Two new Dark Horse manga trade paperback series are showing surprising strength in formats closer to their Japanese counterparts than to their first American editions.

Dark Horse Comics has quietly reduced its staff by about ten percent over the last sixty days.

This dispatch provides news and commentary on the commerce and content sites focusing on the pop culture enthusiast.

Japanese properties are booming--with a major impact on U.S. pop culture.

Whatever the labor situation in Hollywood, it should be an interesting year in the theatres where an unusually heavy diet of sequels and remakes will be enlivened (we hope) by some great directors.

Joe Sacco's Safe Area Gorazde , published by Fantagraphics Books, garnered a glowing review in the weekly New York Times Book Review (12/24/00).

In an important victory for freedom of speech and expression, the Comic Book Legal Defense fund has succeeded in getting prosecutors in Dallas, Texas to drop a second charge in an obscenity case brought against a local retailer.

Les Daniels's Wonder Woman: The Life and Times of the Amazon Princess was reviewed in the 'Books in Brief' section of the New York Times Book Review on Sunday, Dec. 24 th , where it received the prominent central position as well as an illustration.

Today's Variety reports that Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel , has just signed a deal with the Fox network for 13 episodes of Firefly , a new science fiction series conceived by Whedon.

Marvel announced a major promotional campaign for the X-Men in which consumers who order a 'Big Kids' meal at Burger King between Dec. 31, 2001 and Jan. 28, 2002, will receive both a figure and a CD-Rom featuring a character from the X-Men Evolution television series.