In today's Marvel press conference, Marvel President Bill Jemas took the blame for the impression '...that it often does look like we are out to get comic shops -- a lot of that is my personal failure to provide complete information about the policies....

ICv2 recently submitted a number of written questions to Marvel President Jemas, and he took time to respond in his usual frank style (we guess it's not just the spoken interviews that bring out that trait).

Statistics from the videogame industry released at the recently concluded E3 trade show demonstrate that the audience for videogames is a lot more mature than industry critics like Attorney General John Ashcroft realize.

Marvel's unilateral decision to withdraw from the CMAA (Comics Magazine Association of America) and the Comics Code has brought forth strong statements of support for the organization from its other members.

In a conference call with the comic press today, Marvel President Bill Jemas announced that Marvel would be pulling out of the CMAA, and would no longer be submitting its books for Comics Code approval.

'Adding the ability to sort search results by date, and making that the way our search results display first were the most requested improvements to the site since launch, so we listened,' said ICv2 President Milton Griepp.

Jakks Pacific, the Malibu-based toy company that is making toys for The Mummy Returns, has executed a letter of intent to acquire the business of 21st Century Toys Inc., an Alameda-based company which specializes in high end 12-inch military action figures and vehicles, including the Ultimate Soldier lines.

Current trends indicate that consumers will spend some $6.2 billion dollars on DVD software this year, which is roughly half of the sell-through video total.

In an interview with ICv2, a spokesperson for the CMAA was very surprised to hear about Marvel's talk of pulling out of the association, especially since all the publishers had agreed to a meeting on Thursday, May 11th

In an open letter addressed to 'Friends of Magic' and posted on the Wizards of the Coast website, Richard Garfield, the creator of Magic: The Gathering , announced that he is stepping down to concentrate on personal interests.