For 2003 Dark Horse has lined up a number of exciting licensed projects that are going to be much more than mere comic book versions of screen stories.

N2 Toys, the company that was largely staffed with ex-employees of the Cincinnati-based Kenner (after Hasbro acquired Kenner and eliminated 'redundancies'), is no longer in the business of manufacturing toys.

In comics, Spidey still holds three of the Top 10 Cool Comics in June, with the Kevin Smith-penned Spider-Man/Black Cat #1 in the top slot.

Circuit City, the national electronics chain, is the first nationwide mass-market retailer to announce publicly that it is eliminating VHS product from its stores.

The number of the anime/ Matrix prequels produced by the top animation houses in Japan has reached ten, and it is likely that all the Animatrix shorts will be collected on one DVD that will be released before the end of the year.

Guardians of Order has announced four new anime fan guides for release in the coming months, in addition to previously announced titles.

Tim Davis, owner of Alternate Reality in Chicago, Illinois, said of FCBD in his store, 'I saw 3 to 4 times the number of bodies that I normally see on a Saturday.'

Joey Boyack, owner of Comic Kings, Virginia Beach,VA: Our day turned out pretty good today, as we saw a lot of new faces that came in looking for the free comics.

IDW has announced that it will publish the Art of Armitage , a trade paperback at $19.99, with 96 color pages on the Pioneer anime series.

Expectations are high for Free Comic Book Day, the comic industry promotional event happening on May 4, the day after the Spider-Man movie opens.