Described by Bob Simon 'as a man whose ship has come in,' Stan Lee told the CBS correspondent that his victory in the first round of a legal battle with Marvel left him with a sense of 'vindication -- just like every superhero story should have a bit of vindication.'

Sponsoring companies and their free comics have been announced for Free Comic Book Day, the huge comic store promotional event scheduled for May 7th.

New Avengers #1 was the best-selling comic in December, topping 240,000 copies sold to comic shops by Diamond.

Befitting the occasion, this week Bates offers his top ten resolutions for 2005.

These are estimates of the sales on graphic novels by Diamond U.S. to comic specialty stores during November 2004.

This week, Bates gives us his top gift items this season, in three parts. In Part 2, he looks at the game and DVD categories.

Marvel updated its schedule of movies based on its characters in its third quarter report, released last week.

Sony released financials for the third quarter on Thursday, and earnings were up at the company primarily due to improved results in its Pictures division.

Marvel reported its Q3 results on Thursday, and sales and operating income were up substantially, with net profits down due to a tax swing.

Marvel has signed a multi-year licensing deal with construction toy manufacturer Mega Bloks, Inc., which will enable the Montreal-based toy company to create a comprehensive line of toy products featuring Marvel superheroes.