by The Comics Outsider

The rumors were piling up, here, you take them off my hands...

TELL ME LIES... TELL ME SWEET LITTLE LIES

100% = true.

75% = probably true.

50% = not so much.

DID YOU COUNT THAT RIGHT?

The Outsider has learned that DC will follow-up the 52 follow-up Countdown with a new follow-up comic called "Fibonacci" in 2008. "True, we'll need to ship five issues that first week, but by day 89, the schedule should be very manageable," a DC editor told the Outsider. The series will never end. Ever.

THE KEY TO MOVIE DEVELOPMENT HELL

MOVIE NEWS!

Warner Bros is moving ahead with a film based on Neil Gaiman's Sandman. Long stuck in "development hell", the film now has a major star attached.

None other than Tom Cruise has signed on to play the film's protagonist, Morpheus.

Said Cruise, "Kate and I, we call her Kate now, not Katie, were looking for a romantic film to do together, like I did with Nicole in "Far and Away". And I've wanted to do a superhero film since I missed out on "Iron Man". Playing this super-dream guy sounded like a kick. He throws 'dream dirt' at people. Ha! Sounds like a real funny guy."

Kate Holmes is slated to play the Sandman's sister, Death. Holmes was not available for comment.

ARTISTSWIPING OR HOMAGE? #1
= ?

50 STATE INITIATED

The Outsider has turned up more info on more upcoming Avengers tie-ins! Here's the early solicits for four select titles from the upcoming 50 State Initiative Summer Event!

Avengers: Green Mountain

The first pulse-shattering chapter in the 50 States Initiative is here! Evil undead sorceror Kulan Gath has taken over Vermont, and through an ancient curse has cursed all grades of Vermont maple syrup with the spirits of the damned! That's right, even the fancy amber! Details are scarce but let's just say this: D-Man is back, and badder than ever!

Avengers: Evergreen

Plantman is back! And he's here to bedevil peaceful Washingtonians from Kennewick to Bellingham! The Evergreen State is living up to its name under HIS Green Thumb...of Doom! Can the combined forces of the Sentry, Wonder Man, and three Thor cyborgs control him? Our money says...we sure hope so!

Avengers: Huskers

Nebraska has been invaded by the living legend known as TOMAZOOMA! What is his nefarious plot? Join the Battling Bantam and five all new Avengers in the latest 50 States Initiative adventure!

ARTISTSWIPING OR HOMAGE? #2
= ?

OLLIE AND HARRIET

Word is there's a Green Arrow/Black Canary team up book in the works. The book, called Ball and Chain, will follow their post-marriage life as newlyweds. New characters in the title will include "wacky next-door neighbor" Eel O'Brien, the "creepy guy across the street always spying on them with binoculars," Bruce Wayne, and "the teenager from down the street who always seems to come over to mow the lawn when Green Arrow isn't at home", Garfield Logan.

"We thought it would be fun to get these characters out of the exciting cities they nomally live in and see how they would handle living in the suburbs," a DC executive was quoted as saying. He continued, "the comic book audience is aging and we feel the need to have their superheroes better reflect the life they now live. What would it be like for Green Arrow to coach little league? Will Black Canary really be able to make 300 brownies in time for the Sunday School bake sale? These are the kinds of things that concern our readership today."

WHO IS THE NEW CAPTAIN AMERICA AND WHO WILL THE NEW CREATIVE TEAM BE?

The Outsider has the scoop on both. The new Captain America will be...Sharon Carter. Take a look:

...but I know what you're saying. Dearest Outsider, why is that a photograph of Sharon Carter as Captain America? Well, let the Outsider ask a question of you: who among today's hottest comic book artistes makes the very most out of the photo references?

Think about it... yes, you heard it here first: Brubaker/Land on Captain America in 2008.

You're welcome.

BACK IN A... FLASH?

Look for Bart Allen to be replaced with the DC Tangent Flash in Flash: The Fastest (Wo)Man Alive #13. You know, the cute chick in a skimpy costume. Look for more DC heroes to be switched with their cuter Tangent versions as Countdown counts down.

52 WAYS TO LEAVE YOUR LOVER

So, now that it's over and the secret of "52" is out, the Outsider can reveal that originally there being 52 universes in the multiverse was NOT the planned meaning of "52". But once the original meaning, that Batman has 52 different Batmobiles, was leaked to the press, DC had to scramble to come up with a new meaning that still worked with the story they had been building to, where Batman drove all 52 Batmobiles at the same time.

Other rejected ideas for what 52 should/could mean:
52 flavors at DC universe's Baskin Robbins post-Crisis.
52 times Superman cries a day.
52 weeks until the next issue of All Star Batman and Robin
52 different super-speedsters in the DCU.
52 ways to re-boot Hawkman.
52 ways to re-boot Supergirl.
52 ways to re-boot Legion.
52-inch pythons on Bane.

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