Now Diamond Select has inked a deal with CMG Worldwide, the marketing agency that controls licensing rights for over 200 dead celebrities including Marilyn Monroe.

The initial advance orders to Diamond Comic Distributors for comics shipping in September showed surprising strength this year, with an increase of around 6% vs. August.

Out of respect for the gravity of today's events, ICv2 is suspending its normal coverage except for the news we've been able to collect to date on the immediate effects on the industry.

Veteran comic scribe Chuck Dixon, who began writing for four-color heroes back in 1985, is heading to Tampa to join forces with the Crossgen team on March 1, 2002.

The Radiant Light Dragon will be the last dragon figure that Wiz Kids will release until the second half of 2002,

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.