During Wednesday's Marvel Press Conference, ICv2 posed a question about a new set of numbers that Diamond released which tracked comic product that actually shipped during the month.

Marvel's new line of Mature Readers 'Max' comics debuted with the first issue of Alias written by Brian Michael Bendis with art by Michael Gaydos.

At today's Marvel Press Conference, President and COO Bill Jemas announced that pre-orders for Marvel's October books were the highest (both in dollar and unit terms) since December of 1996, when the numbers were buoyed by the Onslaught crossover with DC.

Activision has added Fantastic Four and Iron Man to its roster of Marvel properties, which already includes X-Men, Spider-Man and Blade .

DC, which was #2 in market share for July based on advance orders was #1 in market share based on shipments.

The big players seemed to dominate this month, with multiple products associated with the strongest properties taking many of the top slots.

WizKids, the creators of Mage Knight , the pioneering 'collectible miniatures game,' announced an agreement with Marvel that will result in the creation of a Marvel CMG that will bow in the summer of 2002.

In conjunction with the release of Marvel's second quarter report, Marvel CEO Peter Cuneo announced that Bill Jemas had been promoted to COO of Marvel.

Marvel improved its cash position by $3.4 million in the second quarter of 2001, ending at mid-year with around $18 million in cash, up from under $15 million at the end of first quarter.

Diamond has released some general mid-year category information, and while the shifts between categories are substantial year-over-year, the over-all business is stable with some positive underlying trends despite a tough economic environment in the 'real world.'