Pop culture news for readers: October 21, 2025

Here's how pop culture and literature have been intersecting lately ... 

• Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses fame is writing a graphic novel series called Appetite for Destruction — based on the album of the same name — and starring himself as a half-human, half-robot (Literary Hub).

• Viewership for season two of My Life with the Walter Boys set a record for Netflix, and ebook-lending app Libby noted that the book series upon which it's based saw a 70 percent increase in interest and readership in the thirty days after season two debuted (Book Riot).

• For better and sometimes for worse, you'll never mistake Guillermo del Toro's movie adaptation of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley for anyone else's, says one reviewer (NPR).

• Netflix is developing a competition series called Clue, based on the board game, which itself was co-created by a musician and his murder-mystery-reading wife (Deadline). 

• Test your ability to understand literary references in pop culture (The New York Times).