Although three actors from Mutant X were signing at the Inkworks booth in San Diego, and we thought we were being told with a nod and a wink that Inkworks had the license (and reported it as fact for about 15 hours on Thursday), it turns out it was just a nod and a wink--don't look for Mutant X trading cards any time soon.

The largest comic/pop culture convention in the U.S. just keeps getting bigger. This year, exhibition space for the San Diego Comic-Con International grew by 25% to 350,000 square feet.

Comics based on retro toon and toy properties extended their lead in August comic orders from pop culture stores, with four out of the top 10 and six out of the top 20 comic titles fitting the retro mold.

Estimated quantities for initial orders on comics shipping in August 2002 from pop culture stores ordering from Diamond US.

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.

Variety reported today that Warner Bros. Pictures has tapped Wolfgang Petersen ( Das Boot , Air Force One ) to direct Batman vs. Superman , which Warners envisions as the studio's tentpole picture for the summer of 2004.

Dark Horse Comics announced its comic series based on the rock band Kiss at last year's San Diego Comicon without a lot of fanfare. After all, Image's Kiss: The Psycho Circus comic had sort of just faded away and expectations for Dark Horse's book were not very high. Well a year later, Gene Simmons, the tongue-wielding bassist and driving force behind Kiss licensing, will be back at San Diego, and he will be touting Dark Horse's number one comic for July.

Initial piece orders from comic stores on the top comic titles in July were buoyed by the addition of two first issues that both sold well over 100,000 copies, Transformers Armada #1 and Battle of the Planets #1, at the number one and number three positions respectively.

Estimated quantities for initial orders on comics shipping in July 2002 from pop culture stores ordering from Diamond US.

Variety reported that Dreamworks has purchased a screenplay by comic book scribe Grant Morrison.