Neil Gaiman took part in today's Marvel press conference, at which Editor-in-chief Joe Quesada announced that Marvel would publish a six-issue mini-series written by Gaiman.

Yu-Gi-Oh the anime series (and collectible card game) that trumped Pokemon in Japan, had a very successful debut on Saturday, September 29 on the WB Network, winning its time period handily with a rating of 3.6 and an 18 share among boys 6-11.

Twentieth Century Fox announced today that the three-disk Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 1 DVD will street on Jan. 15, 2002 with an SRP of $39.98.

Dark Horse Comics announced the November release of a new manga series from Kenichi Sonoda, the creator of Gunsmith Cats (also published by Dark Horse).

Pioneer announced its fourth quarter DVD releases. They include Cowboy Bebop: The Complete Sessions, DVDs for Crest of Stars , and Mobile Suit Gundam 08th MS Team all from Bandai (distributed by Pioneer).

The key to the development of a market for Viz's shojo titles is the mostly shojo Animerica Extra anthology magazine which has more than doubled its circulation during the past year.

Europe's top selling line of action figures has already made a big impression on the U.S.

D-Boy, Inc., in association with Studio Tron and Fanboy, Inc. plans to release a series of collectible pewter statues based on the gorgeous female leads in Kia Asamiya's Silent Mobius manga.

Along with the great Osamu Tezuka, Shotaro Ishinomori was one of the founding fathers of Japanese manga. Ishinomori created the Kamen Rider ( Masked Rider in the U.S.) as well as Cyborg 009 and literally hundreds of other manga and anime series including The Skull Man , a dark anti-hero who lives for revenge.

While it is true that as in the United States, boys' comics outsell girls' comics in Japan, comics aimed at girls (or shojo manga) represent up to 30% of the huge Japanese market for comics that dwarfs comic publishing efforts here in the States.