This week Steven Bates looks at writers from other fields tackling comics.

Writer Bob Andelman, whose biography of Will Eisner, A Spirited Life , will be published by Dark Horse's M Press imprint in July) sent out the word of Eisner's death and shared these events and anecdotes from Eisner's life.

Wolverine: Weapon X quickly passed all Marvel graphic novels in the weekly bookstore sales reports.

More c om ic titles showed growth in sales in October than in September, with nine of the top 25 c om ics, eight Marvels and one DC, growing vs. their previous month sales.

Gene Smith of Alien Entertainment in Villa Park, Illinois saw manager Steven Bates' column on breakaway employees and offers his advice on the situation.

Paramount's Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow was the clear victor at the box office over the weekend.

The zombie-filled horror film Resident Evil: Apocalypse took the top spot in the box office derby this weekend with an estimated gross of $23.7 million.

Zhang Yimou's Hero took the top spot for the second week in a row with a modest total of some $11.5 million.

Last week's box office leader ( Alien vs. Predator ) and leading box office surprise ( Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie ) both dropped by over 67% during their second weekend of release.

Platinum Studios has announced that it has a deal with First Family to produce half-hour TV series and direct-to-DVD movies based on two new comic properties, which will be published by Top Cow in 2005