There is no doubt that manga's influence on American comics appears to be growing. Witness two stories that appeared on Newsarama this week. Michael Doran broke the story of Marvel's plan for an eight-title Marvel ' Mangaverse ' event planned for January, 2002, while Matt Brady detailed plans at DC Comics to use manga artist Kia Asamiya (Silent Moebius, Dark Angel) for a series of Titans covers.

The first Buffy CCG release, which will be designed using episodes from the first two seasons of the award winning series, will debut late in 2001.

The British website Empire On Line is reporting that Oscar-winning actor Nicholas Cage will star as Johnny Blaze in a movie version of the Ghost Rider comic. The film will be directed by Steven Norrington, who brought Marvel's Blade to the big screen.

Jemas explained: 'The short answer is there is no change in policy from our no overprints policy. DC has taken a hard and fast position that they are the house of reorders, and we've sort of taken the house of ideas positioning and we're just going to see how those positions play out in the marketplace.'

Swordfish , the action thriller featuring John Travolta and an occasionally topless Halle Berry, finished number one at the box office with an estimated $18.4 million in what can only be seen as a lackluster weekend for movie attendance.

Marvel Comics has signed an 'expansive' three-year licensing agreement with Diamond Select Toys, a sister company of Diamond Comic Distributors.

Most, but not all, of the retro art books will be deluxe 'coffee table' type books that should have a strong appeal to the visually oriented customers who shop at pop culture stores. Part II of our coverage of the category.

Art books featuring classic illustrations from pulp magazines, comic strips, comic books, men's magazines, and even toy catalogs from the golden age of American pop culture 1930-1960 were prevalent at this year's Book Expo America. Part I of our coverage.

Jerry Robinson is participating in a unique international collaboration with Ken-ichi Oishi (Hotel ) and Shojin Tanaka to create a science fiction manga.

Inside.com, the media-watching website, has reported that Radio Disney, a children's-oriented radio network has told its affiliates not to 'align ourselves promotionally with this new release' ( Shrek ). Shrek is a computer-animated comedy film produced by Dreamworks, which features the vocal talents of Mike Meyers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz.