Earlier this week, I got invited to superstar graphic designer Chip Kidd's apartment, where he was hosting a party for Japanese horror novelist Koji Suzuki, whose books are published here in the U.S. by Vertical. (The paperback of Dark Water, which contains the story on which the Jennifer Connelly film was based, is just about to hit stores now if it hasn't already, and three more books will be coming out by the end of the year.)

As the NYT "House and Home" section pointed out last fall, Kidd's place is like "a very expensive toy store," and the main showcase is a set of glass cases filled with books he's designed and vintage superhero action figures. So I had the time of my life getting to ask Kidd about the one figure in a business suit (a limited edition Bruce Wayne from the early '70s, it turns out) and chatting with him about comics—he even kindly pointed out Astonishing X-Men artist John Cassady hanging out on the sofa, looking at the Japanese Batman reprints on the coffee table. It's one of the few current books he reads, Kidd admitted, though I may have been able to persuade him to take a look at DC's weekly 52. I was underwhelmed by Infinite Crisis, too, I assured him, but this new comic is off to a better start...