Confessions of a Comic Book Guy is a weekly column by retailer Steve Bennett of Mary Alice Wilson's Dark Star Books in Yellow Springs , Ohio . This week Bennett looks at realism in comics.

Movie release dates for next year are settling in, with March, May, and July shaping up as the biggest battlegrounds for the films with strong product tie-ins.

Diamond Select Toys plans to increase its output considerably in 2006.

A Paid Advertisement. Barbour Publishing was first to bring inspirational manga to the masses--and now tween and teen girls have another great read in Serenity !

James Meeley, recently of Ron's Coin & Collectibles in Yakima, Washington, saw Ilan Strasser's response to his on content from the Big Two comic publishers, and took another kick at the cat.

Comic store sales of the top comic titles were overwhelmingly down on a piece basis in December, with 21 of the 23 continuing series in the top 25 showing issue-over-issue sales declines.

Pow! Entertainment has now acquired the exclusive rights in perpetuity to Stan Lee's name, likeness, signature slogans (Excelsior!) and brand (Stan Lee Presents).

Scott Mitchell Rosenberg and Gale Anne Hurd are developing Top Cow's Magdalena as a feature film.

The Teshkeel Media Group has signed an agreement with Marvel Entertainment, Inc. to bring Arabic-language Marvel comics to the Middle East region.

JAKKS Pacific, Inc.has signed a Master licensing agreement with Marvel Enterprises, Inc. to develop products based on Marvel characters for categories including dog accessories, cat accessories, pet food, and pet tents.