Ilan Strasser of Fat Moose Comics and Games in Whippany, New Jersey saw the comment by Rich Waldbiesser of Six Feet Under Games on Sharpening the Sword and feels 'it's all about selling.'

Confessions of a Comic Book Guy is a weekly column by retailer Steve Bennett of Mary Alice Wilson's Dark Star Comics of Yellow Springs , Ohio . This week, Bennett covers a lot of ground, revisiting the question of whether superheroes are 'silly,' looking at the ads in Marvel Adventures, and wondering about Betty becoming a NASCAR driver.

TwoMorrows Publishing will release three trade paperbacks for comics fans in May.

WizKids has announced that it will release limited edition products that have not previously been sold through the trade to game retailers beginning later this month.

Gwyneth Paltrow has joined the cast of the Iron Man feature, which starts shooting in March.

WizKids has announced The Coming of Galactus , a major organized play initiative.

Sales of periodical comics were up 14% in 2006 over 2005 -- a major improvement over the 4% gain from 2004 to 2005.

Brad Meltzer's JLA # 4 and #5 took the top two spots on Diamond Comic Distributors list of the best-selling comics in December.

This week Bennett discusses comics as the product of the times.

Dynamite Entertainment is running a contest for both retailers and fans that allows them to win a page of original art for Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness, signed and sketched editions of the first issue, and copies of the extremely limited edition alternate cover version of the first issue.