January is a transition month in the pop culture products business, with the first week or two typically showing strong post-Christmas sales, followed by slowing traffic as the winter doldrums set in. But there was a lot of activity in pop culture stores this January, with especially strong releases in the comic category.

The good news is that ToyBiz action figures are getting better and better thanks to new high tech imaging equipment and an increasing willingness to hire top sculptors, but the bad news is that the first wave of Spider-Man Movie Action Figures showed up in Wal-Mart (and reportedly, in Toys R Us) a month before other channels.

Diamond Select showed off a growing collection of licensed products and cool Japanese imports at its showroom at the New York Toy Fair this year.

Checker Book Publishing of Centerville, Ohio announced the May publication of its second collection of comic stories, Clive Barker's Hellraiser -- Collected Best .

Rather than cancel three titles with lagging circulation, Marvel COO Bill Jemas has decided to raise the cover price of Spider-Girl , Black Panther , and Captain Marvel by 25 cents.

In Marvel's press conference today, Marketing Manager Bill Rosemann ran down an impressive list of Spider-Man projects scheduled for the spring in order to feed off the heat generated by the Spider-Man movie, which opens May 3.

This week Variety announced that Will McG, the director of Charlie's Angels , had been signed to direct the next film in the Superman franchise.

News from the archives of Internal Correspondence, the print predecessor of ICv2.com. This news from the February, 1987 issue.

News from the archives of Internal Correspondence, the print predecessor of ICv2.com. This news from the February 1992 issue.

No comic publisher has ever assembled a more formidable phalanx of films based on its characters than Marvel Comics, which has no fewer than five major motion pictures set for theatrical release during the next 18 months.