Initial raw orders to Diamond US from pop culture stores were lower on 16 of the top 25 titles in May than they were in April . Six titles were up, and three were new. Of the six that were up, two were Spider-Man and two were Batman titles.

The best-selling comic title for March 2002, New X-Men , has initial raw orders to Diamond US of only around 104,000 copies, the lowest quantity for a #1 comic title since April of last year.

DC's Dark Knight Strikes Again was the top-selling comic for the third consecutive month, according to orders placed with Diamond US from pop culture stores. The initial raw order was over 171,000 copies, which was around 10% over initial orders on #2, and nearly as high as the initial orders on #1.

WizKids has announced the details of its licensed Marvel collectible miniatures game, which uses a dial base system similar to the Mage Knight system.

We got a quick response to Ilan Strasser's comments on Marvel's book pricing yesterday. Tricia Hovorka, President of TalesofWonder.com, feels that Marvel's pricing represents a reasonable strategy and good value.

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

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.

Comic orders were up again in October, kicking off the fourth quarter with the best dollar month this year to date. Total dollars for October were up over 11% compared to September, which was an unusually strong month when compared to normal seasonal trends.

The biggest surprises at the top of the lists in August are the #1 toys product -- Clive Barker's Tortured Souls from Mcfarlane -- and the #1 anime -- the El Hazard OVA DVD box set.

Comic orders from specialty stores were generally down for August, with an 8% dollar drop from July.