Sales of comic books sagged in October according to our analysis of rankings supplied by Diamond Comic Distributors.

John Robinson of Graham Crackers Comics saw the comment from Steve Bennett of Dark Star Books on the death of the pamphlet format for comics, and strongly disagrees.

These are estimates of the sales by Diamond U.S. to comic specialty stores during October 2003.

Steve Bennett of Dark Star Books in Yellow Springs, Ohio saw the report that Shonen Jump has sold as many as 540,000 copies an issue and sent us this extensive comment on the future of comic formats.

Two seasoned executives with President of Marvel on their resumes have formed a new company, The Hatchery, to develop kid- and family-oriented intellectual property for media and consumer products.

Bowen Designs has signed a new agreement with Marvel allowing it to begin production of more statues and mini-busts featuring 'classic versions.'

DC Comics announced, at the Las Vegas Diamond/Alliance Retailer Summit, that Judd Winnick will take over as the new writer of Batman for a six issue story arc beginning with issue #625. Art for the Winnick stories will be provided by Wildstorm artist Dustin Ngyuen.

The Diamond/Alliance Retailer Summit wrapped up on a high note Tuesday at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. Attendance was about 350 retailers, up from around 300 at the 2001 Las Vegas Summit.

Marvel Enterprises, Inc. reported its financial results for the third quarter today with results that topped its twice-raised 'guidances.' In spite of the fact that sales for Q3 2003 were only slightly better than Q3 2002 profits reached $63.1 million versus $6.7 million a year ago.

During Marvel's conference call detailing its Q3 financial results, Avi Arad, who heads up Marvel's very successful Hollywood operation, made a number of interesting comments about the Marvel-based films slated for 2004 and beyond.