Welcome to the Comics Headline Ticker, where we reel off item after item that proves comic books are conquering the world!

ITEM: TV Team-Up!

Returns from the dead. Evil twins. Super-powers. Comic books? No, soap operas! And as if to demonstrate that common ground, Marvel Comics will "team up" with CBS-TV’s "Guiding Light!"

On Wednesday, Nov. 1, "Guiding Light’s" Springfield will witness the debut and origin of its first superhero. (And viewers familiar with Marvel Comics will see a few extra "Easter eggs" as well.)

Then, in the comics, Marvel’s Avengers and their foes will descend on Springfield to recruit this new character. The story appears as an eight-page backup in 13 Marvel titles shipping Oct. 25-Nov. 15. On the Net: www.cbs.com/daytime/gl, www.marvel.com.

More TV:

 DC’s Green Arrow made his live-action debut on "Smallville" this month, played by Justin Hartley, who starred in the unsold "Aquaman" pilot.

 DC’s "Legion of Super-Heroes" debuted on The Kids WB Sept. 23, a cartoon starring a young Superman, Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad, Bouncing Boy, Phantom Girl and Brainiac 5 in the 31st century, with cameos by other Legionnaires.

- "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" creator Joss Whedon will begin writing Marvel’s "Runaways" with issue No. 25.

 "Painkiller Jane" has been picked up for 22 episodes by the Sci-Fi Channel.

ITEM: XXX X-Ceeds X-pectations!

A few years ago legendary writer Alan Moore ("From Hell," "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," "V For Vendetta"), set his sights on a new field: pornography.

With his co-creator and significant other, Melinda Gebbie, Moore created "Lost Girls," which not only succeeded in creating porn with both literary and prurient interest, but already has sold four times what was expected. The initial 10,000 sold out in a day, a second printing of 10,000 sold out two days later and the book is now on a third printing of 20,000.

"Lost Girls" is the intertwining stories of Alice, Dorothy and Wendy, re-imagining "Alice in Wonderland," "Wizard of Oz" and "Peter Pan" as metaphors for sexual awakening (which we see in graphic detail).

"Lost Girls" (Top Shelf Productions, $75) is packaged as three, 112-page, oversized hardcover volumes, all sealed in a slipcase. More than 50 newspaper and magazine articles have been written about it, and many are available at http://www.topshelfcomix.com/news.php?article=147

ITEM: Comix Pix Become Flix!

Marvel’s Ghost Rider is coming to the silver screen in 2007, starring Nicolas Cage as cursed stunt-rider Johnny Blaze. But don’t take my word for it: You can follow the filming of the movie week to week on the official site’s production blog: http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/ghostrider/blog/

More movies:

 Robert Downey Jr. recently signed to play Marvel’s industrialist-turned-superhero Tony Stark in "Iron Man," due in 2008. Downey playing a reformed alcoholic? Hmm.

 Heath Ledger has been cast as The Joker in "The Dark Knight," the sequel to "Batman Begins." Insert your own "Brokeback" joke here.

 Bryce Dallas Howard plays Gwen Stacy, romantic competition for Kirsten Dunst’s Mary Jane, in "Spider-Man 3." Ironically, that’s a redhead playing a blonde opposite a blonde playing a redhead.

ITEM: Penciller Pushes Patriotism!

Writer/artist Frank Miller ("Dark Knight Returns," "Sin City") discussed his newfound patriotism last month in a verbal essay for the National Public Radio series "This I Believe." Of 9/11 Miller said, "I draw and write comic books. One thing my job involves is making up bad guys. Imagining human villainy in all its forms. Now the real thing had showed up." To listen: www.npr.org/thisibelieve

More radio:

Writer Brian K. Vaughn ("Y: The Last Man," "Runaways") was interviewed on NPR’s "All Things Considered" about his recent graphic novel "Pride of Baghdad," based on a true story about animals in an Iraqi zoo when the U.S. attacked.

ITEM: Novelist Nabs New Crown!

Mystery writer Brad Meltzer has become the first author to have the best-selling novel and comic book simultaneously.

Meltzer’s new novel, "Book of Fate," alighted atop the New York Times Bestseller list Sept. 24. At the same time, the Meltzer-written "Justice League of America" No. 1 was the best-selling comic book in the U.S., according to Diamond Comic Distributors Inc. More info: www.bradmeltzer.com, www.dccomics.com

More novelists:

 Marvel Comics and The Dabel Brothers studio have partnered to bring Laurell K. Hamilton’s "Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter in Guilty Pleasures" to comics as a 12-part maxiseries. In coming months Marvel and The Dabel Bros. will adapt George R.R. Martin’s "Hedge Knight" series, Orson Scott Card’s "Red Prophet" and Raymond E. Feist’s "Magician: Apprentice" (part one of the "Riftwar" saga).

 Author Gregg Hurwitz, the writer of "Kill Clause" and "Last Shot," will be revamping Foolkiller, a foppish serial murderer, for Marvel’s adults-only MAX line.

TV, raunch, movies, radio, novels - comics owns them all! And I haven’t even gotten to music or the Internet or Star Trek or ...