In week 50, 52 will bring us the much-touted World War III, accompanied by a variety of tie-ins, flashbacks and one shots. I'm sure it will be very entertaining. However, I opened up this week's CSN and inside was a mini-poster for this year's Marvel summer crossover event called: World War Hulk. The poster features the Hulk clad in ridiculous armor holding a sword and ax standing over the supine bodies of the Illuminati. SWEEEET!!! World War III vs. World War Hulk will be the shortest battle of the battles in history. World War III's not even a crossover, so it really isn't fair to compare them, but even so. World War Hulk? Awesome. If Marvel understands one thing, it's how to deliver to its readers exactly what they want to read.

Diamond's monthly Direct Market Sales Chart and Market Share report is consistently fascinating reading, almost as much as reports of yearly box office gross. Though Aaron Sorkin would probably want to bash my face in with an Emmy for having any interest in the financial aspects of "art", I find it quite interesting to see what content people are consuming on the broadest scales. Read one of those yearly box office charts, and determine how out of touch your impression of pop culture is with the majority of America. Example: Scary Movie 4 made almost twice as much money as Hostel. Really? Everybody was talking about Hostel; never heard anybody say a word about Scary Movie 4. Snakes on a Plane made half the money of Big Momma's House 2 or RV. I like this game. The other reason I so enjoy comparing shares, grosses and ratings, shocking as it may sound to a lot of people, is that the results of these lists tend to reaffirm my faith in humanity: the top ten highest grossing movies of 2006 are all perfectly entertaining and well made films that, while not necessarily the year's critical cream of the crop, are certainly far from the bottom of the barrel (well, okay, maybe not Over the Hedge, but you get the idea from my juxtaposed alliterative metaphors). And I would argue at length if anybody would listen that the same is true of prime time television, and, judging by December sales, mainstream comic books. A month without a Civil War opens the doors, at least temporarily, for a DC dominant top ten, though clearly the overall totals skew Marvel as they probably will until some deus ex machina punishes the perennial Number One Company for pride, avarice, one too many publicity stunt character death and immediate rebirth or some other deadly sin as defined by the comic gods. Still, it is funny to think that Marvel's highest selling title in all of December was New Avengers 26, which was in many ways the least spectacular issue of that title in its history, though in no way a disappointment. Astonishing 19 was, on the other hand, a spectacle of the highest degree, and a fantastic one at that, New Avengers: Illuminati 1 delivered, and the Casualties of War one shot is my favorite of all the tie-ins in the entire Civil War thus far. And when you consider DC's six contributions to that top ten list were two issues of Brad Meltzer's Justice League of America, the debut of Geoff Johns' Justice Society of America and three installments of 52 (the month's fourth issue of which, along with the latest installment of Alex Ross' Justice, rounded out the top twelve), you'd get little argument from me if you claimed the highest selling books this month are also the best released. Although the finale of Secret Six was phenomenal. As is every issue of Shadowpact. I could go on like this, but it would take too long and wind up undermining my entire point. Oh yeah, also, I was killing time in a Borders the other night and the comic books they sell in Borders are weird. I mean, I probably shouldn't make any criticism of Borders' choice of titles to sell in the store because they don't really have to carry them at all; Barnes and Noble doesn't even stock single issues anymore. But even so: this Borders has one four-sided rack of comics, one side of which is Marvel, the next side of which is DC, the next side of which is half Dark Horse (all Star Wars and Conan) and half Bongo, and the last side of which is Archie. Weird, right? I guess this all makes logical sense: Dark Horse, while composing a smaller market share than Image, publishes monthlies for two very popular properties, The Simpsons is a major property (and virtually all that Bongo publishes) and Archie's got some brand recognition (as well as Sonic the Hedgehog, the title that wins my "Consistently Most Hilarious Covers" lifetime achievement award). But Archie's like a third of a percent of the comic market share; Bongo's around half of that. The real question this raises: who buys their comics in Borders? Apparently, whoever they are, they really like Archie and Jughead. Is Borders contractually obligated to provide Bongo and Archie comics to the masses? Or, is the comics rack in Borders just maintained in hopes that kids will cry until their parents impulse buy them a couple of issues, as well as some Lindor Truffles for fifteen cents they keep at the registers? That's fine, if it's the case; I'm just confused. I'd just really love to see the sales figures for comics as sold in Border Books and Music, as well as how those sales compare to the total sale of comic books. Then I want the names of everybody who's ever purchased a comic book in Borders so that I can use the Patriot Act and a computer to determine the true identity of this mysterious demographic. *** The day after this post went up Diamond released the Direct Market Sales and Market share report for 2006. This list is as a rule less surprising than the monthly reports tend to be, and, because it represents total sales, primarily dominated by major events and their tie-ins; however, notice what percentage 52 makes up of DC's entire presence on the top 100 list. Is the completist dedication required to read 52 actually taking sales away from other DC titles, or is the weekly pioneer in fact the only thing keeping DC toe to toe with Marvel's schismatic juggernaut?

Chris Giarrusso's Mini Marvels are awesome. Everything about them is good. They're legitimately funny, they're low to no impact, they don't cost anything extra and they subtly legitimize the entire Marvel Mythology by their very existence. Check out Chris G Comics if you're unfamiliar with them, or if you've only seen a scant few (like at the end of this Incredible Hulk 102, for example). Hawkeye and Strong Bad should team up. That is all.