Dark Horse Comics has announced that it will publish the first installment of Masamune Shirow's Ghost In The Shell 2: Man-Machine Interface in October.

Tokyopop executives attending Anime Expo told ICv2 that distribution of Tokyopop manga trade paperbacks to the book trade through Client Distribution Services (CDS) has begun.

Right smack dab in the middle of what has become a remarkable year for comic books, Wizardworld Chicago was short on major announcements and long on behind-the-scenes maneuvering and positioning.

Dark Horse Comics announced its comic series based on the rock band Kiss at last year's San Diego Comicon without a lot of fanfare. After all, Image's Kiss: The Psycho Circus comic had sort of just faded away and expectations for Dark Horse's book were not very high. Well a year later, Gene Simmons, the tongue-wielding bassist and driving force behind Kiss licensing, will be back at San Diego, and he will be touting Dark Horse's number one comic for July.

Steve Jackson Games is reporting that the Hellboy Sourcebook And Roleplaying Game will be ready to display at the San Diego Comic-Con and GenCon.

Diamond has added three more small publishers to its book division: IDW, Guardians of Order, and Alternative Comics.

Comic and graphic novel orders (dollars) were up 5% in July vs. 2001, continuing the trend that began in the second half of last year. July orders were up 1% over June, with almost all the gains coming from comics,

Initial piece orders from comic stores on the top comic titles in July were buoyed by the addition of two first issues that both sold well over 100,000 copies, Transformers Armada #1 and Battle of the Planets #1, at the number one and number three positions respectively.

An ICv2 release. ICv2, with the support of sponsors Dark Horse Comics and Diamond Comic Distributors, is launching its 'Better Than Ever' promotion,

There is a definite 'blast from the past' aspect to the top 10 list of comic books these days, and that trend is also seen in movies, DVDs, and toys.