Mike Boze of HawgHead Comics in Fort Smith, Arkansas took a look at Marvel's new U-Decide promotion and decided he didn't like it.

Diamond has added three more small publishers to its book division: IDW, Guardians of Order, and Alternative Comics.

Hector Diaz of Jumpgate in Portsmouth, New Hampshire was prompted by Marvel's reduction in the amount of advance info it provides to say 'their loss'.

Tim Schulte of Granite City Comics in St. Cloud, Minnesota was prompted by Marvel's change in the advance information it provides to send us this comment.

We recently covered the introduction of the online version of Magic: The Gathering . Jerry Ringi feels it's an attack on his livelihood.

Jim Brown of Midwest Comics and Collectibles feels that the store traffic generated by hot Marvels is great, but he redirects it to other products.

Comic and graphic novel orders (dollars) were up 5% in July vs. 2001, continuing the trend that began in the second half of last year. July orders were up 1% over June, with almost all the gains coming from comics,

Marvel is stirring the pot again -- this time with a five-issue mini-series by Robert Morales and Kyle Baker that functions like a 'prequel' to the long-running Simon/Kirby Captain America saga.

Initial piece orders from comic stores on the top comic titles in July were buoyed by the addition of two first issues that both sold well over 100,000 copies, Transformers Armada #1 and Battle of the Planets #1, at the number one and number three positions respectively.

Diamond Comic Distributors announced today the formation of a new division, Diamond Book Distributors, the goal of which will be to make a wide selection of graphic novels, anime, gaming, collectible toys, and other pop-culture merchandise available to the mainstream retail book market.