At this year's San Diego Comic-Con, Wizkids announced that it is preparing an additional HeroClix entry, which will include characters from other comic publishers.

On the eve of the San Diego Comic-Con International, both Variety and USA Today reported on the upcoming new comic book based on the hit drama series, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation .

Shueisha Inc., the largest manga publisher in the world, has purchased an equity interest in Viz Communications, Inc.

Updated. We've reported as various graphic novel publishers have decided which distributor to use for the bookstore channel; now we're giving you a scorecard to keep track of how things are playing out. Here's a look at what has transpired so far with links to articles about the individual publishers.

Comic and game publisher Humanoids (formerly distributed by the now bankrupt LPC) has announced that it is going to CDS for distribution to the book trade. Humanoids is the French publisher of The Nokopol Trilogy, The Metabarons , and the Incal , and recently signed an agreement licensing the West End Games game mechanics.

We recently caught up with Image Publisher Jim Valentino and asked him about the issues of the day, including what challenges he perceives from CrossGen's new initiative, what limits we may see on the currently hot retro trend, and Image's plans for its book distribution in the wake of the LPC bankruptcy, among other topics.

CrossGen Comics has chosen Client Distribution Services (CDS) for exclusive representation of its growing line of graphic novels to the bookstore, library, warehouse club, and mass merchandiser channels.

Comic and graphic novel orders (dollars) to Diamond US by pop culture stores for August were up sharply, increasing 14% over 2001 orders and 21% over 2000.

Comics based on retro toon and toy properties extended their lead in August comic orders from pop culture stores, with four out of the top 10 and six out of the top 20 comic titles fitting the retro mold.

CDS was very close to getting Marvel's bookstore business last summer, before Marvel moved to Diamond, so there was already a relationship long before the LPC bankruptcy led to the creation of a graphic novel division inside CDS, and this deal was probably unrelated to the new initiative.