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Who has time to read a whole novel these days? With expediency in mind, here are classic works of literature condensed to that most indispensable of poetic forms, the limerick.

Les Miserables

Val Jean, who stole a baguette

Leaves prison without paying his debt

During the French Revolution

He finds a solution:

Be a good dad to his daughter, Cosette

Oliver Twist

Oliver was a boy who was born poor

And caused a row when he asked for more

He falls in with thieves,

Escapes his half-brother’s misdeeds

And declines to settle the score

The Handmaid’s Tale

Offred had her rights removed

By a regime that just wanted her brood

But the Mayday resistance

Offers questionable assistance

And despite qualms, Offred vamoosed

Beloved

Sethe and Denver answer a ghost’s call

And let her have the run of the hall

But as the ghost hangs around

Denver calls in the town

Because slavery leaves scars on us all

The Great Gatsby

Gatsby has himself a scheme

To re-seduce the girl of his dreams

But a billboard with eyes

Watches all of his lies

And he ends up floating downstream

Ulysses

Both Dedalus and Bloom profess

That philosophy is anyone’s guess

They pad around Dublin

Both pub-out and pub-in

But it all hinges on Molly’s “Yes”

Pride & Prejudice

Liz had a poor opinion of Darcy

Because he did not like to party

But as she got to know him

Her love began to grow in

Though she told him off for being a smarty!

Are you pumped for Book Expo and BookCon? You should be, because we'll be there at Booth #2602 from 6/1-6/4 hoping to meet you! And as always, we'll have swag. 

How do you get the swag? We're glad you asked. Drop by our booth and whisper the top secret password. (It's Quirk E. Godmother.) Can't wait to say hi and talk books!

See below for giveaways, author signings, and more:

Rick Chillot’s first job in publishing was in a corporate library, sniffing out story leads for writers and editors. He later went on to write and edit for magazines and books, worked on early Internet ventures during the heyday of AOL and Netscape, had a brief stint at a newspaper, edited a college’s alumni mag, survived as a freelancer for nearly a decade, and crept into Quirk Books four years ago as a writer/editor.

If you were stranded on Mars and could only have one book to read, what would it be?

I guess The Martian Chronicles, so that as I die from lack of oxygen or freeze to death, whichever comes first, I might delude myself into thinking that I’m on a better Mars. I like short stories as much as novels, so Ray Bradbury’s interconnected Mars stories are a perfect combo. I’m not sure I’d be in a reading mood, though, as my lungs collapse and my blood turns to ice. You do know that the average temperature on Mars is negative 80 degrees? I expect I’d use my last breath to curse whoever stranded me there. Probably Doogie.

Tell us about something cool you keep at your desk.

I have a small collection of notes and other things that people have given me over the years and I put them on display according to my mood. For example (in the picture) Kelsey gave me that doodle she did during a meeting, our managing editor left the note, a fake Buddhist monk gave me a fake prayer card, and Blair invited me to her music recital (I didn’t go).

What's your fandom?

Growing up I clung to all the things that would kill any chance I had of being popular or having friends: science fiction, monster movies, D&D, Star Wars and Star Trek, cartoons. But it all started with comics. Comic books were my first glimpse into a world where anything was possible, and where doing the right thing was the measure of a hero. Of course superheroes were a lot less murdery back then.

Check out Mini-Comics Week to take a dive into my fandom.

What's an unexpected talent or side effect you've picked up while working at Quirk?

Talent or curse? You decide. I can’t look at a book without conjuring in my head the discussions that led to the book title. And then in parallel I imagine the discussions we would’ve had about it here at Quirk. (Our decision is inevitably better.)

If you were a Quirk book, which one would you be?

I’d like to be Find Momo, exploring a beautiful world and making friends everywhere I go. But I’m more like The League of Regrettable Superheroes, trying to convince people that my dumbest flaws are the very things that make me so lovable.

When we first saw the trailer for King Arthur: Sword of Legend, we thought, “Hey, that’s badass.” Then we got to thinking . . . are there any Arthurian legend movies that aren’t badass? Answer: there are plenty. So go see the movie and compare badass to least badass!

We've discussed why mini-comics are so amazing and how you can find your next favorite mini-comic, but have we said everything there is to say about mini-comics? Of course not! We hope we’ve given you enough motivation to explore the mini-comic universe further, but here's one more approach to making a mini-comic of your own.

Making Multi-Sheet Mini-Comics

We’ve told you how to make a mini-comic from a single sheet of paper here and here. But if you want your minis to have more pages, and to be structured more like full-size comics or little books, here are two methods to try, using multiple sheets of paper. How many sheets? You decide!

Multi-Sheet Mini-Comic Version 1: Saddle Stitching

If you’ve ever picked up a comic book in your life, you’ll get how this works. You just print your pages—two on each side of a sheet of paper—fold them in the middle, and stack them on top of each other like so:

Then staple everything together in the middle of the sheets. Depending on the size of the paper you’re using, you may need an extra-long stapler. (Some creators use sewing or other methods to attach the pages.) One thing to keep in mind with this scheme: When you put your art onto the sheets of paper, your pages have to be ordered so they’ll fall into the right sequence. For example, a three-sheet mini-comic (two pages of art on each side of the paper=six pages total) would need this arrangement:

Make a dummy so you can see where everything goes…or get use to pages being out of order.

Multi-Sheet Mini-Comic Version 2: “Perfect” Binding

This approach mimics that of a perfect-bound paperback book—the single pages are fastened along one side, except that in this case they’re stapled instead of glued (usually…but various mini-comics creators have used adhesives and every other method under the sun at some point, so feel free to experiment.) You just print your comic as single pages, stack them up in order, and the staple the side together. The more pages you have, though, the harder it will be to staple. And remember to leave extra space along the edge so the stapling doesn’t block your images.

For a more in-depth tutorial on making mini-comics, we refer you again to Jessica Abel’s excellent guide.

Thanks for sharing your love of mini-comics with us. To inspire us all, let’s wrap things up with a final survey of outstanding mini-comics, selected by the Quirk Comics Club.

 

 

A horizontal format is put to great use in this untitled story of a sailing ship by Alexis Frederick-Frost.

 

Don't be square: An oval shape is the perfect fit for a story of sinister bunnies by Rachel Bard.

 

 

Mind-Mapping by Will Dinksi unfolds in a mind-bending way.

 

Cutouts in this cool cover by David Mack practically demand that you open the book.

 

 

The cover of Hope Larson's Put On A Brave Face ties together with yarn; the interior has even more surprises.

 

The Beast Mother by Eleanor Davis is bigger than most minis, with a suitably tense cutout cover.

_{Mini-comics displayed are from the personal collections of Quirk Books Comics Club members and are intended as a small and subjective sampling of the ever-expanding universe of mini-comics.}

Have you seen part 1 of how to make your own mini-comics? If not, take a quick look at it here, where we discussed the basics of creating your own mini-comic. Go ahead and review it, we’ll wait here. Hmm hmmm hmmm… *tuneless whistle* Dum de dum…hot in the office today. But it’s cool outside. Good day to wear one of those shirts with the zip-off sleeves…hey, let’s look at a mini-comic while we’re waiting…

Deep Cut by Hellen Jo reveals the story of hair care gone wrong…or right?

Oh, you’re back! Great. Well, today we have some more mini-comic making options for you. First, here’s an abbreviated reminder of the basic mini-comics recipe from part 1:

The Mini-Comics Order of Operations:

1. Pick a format
2. Make a dummy
3. Draw and write the story
4. Transfer the story to the page
5. Fold a test comic (or staple or glue it or whatever it takes) and make whatever changes are needed.

Got it? Good. Let’s look at two more options for making single-sheet mini-comic options. Both are very simple, and the results are very book-like.

One-Sheet Mini-Comic, version 2

With this folding scheme, an ordinary sheet of copier turns into a little 6-page book (plus front and back cover). The secret to this magic trick is careful folding and cutting…and the more precise your folds and creases are, the easier it will work.

So first let’s make the folds. (Tip: Run the back of a spoon across each fold to make them nice and crisp). Do this:

Now your sheet of paper is nicely divided into its eight separate pages. So pick up your scissors and:

And, finally, fold the whole dang thing into a mini-comic:

Pretty easy right? Except for that confusing last part which is kind of hard to draw. So check out this video for a demonstration.:

Note that when you put your art on the page, one row will be upside down relative to the other (it helps to make a dummy or sketch version that you can reference while you’re working on it). For this kind of mini-comic, you can print all the pages on one side of your paper. But it’s also cool to add a full-page image on the flip side, creating a mini-poster for readers who unfold the whole thing.

 

The reverse side of Ian Sampson's Pep Talk mini-comic features a full-page poster.

One-Sheet Mini-Comic, Version 2:

This variations is similar to the six-pager, but it adds two more pages to the comic. Those pages are on the flip side of your paper, so two-sided printing is required.

Here’s a demo video:

 

It could be that the 8-page format is underutilized, because no one in our Club had an example in their collection of mini-comics. But this from a Quirks Comics Club member gives an idea of what the final product can look like. (Even people who aren't good with scissors are welcome in the Quirk Comic Club.)

Okay, that should keep you plenty busy (making mini-comics), but if you're looking for more mini-comic making ideas, want to learn how to find awesome mini-comics, or need a reminder as to why mini-comics are so amazing, make sure to check out our other mini-comic posts!

_{Mini-comics displayed are from the personal collections of Quirk Books Comics Club members and are intended as a small and subjective sampling of the ever-expanding universe of mini-comics.}