By ANDREW A. SMITH, Scripps Howard News Service

The Teetering Tower of Things to Review needs to be winnowed out, and here are some of the more interesting books:

"Good news for students," writes David Seidman, publicist of Papercutz, a publisher primarily aimed at tween-age readers. "'Classics Illustrated' returns after a 10-year hiatus -- just in time for the new semester!"

For three months, Marvel Comics has been following a new blueprint for the "Amazing Spider-Man" comic book, a new framework cover-billed "Brand New Day." Unfortunately, all that "new" feels pretty old.

Once again, the news about comics on film threatens to overwhelm any other kind of comics news:-- Batmanimania: "Batman: Gotham Knight," an original anthology containing six Bat-episodes in anime style, will be released on DVD, Blu-ray disc, Pay Per View, Video On Demand and the Web on July 8.

Marvel Comics' first trip to Stephen King's Dark Tower was such a success, they're visiting a second time this month -- at midnight!

"Who do you trust?"That's the tagline for "Secret Invasion," the latest mega-crossover story at Marvel Comics. It officially cranks up in April, but it's already under way, and it got its initial start in (believe it or not) 1962.

If you watched Super Bowl XLII Feb. 3 -- and according to the Nielsen ratings, 97.5 million of you did -- then you probably saw the ad for the "Iron Man" movie.

If you've been following the news, then you probably know two things: 1) There's a new Captain America, and 2) he's carrying a gun.

"Messiah CompleX" -- what Marvel Comics keeps calling the "biggest X-Men story in 10 years" -- just wrapped up, with many casualties and the team disbanding at the end. So I guess the X-Men story is finished, and we can all read other stuff now.

Who is the Hulk?Most people would say physicist Bruce Banner is the alter ego of Marvel's green-skinned gargantuan, but that may not be true anymore. In fact, the "green-skinned" part may not be true anymore.