At Wizard World Chicago, Top Cow announced two crossovers with DC, b ut the biggest crossover news concerned the 'crossover that didn't happen.'

Marvel Enterprises and Lion's Gate Family Home Entertainment will initiate their string of 8-10 direct-to-DVD animated features with a 66-minute film featuring The Avengers .

Marvel announced that between its Avengers Disassembled event, and the launch of its new Avengers series in November, a storyline called 'Avengers Finale' will be published.

From the truth is stranger than fiction department, an article by Jim Henley (not Hanley) in the online American Spectator identifies the first use in fiction of suicide bombers -- Avengers #113, written by Steve Engelhart in 1973.

Nominations for the Seventeenth Annual Harvey Awards, named for famed comics creator Harvey Kurtzman, include books published by a record 23 different publishers.

Estimated sales of the top comic titles to comic stores by Diamond Comic Distributors were up in March, with 14 of the top 25 titles showing increases in sales over the previous issues.

These are estimates of the sales by Diamond U.S. to comic specialty stores during March 2004.

Ilan Strasser of Fat Moose Comics and Games in Whippany, New Jersey saw recent comments by Torsten Adair of Barnes and Noble and David Craig of My Underground Lair and sent us this response.

Dynamic Forces has released the full color image of the company's last commissioned piece of Marvel art from Alex Ross.

Marvel Enterprises announced on Thursday that Lions Gate has been granted licenses to develop, produce, and distribute films based on the Marvel Comics characters, Iron Fist , Black Widow and the Punisher .