In 2006 Mattel has a leg up on its chief rival thanks to licenses based on Superman Returns and Cars .

This week, Bennett talks about the wide variety of people that walk into a comic store.

Steven Bates of Bookery Fantasy in Fairborn, Ohio saw the notice that voting is now open for the date for Free Comic Book Day 2005 and prefers May.

Daniel McAbee of The Tangled Web in Spartanburg, South Carolina saw the news on Barnes and Noble's exclusive Ultimate Spider-Man hardcover, and the response from John Miller of Lost Realm and sent us this comment on his strategies for competing with big box competition.

Critics will surely point out that the nine segments of the Animatrix are uneven in style, tone, and relevance to the Matrix mythos, but it is hard to deny that watching this 90-minute, nine-part anthology provides viewers with new insights into the Matrix films as well as plenty of sheer entertainment. More importantly, given the enormous popularity of The Matrix Reloaded the features should help expand the audience for anime.

Just as the 'marvelous' mutants of X2 are about to stomp the box office into submission once again, comes word that a trailer for Artisan's forthcoming film based on The Punisher will accompany screenings of Ang Lee's Hulk film

For 2003, Toy Biz has three of the hottest movie licenses-- Hulk , X2, and LOTR: Return of the King .