This week Steven Bates looks at writers from other fields tackling comics.

Marvel has announced that Ultimate Iron Man #1 will feature two covers in a 50/50 split.

Genio's board of directors shut down the operations of the company in January.

Marvel Comics has announced that X-Men: Phoenix-Endsong #2 has completely sold out from Diamond.

Described by Bob Simon 'as a man whose ship has come in,' Stan Lee told the CBS correspondent that his victory in the first round of a legal battle with Marvel left him with a sense of 'vindication -- just like every superhero story should have a bit of vindication.'

Buena Vista will release a multi-disc Fantastic Four DVD box set this summer to tie in to the theatrical release of the Fantastic Four feature on July 1st.

Gail Burt of Metropolis Comics in Bellflower, California saw Steven Bates' column on advance ordering and offers her own thoughts on wading through the number of new products pop culture retailers need to look at every month.

John Riley of Grasshopper's Comics in Williston Park, New York saw the comments by Ilan Strasser of Fat Moose Comics on the number of Marvel trade paperback titles that are out of print and agrees, but also sees another problem with the Marvel trade paperback line.

This week, Bates looks at the key ordering tool for direct market comic retailers and asks for a different way of accessing the information.

Bob Cosner of Bob's Baseball Cards in Des Moines, Iowa saw a recent interview with an Upper Deck spokesperson and was 'amazed' at the answers in the context of current Upper Deck release patterns to its sales channels.