger things have happened.
• Finally today, in the Fun Find of the Day department, this conferencing service has an interesting sample on the front page of their website. Check it out for a laugh.