A small image of the cover for the U.S. edition of The Yiddish Policemen’s Union has found its way online.

Steven Barclay Agency, which books Michael Chabon’s speaking engagements, posted a thumbnail of the cover on its Web site. Asked if it had a larger version, the agency said it couldn’t provide one since it didn’t have the right to distribute it further.

The cover appears to feature Alaska Native art, fitting with the story’s plot line of a Yiddish homeland in Alaska. The cover also features a city with tall buildings.

The U.S. edition differs significantly from the UK edition, which featured a police car.

For all the news and drama surrounding film adaptations of Michael Chabon’s Mysteries of Pittsburgh and Kavalier & Clay, it’s easy sometimes to forget that Ayelet Waldman could have a movie of her own hitting theaters.

Waldman’s Love and Other Impossible Pursuits was optioned by Walt Disney before it even hit bookstores. This site hasn’t reported much on it, but it’s been in the works and drawing in talent.

Don Roos, the writer and director of The Opposite of Sex and Happy Endings, is writing and possibly directing the film adaptation. Waldman confirmed that Jennifer Lopez has been cast as the main actress.

“Yup, Jlo is in, and we’ve got preliminary financing!” Waldman said via e-mail.

Lopez is prepping for the part, according to Harper’s Bazaar.

“I’m very excited,” Lopez told Entertainment Weekly in September. “[Roos]’s fantastic. When he knew I was coming [to Toronto], he actually e-mailed me. He goes, ‘How are you doing? Are you nervous?’ I was like, ‘Yeah!’ He saw the film [El Cantante] because before we decided to work together I wanted him to see it. And he was like, ‘It’s the best female performance in five years — don’t worry about it!’ I was like, ‘I love you!’ [Laughs]”

In an interview with Zulkey last year, Waldman called Roos’ screenplay “awesome.” “It’s so good – he took lots of my jokes and made them funnier,” she said. “I loved it.”

NPR’s Studio 360 broadcasted a fascinating radio piece about Superman and what he symbolizes Sunday. Among the many experts speaking in the show is Michael Chabon.

“I mean, you look and you pick up comic books of the 1940’s, and it’s very easy to see what’s on peoples’ minds, what’s going on,” Chabon says. “It’s the war.”

He also says Superman’s logo is a reference to the Nazi swastika. “It’s all right there. Big swastikas everywhere. And so, yeah, the swastika is a kind of Superman “S” or a Batman bat. It’s sort of the mark, the imprint that strength makes on weaker material.”

He continues: “Fascism is inherently appealing to people who have no power and are weak, and so is Superman. I mean, Superman was created by a couple of guys who had no power and were weak and wished they were strong and could do more than they could with their bodies. I mean, fascism is all about bodies and strength and power and the imposition of will. That’s what Superman is all about.”

The narrator notes that the name “Superman” comes from the writings of Friedrich Nietzche, a favorite writer of Adolf Hitler.

But he’s also a reference to the New Deal thinking of the time, Chabon says.

“Superman was initially conceived very much as a champion of the meak and the oppressed against the powerful and strong. Somebody who was going to intercede on the side of the little guy against the big bosses,” he says.

An actor who screen tested for the film adaptation for The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay says the movie is stalled, Coming Soon.net reported.

In an interview, Ben Whishaw, star of Perfume, says although director Stephen Daldry had him audition for the film, “I think it’s not happening now.”

“I think it’s been sort of put to one-side for a little while,” he said. “It all fell apart, which is such a shame. I have not read the book even, but it’s a wonderful project. I hope at some point it’s revived.”

No word on what part Whishaw tried out for, but the interview does show that casting was well underway before any red lights went up. Adrien Brody read for the part of Kavalier, and Michael Chabon several months ago called Natalie Portman a “strong likelihood” for the part of Rosa.

Pre-production began in March, and New York City’s mayor’s office said scouting occured through May. But as of August, the film still had not been given the greenlight. The article says Daldry and the producers set up a presentation in New York for the movie.

Can the Escapist escape the end?

That’s the question following the final issue of The Escapists, published earlier this month. Dark Horse still has the rights to publish a new book, and while nothing has been announced, editor Diana Schutz says plans are afoot.

“Our commitment remains firm to the character,” she said via e-mail.

Just last week, Dark Horse founder Mike Richardson talked to Schutz about creating a new Escapist-related series, “though I can’t give you any details at this point and probably not for some time,” she said.

“Don’t forget that Mike went out of his way to get the rights to publish comics based on Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer-winning novel; he is still totally passionate about Michael’s novel and about our comics,” Schutz said. “As am I. It’s the market whose support we need!”

At the stands, Escapist series have stuggled. The final issue of Michael Chabon Presents: The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist, which hit stands in November 2005, sold only 4,594 copies, according to ICv2 data. Schutz said they “learned the hard way that a nine-dollar eighty-page anthology was perhaps not the right direction to take.”

Retooled and repriced at $2.99, The Escapists faired better; issue #5 sold 12,190 copies, ICv2 says. Still, that issue ranked only 172 out of 300 comics in November.

At the very least, fans should expect to finally see the so-called “missing” Escapist stories, according to Schutz. When Dark Horse abruptly pulled the plug on the anthology in January, issue #9 was all but done and scheduled to hit shelves that week. Howard Chaykin and artist Jed Dougherty had finished a story about a battle between several decades’ incarnations of Luna Moth, and Stuart Moore and Phil Winslade completed a 1970’s tale featuring the Escapist and Hunter S. Thompson. Neither have seen print.

“We certainly have plans to print all of the ‘missing’ Escapist stories!” Schutz said. “There were several in production at the time the anthology was pulled, and I have both personal and professional reasons for wanting those to see the light of day — as do the several writers and artists who worked on them.”

Schutz said she’s not sure what form the stories will be in when they get published.

“It’s possible we’ll collect the whole darn shootin’ match into one big brick of a book, though my preference would be to find a way to thematically link certain groups of stories together and release them as miniseries first, along the lines of the Hellboy: Weird Tales anthology, for instance,” she said.

But don’t expect a return of characters Max Rothwell and Case Weaver from The Escapists. As early as September, write Brian K. Vaughan indicated at his Web site’s forum that the series, if it continued, would be without him.

“I love the book, but my finale is pretty final,” he said.

Artist Steve Rolston likewise said he hadn’t “heard of any further Escapist comics being planned,” though adding he suspected Dark Horse would work to publish the “missing” stories.

Exactly how long Dark Horse can publish comics spun from The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is unclear. Schutz declined to say how long Dark Horse was allowed to publish Escapist comics, saying the contract was confidential.

“Let’s just say that I think Michael Chabon would like us to get those stories into print, too,” she said. “He’s been very happy with what we’ve done so far — both in terms of the original anthology as well as the Vaughan/[Jason] Alexander/Rolston Escapists six-issue series.”

Asked in mid-December, Chabon said he hadn’t heard anything from Dark Horse about a new series. Chabon said he was “sorry” to see The Escapists end, calling it “so great.”

“I really wish it would continue just so that I could keep reading,” he said.