by The Comics Outsider

Rumor-mongering from Baltimore, hon.

IT'S THE TRUTH UNTIL SOMEONE TELLS ME OTHERWISE, AND SOMETIMES EVEN AFTER THAT

Absolutely true, if Ripley makes a promise, she keeps it.

Maybe true, don't always trust Hudson's judgment, he would have put Newt in charge.

Possibly not true, never trust Burke, he's a lying scumbag.

INITIATING CROSS-OVER

Kevin Smith returns to comics this spring in a big way by combining two of his favorite things: comics and Degrassi Junior High! The Degrassi gang will be crossing over with "Avengers: The Initiative" in a massive two issue miniseries written by Smith and drawn by Herb Trimpe. Said a Marvel representative at this weekend's Baltimore Comic Con: "it was the only way to keep him interested long enough to finish it. I don't even know who the hell these Degrarsti (sic) kids are. It was originally proposed as a six issue series, but once Joe stopped laughing, he told us to just make it two. And we hired Herb Trimpe because that man never misses a deadline." Look for the story to involve a bit of time travel as the Degrassi Next Gen kids go back in time with the kids from The Initiative to meet the previous Degrassi generation and a young Power Pack as they fight the evil menace of the Red Ghost and his ape henchmen.

MORE THAN MEETS CROSS-COMPANY

With the success of Transformers/Avengers, look for the classic 80's characters to team up with even more comic book properties in the year to come.  On deck:

Fables/Transformers: Will Mowgli be able to work with Hound?  The Predacons versus Bigby: the Big, Bad Wolf!  Boy Blue duels with Rattrap!  All this, and more!

Beast Wars Transformers/The Lone Ranger: There's a NEW Silver in town, Kemo Sabe!  And he shoots lasers!

Headmasters/The Goon: You won't believe where the Goon shoves Scorponok's head!  Hint: It's where the sun don't shine!

ARTISTSWIPING I

Iron Man

and

Spider-Man

BRAD MELTZER ON JLA: CLASSIFIED

THE LOST ISSUE! Orignally meant to be printed as issue #13 of JLA, this was pushed back, back, back OFF the schedule by the advent of new writer Dwayne McDuffie and his whole "I clean up after other writers crap out" thing. The lost issue of JLA features the beautiful, lush painted art of Charles Vess and takes us to a turbulent time in the new JLA's era: Geo-Force's powers are shot, and he is forced to catch a bus to the airport from the middle of Idaho.

23 pages of full-painted superheroic standing around and waiting! The new DC: There's no stopping us now!

MORE TROUBLE FOR MARVEL?!

Rumor has it that next year will bring the 5 year anniversary edition special collection of "Trouble", or as some internet wags call it: Aunt May: Year One.  This will collect all 5 of the original Millar/Dodson issues, source material, collected author notes and emails, as well as the super secret SIXTH issue of "Trouble" as created by classic Spider-Man collaborators Tom DeFalco and Alex Saviuk.  The all-new sixth issue is rumored to feature the actual BIRTH of Peter Parker from start to finish, and will be a mature readers comic.  Face it tiger, you just hit the jackpot.

RED SKRULL AT MORNING, SAILORS TAKE WARNING

A source who we'll call Gallagher 2 reports in that the current Red Skull, the one who engineered the death of Captain America, will be one of the first characters revealed to be a skrull in the new Marvel cross-over event. The newly dubbed Red Skrull will then be spun off into a mini-series with his henchman Crossbones entitled "Skrull and Bones."

NIGHT FALLS FOR NIGHTWING

DC was leaking rumors like... like a big leaking thing... maybe a boat... at the Balitmore Comic-Con this past weekend. The biggest rumor? That they will be killing every major character "at least twice" according to one source. But another source refutes that saying, "No, we're not killing everyone twice. We're just killing Nightwing 23 times." The source continued, "to make sure we got him."

ARTISTSWIPING II

Hulk

and

Gary Busey

THE NAME GAME

The Outsider has the scoop on some upcoming title changes due for some upcoming titles.  You already knew about the Cable's book's title change, but get these scoops here, first!

"COUNTDOWN" will be renamed "52 More!"  No reason has been given as yet, but it makes a lot of sense.

"Immortal Iron Fist" will be renamed "IRON FIST'S BIG BUCKET OF AWESOME," to make it a more accurate title.

"MODOK's 11" will be renamed "Lookit the Giant Head Guy! Haw!". Just to "make sure readers get why they should be buying it.

And the new Flash book will be retitled "THE INCREDIBLES".