New products dominated the Top 10 Cool lists this month, as strong new releases timed for the holidays pushed aside older ones.

Initial comic and graphic novel orders to Diamond from North American pop culture stores were up 7% (in dollars) over December 2000, capping off a strong year-over-year trend for the fourth quarter.

For the first time in recent memory, initial U.S. orders on a comic title by pop culture stores have topped $1 million retail.

Estimated quantities for initial orders for comics shipping in December from pop culture stores ordering from Diamond U.S.

In a move destined to arouse controversy, Marvel is bypassing Diamond and selling an 'error' edition of Elektra #3 directly to a handful of retailers across the country.

Strong month-over-month trends as well as the anecdotal evidence from retailers are confirmed by an 8% year-over-year improvement between November 2000 and November 2001 dollar orders to Diamond North America from pop culture stores.

Comic and graphic novel orders were up month-to-month again in November, continuing a strong second half for North American comic sales with the largest dollar orders of the year to date.

Estimated quantities for initial orders for comics shipping in November from pop culture stores ordering from Diamond U.S.

The second printing of 150,000 books will be identical to the first printing with the exception of a 'second printing' notation in the indicia.

The first presentation at the Diamond/Alliance Retailer Summit in Las Vegas on Monday evening was Image, which led off with publisher Jim Valentino. He didn't seem too happy with the recent tone of comic industry events, at one point urging the listeners to 'stop the fingerpointing, the blaming, and the namecalling.'