Astonish Comics may be a small publisher, but in Mike Kunkel's Eisner Award-nominated Herobear and the Kid comic, it has one of the best new titles of the past five years. Kunkel, a former Disney animator, has created a comic series that has the fluidity and charm of animation and which has already attracted a strong and devoted following in spite of an often murky publishing schedule (see 'Better Retailing -- Expanding your Sales To Women' for an example of how well Herobear performs for Joe Ferrara of Atlantis Fantasyworld). Herobear merchandise is just starting to appear (see 'Herobear Maquette'), and Universal Studios has just optioned the Herobear property for a feature length traditionally animated film (see 'Universal Options Herobear') that Kunkel will direct. Given the right promotion the Herobear trade paperback collection, which is due out in 6-8 weeks, could do extremely well in mainstream bookstores. Astonish Comics may be one of the smaller comic publishers that Diamond has signed up for the book trade, but given Herobear's strong appeal to both kids and adults, it could be a very strong title in the bookstore market -- and if the movie version of Herobear is a success -- it could easily be 'gangbusters.'