ICv2 has learned that DC Comics is planning to publish a comic based on the hot new television series Smallville .

Marvel and DC are pulling out all the stops for December in a contest to see which publisher will gain the most customers from an expected wave of new consumers surging into comic stores that month.

Media projects based on comic properties had a great week last week. Most important for pop culture retailers, From Hell won the weekend box office derby -- it's the #1 film in the country.

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.

Across the entire entertainment industry, content is being reviewed to see if it passes a careful taste test in the light of last week's attack on the U.S.

DC Comics announced today that the Adventures of Superman #596 would be returnable.

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.

In an article in today's Los Angeles Times , staff writer Geoff Boucher asks whether Superman is 'Undressed for Success?' in Smallville , the new WB television series that chronicles the Man of Steel's teenage years.

DC Direct has a huge slate of products on tap for 2002, which will make it unlikely that any challenge to DC's dominance in this increasingly important product area will succeed.

The retailer sales numbers that ICv2 has collected for June continue to display the trends that we have seen over the past six months.