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My sincerest apologies for both the lateness and the brevity of this month’s column. I’m in the middle of a move to a new city, and have just started a new job, so time has been especially scarce this month. I’ve not been able to comment on many of the titles towards the lower end of the chart, and I suspect next month will be very similar. Things should be back to normal by the February chart though! It was a relatively quiet December, Bill Willingham’s Legenderry the highest charting new entry amongst the usual bumper-selling Image titles, a couple of Star Wars books and My Little Pony. Elsewhere, it’s a very downward trending chart, with only 11 titles going up in sales and a colossal 123 going down, with the rest made up of new entries and specials.

Today's Lois Lane one-shot comic by Marguerite Bennett and Emanuela Lupacchino is not only the first Lois Lane solo book in a long...

In one of his last interviews, longtime Batman artist Jerry Robinson spoke with "BatmobileHistory.com" about the origin of the Batmobile: BatmobileHistory: Starting with Detective Comics #27, when Batman started, the design of his car varied wildly...but then in Batman #5, the design with the bat mask and roof fin appeared . . . Was there a specific origin or inspiration for that design? It's really the first superhero car...

If you like comics, you've almost certainly seen Matthew Wilson's work. Colourist for many of the most acclaimed comics of the last few years,...

It's hard to remember those timid days when digital comics were a threat to civilization as we know it and not a solid revenue stream, but one of the artifacts of that era, Diamond Digital, has been laid to rest. This was a program whereby retailers, instead of licking 'em could join 'em by setting up their own digital storefronts via Diamond. It never really worked out, for various reasons including a long, protracted roll-out, and at one point Brian Hibbs reported he had made a grand total, net, of $22.89 in a year from the program.

Well, this is not really hotel-o-ween. It is a nice, orderly, adult process known as the Comic-Con International early bird hotel sale. Basically if you don't mind a brief 15-20 shuttle ride and paying the whole amount upfront, you can book a perfectly nice hotel room in Mission Valley or Hotel Circle RIGHT NOW.

It's been a week to remember out mortality. Close to home, two excellent comics journalists, Bhob Stewart and Bill Baker passed away, leaving many...

Pioneering comics journalist Bhob Stewart has passed away after a lingering illness. His website is here, but tributes are piling up on his FB...

While walking around the 'hood recently, I'd been noticing that Baoguette, the gourmet banh mi outpost on Lexington opposite the Armory, was ominously closed;...

It's that time of year! SF retailer Brian Hibbs has released his annual analysis of the Bookscan 2013 sales charts. This chart is subscriber only, so technically this is a leak, so if you want to download your own version of the top selling 750 graphic novels of the year, go here. Now, as we all know, Bookscan IS NOT 100% of GN sales, even in bookstores. The numbers do not includes comics shop sales, and are billed as 85% of books sold in regular bookstore outlets. While Walmart has been added to the outlets reporting, I'd hazard a guess that those numbers are still low, as they do not include library sales, book clubs and so on. However, as I always say, these numbers do provide a metric. These are the books that sold in the stores that report to Bookscan, and while they should not be taken as final totals, they do provide a glimpse.

Straight from the offices of Publishers Weekly, it’s More to Come! Your podcast source of comics news and discussion starring The Beat’s own Heidi...

Just in case anyone has the Monday Blues ... here's Shigeru Mizuki in a wig for you. pic.twitter.com/BHfROnd3VP— Zack Davisson (@ZackDavisson) February 17, 2014 //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Shigeru...