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When Dark Horse announced their digital comics initiative back at NYCC, they went about it in a different way from most other publishers. Instead of partnering with an existing storefront like comiXology, they decided to use their own webstore and application to sell comics -- and at the $1.49 price point. There was also talk of add-ons that made going to the physical comics shop a part of the experience. Since then details have been sketchy, but today Dark Horse released the first information on the program, via a mailing to retailers in the Diamond Daily. A bit of the information was also released to the press, including the plan to release ORIGINAL digital material -- but only to those who purchase brick and mortar comics.

Author/historian/statistician John Jackson Miller used his holiday very productively: to put some of the missing years of comics sales stats up at his...

Has the pirate menace changed the creative business model for good? Most would say so, but some people are still fighting back. Up on The Hill, Colleen Doran launches a spirited counter attack on piracy:

A horrible crime has been committed and the killer is still in the comic shop. Only YOU can stop him/her.

Diamond has a newish website called kidscomics.com with information and even a separate Kids Comics Previews order form .pdf for those retailers who want to jump into this fast-growing market segment.

Heritage Auctions is selling the original art of Page #1, Issue #1 of WATCHMEN. You know, the "Call me Ishmael" of comics. "Dog carcass in alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach. This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face." The page is being sold by English designer, musician, DJ and TV host Stephen “Krusher” Joule, known for his work on albums by Iron Maiden, Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, Motley Crue, AC/DC, Deep Purple, Robert Plant and Motorhead, and a long stint as Art Director at Kerrang! Magazine. He purchased it from a comics shop for about $180 -- it is expected to sell for more than $15,000.

Last week's books releases saw two blockbusters going head to head: George W. Bush's memoir, Decision Points, and Wimpy Kid #5: The Ugly Truth....

[In recent weeks there's been much discussion of comics pricing, and both Marvel and DC have made changes to their pricing levels in order to face the realities of the current economic climate. While DC has announced an across the board roll-back of prices from $3.99 to $2.99, Marvel's policy announcements have been somewhat less clear. At the ICV2 conference last month Vice-President Sales & Circulation David Gabriel announced a rollback on selected titles, but no details. In addition at a retailer meeting, Marvel announced that they would be putting out fewer titles. An interview earlier this week with VP-executive editor Tom Brevoort made it clear that the rollback was limited but left details to Gabriel. In order to clear up what Marvel's policies are in regards to pricing, Gabriel and Chief Operating Officer Jim "Ski" Sokolowski sat down for an interview, discussing some of the business realities of publishing, the growth of digital and how to reach new readers as older ones cycle out.]

Just last week it was announced that Wizard was bringing its Wizard World tour of pop culture-themed autograph shows to New Orleans -- at the exact same venue as the existing NOLA Comic Con. Now it turns out that Wizard has acquired the NOLA con, and is moving it to their earlier, January date. Many of Wizard's convention acquisitions have been more of an organizational shift than an actual purchase—the two entities share leads and resources and the original show runners get to broker exhibit space. New Orleans is a notoriously difficult locale for vendor conventions, so in this case, teaming up makes a lot of sense.

Although Disney's acquisition of Marvel's character library was seen as a genius move to shore up their boy-skewing movie franchises, there was one wistful little fly in the ointment: Marvel had already assigned rights to most of their iconic super hero franchises to other studios. Undeterred, Disney has just regained a few of the crown jewels: Disney has just acquired marketing and distribution rights to THE AVENGERS and and IRON MAN 3, which will be released May 13, 2013. Disney paid Paramount $115 million for the distribution rights and this will serve as a minimum guarantee against distribution fees.

Courtesy of Milton Griepp, we're happy to present audio of ALL the panels from the ICv2 Conference on Comics and Digital which was held on October 7, 2010. The first part is Griepp's White Paper: The ICv2 2010 White Paper Preview This year's presentation will be a preview of the 2010 market overview planned for early next year, looking at first-half 2010 trends in sales of graphic novels and comics, along with info on digital trends. This would work better with the accompanying slideshow, but we're not there with the technology yet. If you listen through however you'll get analysis on the status of the direct market, bookstores, manga, and digital comics sales. Griepp's analysis is the industry standard and we think you number crunchers will enjoy this.

Ape Entertainment has been on a role of acquisitions of late and they just announced a licensing deal to publish Richie Rich comics, based on he classic Harvey character. No creative details were announced, but the books will be in Ape's all-ages imprint, KiZoic and debut in 2011.