The New York Times has profiled Andrew P. Mooney the head of Disney's Consumer Products division, which suffered a drop in operating income from $893 million in 1997 to $386 million in 2000.  According to the Times, Mr. Mooney, who joined Disney from Nike in 1999 has built income for the division back up to an estimated $511 million for 2004, thanks in part to retro Mickey and Minnie Mouse t-shirts and a popular Disney Princess line of dolls, dresses, and jewelry. 

But perhaps the most interesting fact (at least for pop culture retailers) to come out of the Times article is the sales figure for the first W.I.T.C.H. 'graphic novel,' which Disney released in June, and which, according to Mr. Mooney, has sold some 650,000 copies.  The Times description of the book as a graphic novel is misleading, however, since the book is actually a text novel with a comic insert. 

The W.I.T.C.H comics, which were first introduced in Italy,  now sell a million copies worldwide, according to the article.  Disney apparently did not have faith in the comics medium for the U.S., however, since it chose to package a limited number of comic pages with a considerable amount of text material here (for a Talk Back comment on the decision, see 'Steve Bennett of Dark Star Books on W.I.T.C.H').

The stories narrate the lives of five teenage girls (each initial in the title represents one of their names), who spend their days doing the things that ordinary schoolgirls do, but who occupy their nights fighting evil forces that threaten civilization as we know it. 

Disney plans to create a W.I.T.C.H. animated series and put it on the company's cable networks in the U.S. and Europe next year.  Given the enormous sales and additional TV exposure, W.I.T.C.H. is surely a property to which retailers who have any sort of young female clientele should pay close attention.