January is a transition month in the pop culture products business, with the first week or two typically showing strong post-Christmas sales, followed by slowing traffic as the winter doldrums set in. But there was a lot of activity in pop culture stores this January, with especially strong releases in the comic category.

DC Direct will be expanding its simulta- neous release program to include more releases than the Smallville figures previously announced.

N2 Toys is waiting to see if buyers at the recently concluded New York Toy Fair will order N2's second series of toys based on the cancelled Tick TV series.

The good news is that ToyBiz action figures are getting better and better thanks to new high tech imaging equipment and an increasing willingness to hire top sculptors, but the bad news is that the first wave of Spider-Man Movie Action Figures showed up in Wal-Mart (and reportedly, in Toys R Us) a month before other channels.

Superhero parody character Lethargic Lad gets its own book this summer with the planned release of the Lethargic Lad Jumbo-Sized Annual #1 in June.

Diamond Select has announced that it has signed a three-year deal with Fox to create resin busts, statues, and snow globes based on Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands .

X-Plus USA has a worldwide license for classic resin Godzilla statues from Toho Co. Ltd. The company debuted its latest kaiju offering at the recently concluded New York Toy Fair.

IF Labs is already branching out to include figures from the original Dragon Ball series as well as from FUNimation's next offering, Yu-Yu Hakusho .

Chuck Jones, one of the towering figures of contemporary animation, died Friday at his home in Newport Beach, California.

Viz has announced that it will release Phoenix: A Tale of the Future, by Osamu Tezuka, as a $22.95 296-page trade paperback in May.

Although this brief introduction cannot do justice to the work of the man who had the greatest influence on both Japanese manga and anime, it can help you begin to understand his role in the history of these art forms and why it is so important.

An ICv2 release. ICv2, with the support of sponsors Dark Horse Comics and Viz Communications, is launching its 'Tribute to Tezuka' promotion today, which includes free point of purchase display materials for retailers and information on how to market the works of Osamu Tezuka...