Today only a surprisingly small percentage of pop culture retailers make much of an effort to sell apparel in their stores, but those that do often enjoy remarkable success. Here's the first in a series of examinations of the methods of retailers who have had great success in selling apparel items.

Orson Welles' audacious first film, Citizen Kane , has often been voted the greatest film of all time, a deserved, though highly arguable distinction -- but there is no arguing the crucial importance of Welles' film on the history of American comic books.

Ain't It Cool News is reporting that a highly placed source at Warner Bros. has indicated that Neil Gaiman will be directing as well as writing the screen adaptation of his Sandman mini-series, Death: The High Cost of Living .

The 'Comics' and 'Toy' categories got very competitive in May with the successful debut of Marvel's revamped X-Men titles and the release of new Simpsons and Tomb Raider toys.

On October 16, Lucasfilm Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will release the DVD edition of Star Wars: Episode 1 -- The Phantom Menace.

The movie is boffo and the mass market is rocking, but an unscientific survey of some twenty retailers from coast to coast indicates that sales of Shrek toys and trading cards are only 'OK' in pop culture stores.

Miramax Films, one of Hollywood's most prestigious studios, has optioned Mal Chance.

The large number of movie/TV books available this season should provide opportunities for a wide range of pop culture stores.

ICv2 has learned that Pioneer has sold out the Special Edition DVD of the re-mastered Akira more than two weeks before the order cutoff date of June 19th.

Marvel has entered into an agreement with Dimension Films, a subdivision of Miramax, to develop a film based on the relatively short-lived 1980s comic Cloak and Dagger .