A few months ago, the U.K.’s Royal Mail released a set of stamps inspired by the works of Agatha Christie, one of the greatest mystery writers of all time, in honor of the 100th anniversary of her first detective story – The Mysterious Affair at Styles, which introduced Hercule Poirot, the famous fictional Belgian detective. But these are no ordinary stamps.

Each of the six designs is based on one of Christie’s popular novels and each contains hidden clues pertaining to its respective title — Murder on the Orient Express, The Body in the Library, And Then There Were None, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, A Murder is Announced, and the aforementioned The Mysterious Affair at Styles.

Check out images of all six designs here below.

They may not be “real,” as defined by Webster’s Dictionary, but these stamps designed by Canadian DeviantArtist koinogenki are totally awesome and should by all means exist in The United States so that I might purchase and put them in my fictional stamp collection.

They’re really cool in a sort of pop art, neo deco style that mixes the style of the silver age Batman adapted to the stylish sensibility of Batman: The Animated Series. Anyway, check out the full collection of these Batman stamps below and then head over to koinogenki’s DeviantArt page to see the rest of their cool pieces of art that features more than just Batman or fan art.

The United States Postal Service (USPS) has announced the items to be included in their 2011 commemorative stamp program, which includes five new Pixar stamps.

Several Disney-Pixar movie characters are part of the five different designs that make up the 20-stamp pane Send A Hello collection: Lightning McQueen and Mater from Cars; Remy the rat and Linguini from Ratatouille; Buzz Lightyear and two of the green, three-eyed aliens from Toy Story; Carl Fredricksen and Dug from Up; and the robot WALL*E from Wall*E.

The Send a Hello “Forever” stamp will go on sale on August 19, 2011.

Today marks the 200th birthday of writer Edgar Allan Poe, most famous for his tales of the horror and suspense such as The Raven, The Black Cat, and The Tell-Tale Heart. In celebration, the United States Postal Service released this week a 42-cent First-Class commemorative postage stamp of the 19th century master of macabre, which was dedicated at the Library of Virginia in Richmond.

The stamp is on sale right now at the Postal Store Web site at www.usps.com/shop or by calling 800-STAMP-24. (I know I’m definitely getting some of these stamps!)

The American writer and poet has gone on to influence countless writers and artists of all genres since his death in 1849 at the age of 40. Poe is said to have inspired the likes of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (creator of fiction’s great detective Sherlock Holmes), Dostoyevsky, Jules Vernes, and English Poet Laureate Alfred, Lord Tennyson, as well as composer Claude Debussy and Impressionists artists of the time, amongst many creators of today’s pop culture.