Fun Home, which is due out from Houghton Mifflin June 8 (it's the house's first graphic literature project), is a memoir about Bechdel's anything-but-average childhood in small-town Pennsylvania. Tied to a family secret—her father was a closeted homosexual who led a double life and may have committed suicide—the book is ultimately a story about lineage. It's about how this difficult and detached man shaped his daughter's life and character, for better and for worse. The title—which ironically plays on the name that Bechdel and her brothers had for their massive Victorian house that doubled as the local funeral parlor (her father, a high school English teacher, did side work as the town's resident mortician)—hints at Bechdel's dark sense of humor.

Tracing the factual origins of a legend that has undergone hundreds of permutations over the years, McCulloch and Hendrix blend a fictional narrative with a detailed look at the documented information and myths of Lee Shelton, or "Stagger Lee." Best known to today's audiences thanks to Lloyd Price's 1959 #1 hit recording, the tale is a prototype for the "gangsta" image in black American song-story, an archetype even presented as a Caucasian character when the story headed west in the late 19th century. The basic account revolves around a fatal dice game in which Lee shot and killed one Billy Lyons. McCulloch's script interweaves the recorded facts of the incident with close scrutiny of many of the song's versions and its changing significance as American society progressed, bolstering the cultural archeology with a fictional account of the political upheaval caused by the murderer's trial. McCulloch covers much territory, and sometimes loses its thread, but sharp dialogue and characterizations maintain interest. Hendrix's solid art captures the story with a documentary precision, making this worth a look for those with an interest in America's musical history. (May)

Allan Heinberg made his name as a television writer and producer, on shows like The O.C. and Grey's Anatomy, and now he's becoming a marquee name in the superhero comics world, too. His Young Avengers series at Marvel is a surprise hit, and tomorrow his newest project debuts: the first issue of the relaunched Wonder Woman series, from DC, with artists Terry and Rachel Dodson. PW Comics Week interviewed him via e-mail about the newest direction for one of DC's most famed characters.

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