Marvel's 2000 Annual Report is now available, and there's information on a number of key issues for pop culture retailers , among them the importance of direct sales to pop culture stores to Marvel's publishing operations and business as a whole. Marvel's direct sales are critical to its publishing, but publishing remains a small part of the overall picture for Marvel since it was folded into Toy Biz 1998.

Stan Lee will make a guest appearance on the Home Shopping Network this coming Monday, April 23rd at 11:00 PM (Eastern Time). Dynamic Forces is presenting a 'Marvel 40th Anniversary' program, and highlighting forty years of Marvel art with a series of lithographs. Stan will be signing lithographs during the show.

Ken Tucker reviewed J. Michael Stracynski's first issue of Spider-Man ( Amazing Spider-Man #30) in the April 20th issue of Entertainment Weekly , on newsstands this week. The review, which leads off the 'Books Section' (page 66) is quite favorable and includes a sample panel of art from John Romita, Jr.

Here's a typical example of the kind of reactions we received. 'After reading Mr. Jemas's comments on the overshipping, I must say that I can count the number of digits in his IQ by his 'I know better than you do' attitude (zero).

According to Cinescape Online, the Wall St. Journal is reporting that 20th Century Fox is suing Marvel over a planned Mutant X syndicated television series. Fox reportedly feels that the series represents a breach of the agreement it reached with Marvel in 1993 for movie rights to the X-Men.

Not every retailer has the same opportunity to succeed with 'kids comics' as the three profiled in this story, but many can utilize at least some of the stratagems employed so effectively by these storeowners. One theme that is consistent with all three retailers is that they provide one area of their store as an enclave for younger readers.

Master comic scribe Dennis O'Neil, whose work as a writer and editor is legendary, has written a 'how-to' book for aspiring comic book writers. Using examples from his own career as well as samples from the works of other top comic writers, O'Neil examines some of the many different approaches to writing four-color adventures.

Orders for the top comics took an upward tick in April, reflecting the typical seasonal direction now that the doldrums of first quarter are behind us. Ultimate X-Men #5 even came in above 100,000 in estimated comic store orders, the only title to do so in the last two months.

Maybe it's because the specialty market is counter-cyclical, or maybe it's because it is product driven and there are lots of good products in the offing, but according to retailers ICv2 heard from, the pulse of the industry is strong right now, at least judging from the talk at the DC RRP.

Fox's X-Men grabbed the most nominations for the 27th annual Saturn Awards presented by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films. The first motion picture featuring Marvel's mutant supergroup earned over $150 million at the box office and a whopping ten Saturn nominations.